DREAMing of Our Magical Mystery Cruise - Updated 04/23/2015 About This Page:

[Lumieregirl]

DREAMing of Our Magical Mystery Cruise

Hi, Passporter friends! Welcome to my Magical Mystery Cruise and after only 9 years on Passporter, my first TR . I’ve actually started several, some half in writing and some only in my mind , but here we are finally for real. OooohAaaa. Impressed? (I ask you to please bear with me while I learn how to resize and upload photos. I’m a little anxious about that …)

Pre-trip Part 1: We will go somewhere, sometime

Cruisers:
Me: planner, keeper of anxiety, and Disney-obsessed. 4th time cruiser, and first cruise on the DREAM
DH: traveler, keeper of calm, likes Disney enough & loves me. 3rd time cruiser, and first cruise on the DREAM

Dates: July 30 through Aug 3

Destination: 3-night cruise on the DREAM, pre-cruise stay in St. Augustine , Florida, and (hopefully) post-cruise stay at Disney’s Hilton Head Island Resort.
Us: Married without children, DVC members since 2011 – I plan every tiny detail of every trip. DH asks me if he needs to pack a dress shirt or not. Okay, it’s not THAT bad … but close.

Title: A story unto itself. Last summer when we were on our trip to Aulani, we received the first of 2 emails from DVC offering relatively last-minute deals (usually around 6 weeks out) for Disney Cruise sailings. These are date-specific cruises, and you have to be ready to pay in full right away (with cash, not points). We of course were unable to take advantage of it, but DH mentioned we should try next year. I poked around and saw some posts over on www.dvcnews.com where folks had expressed they were unable to take advantage because they already had plans. I also asked about it here on Passporter. Check out the overwhelming response: http://www.passporterboards.com/foru...ry-cruise.html
We realized the only way to use this deal is to plan NOT to have a plan. So, we’d save our $ to go “somewhere” during 2014 “sometime”. For us, being on the ship is such a great feeling, we aren’t too concerned about where she goes. So, our 2014 vacation plan was … unplanned. DH, being a Beatles fan, dubbed it the “Magical Mystery Cruise”. So, there ya go. :

Neurotic planners out there know this was torture. I over-research everything. I can’t help it. I consoled myself that we’d be saving some $. Also, perhaps some of my neurotic researching would be simmered-down. Rather than reading over every single option to Castaway Club members to book at the specific date, I’d rather be asking “Um, whatcha got left?”. This would go for Palo, Remy, and shore excursions. Yikes. Of course that didn’t stop me much, but some I suppose. I couldn’t check the weather for our dates, at least.

Now, I’ve been on one 3-night cruise and I swore never again :… it went by in a flash. I held firm to the 4-night minimum, and that was the plan ever since last summer until just a few months ago. Fast forward through some home repairs, car repairs, and dental work, and let’s just say my attitude was starting to change . We went back and forth and considered putting the whole thing off a year, but ultimately decided that even 3 nights is a nice little getaway, and we’d been dreaming of it all year, so we’ll take just 3 nights if that’s what DVC would offer us. I fought this quite a bit but the more and more I went over the budget, especially tacking on transportation expenses, and play money “drinks, excursions, souvenirs, etc”, I began to realize if I could spend the 3-night relatively anxiety-free, (see the “A” word … yeah, you’ll see a pattern with me and that word), or the 4-night always thinking about $ in the back of my mind. And less face it, that’s not really “vacation”. :

So, I put DVC as a VIP on my email so when the offer came, it would pop up immediately, and we waited, and waited some more. April … nope. May … nada. June … um, hello DVC? Yoo-hoo! Silence. I looked at the dates again of previous offers and it looked like around 50 days. So, we worked up our own calendar and realized if nothing came by late June, then we’d need to just book something ourselves. Our August calendar was beginning to fill up, and having not thought it out really, I’d bought concert tickets for Aug 14, making that entire week unworkable to travel to FL and back.

In early June DCL announced special rates for some cruises for this summer on their own site. Since the last reasonable date we could book was approaching (3rd week of June to sail early Aug), we finally conceded that DVC had indeed forgotten us , and priced out the DCL dates, and settled on the July 31 sailing on the DREAM. This is the first time either of us has been on one of the new ships. That in itself is super exciting ! We decided on an inside stateroom since the cruise is so short, we’ll barely be in there. I’ve saved myself the over-analyzing of staterooms, as this is a GTY reservation, so Disney will put us where they put us.
And, in a wild first turn of events … I’ve handed over port plans to DH. For me, being on the ship is awesomeness, and whatever we do I port is just gravy. This is a double-edged sword as it does make me a bit anxious not to be in control, but it’s kinda nice not having to worry about it.

So, in early June we settled on our date. DH had to find out if he could move some work stuff around to get the dates off, and we’d wait to book until June 20, just in case DVC came around.

June 20 would be a super-fun happy day when I’d book our Disney Dream Magical Mystery Cruise !!!!

Up Next: June 12: I’ve never heard a noise like THAT before

[SOmommy]

Great start! Looking forward to hearing the rest!

[chezp]

Great start!

[DCL Tom]

I am sure that you will both have a great trip. Our family bought a GTY Ocean View room on our first cruise (Disney Wonder) and ended up with a 9A room (6022). It was so good, we would be thrilled to book this room specifically in the future. I look forward to read about your adventure.

[Lumieregirl]

Originally Posted by DCL Tom

I am sure that you will both have a great trip. Our family bought a GTY Ocean View room on our first cruise (Disney Wonder) and ended up with a 9A room (6022). It was so good, we would be thrilled to book this room specifically in the future. I look forward to read about your adventure.

Oh, that is great news! Very encouraging how well it worked out for you

[Lumieregirl]

Thanks so much for following along!

Pre-Trip Report, Part 2: June 12: I’ve never heard a noise like THAT before

Ok – first up, I noticed that I did not give my husband and name in the previous segment. Let’s call him Don, shall we?

With the impending excitement of June 20 flittering in my brain, on Thursday June 12 I headed home from work, and less than a mile away the car made a CLUNK so loudly that at first I thought I’d been hit. There were no other cars around me. Then I figured maybe someone else’s car backfired. I accelerated … and … nothing. Then the “check engine” light started blinking. NOT GOOD. I pulled over immediately, called a tow truck and DH to come pick me up. This noise was so loud and the car was running so poorly that I was worried this was a very serious engine problem. And you know those can cost $$$. DH took me to Five Guys as neither of us were in any mood to cook at that point

…(tangent … there’s always 3 guys in there and after making the joke on our first visit, it takes all we have to hold back now, as we’re sure they are quite sick of it --- but we manage it amongst ourselves --- it gives us a giggle ).

I couldn’t say it out loud : but DH managed to verbalize that if we were facing an engine repair approaching a grand, we couldn’t very well justify a cruise. I knew that, but told him to shut up – otherwise I could not enjoy my meal.
So, after two days of agony the verdict came back – broken engine mount. This came with a price tag of $234. Not ideal, but manageable, and so the Magical Mystery Cruise is back on!

Over the next few days I pressed DH to pick his shore excursions, if he wanted any. As the non-planner, I got “oh, yeah … I will”, then silence. Ugh. He reminded me we had many weeks. I had to really impress upon him how important it was to me to book immediately after purchasing the cruise, just in case anything was about to sell out . There’s just no way to know. In his defense, on our honeymoon we did the Kayak & Nature Walk on Castaway Cay as the only guests. It was just us and the guides. We can’t assume that is normal, and I doubt it is, as they are still offering it all these years later.

And so it was, on Friday June 20 DH called me at work and confirmed he got the dates off and asked if I could go ahead and book from work. Technically, I probably could but I didn’t want to use my work computer for that. Probably nothing would happen but my luck it’d be the one day they tracked my internet activity. I was already scheduled to leave at noon so I raced home and got online. I was a little nervous the cruise would sell out, but more nervous about the rate going up than anything else. I’d say within 5 minutes or so of logging in, I was the proud owner of stateroom GTY (that’s a little joke). So, it was OFFICIAL YAY!

Now, at 41 days out, is there ANY hope of getting into Remy? Even first-time cruisers have had an advantage over me. I'd thought of explaining to DH how I wanted to do all 3 dining rooms, plus Remy, but I left it as I knew he wouldn't be keen on helping me decide which night, and, let's face it, I have to take whichever night I can get. I prepared myself for disappointment as I logged in to book dining ... and when I did the only time available was ... all of them! Seriously! Every single time slot was open . I grabbed up 7:30 on our 3rd night. Awesome!
Now there was a special rate for this cruise so perhaps the ship won't be full ? It'd be nice if it weren't too crowded. Or maybe its jam-packed full of people who are not foodies? Hmm Stay tuned!

Up Next: It's time to meet Nico!

[chezp]

So glad that the car repairs didn't cost that much and that you were able to get into Remy's!

[MayraLR]

Signing in!

[lauriep]

So glad the car repairs weren't too expensive! I always take that sort of thing as a sign that I'm meant to go on the trip! I guess a lot of people on the 3-night cruises stick with the 3 main dining rooms-- lucky for you!

[SOmommy]

What a scare with the car repairs! That could've been a huge bummer! Glad you got the Palo ressie

[Lumieregirl]

Originally Posted by chezp

So glad that the car repairs didn't cost that much and that you were able to get into Remy's!

It was really a relief and really a surprise

Originally Posted by MayraLR

Signing in!

Originally Posted by lauriep

I always take that sort of thing as a sign that I'm meant to go on the trip! I guess a lot of people on the 3-night cruises stick with the 3 main dining rooms-- lucky for you!

I like your way of thinking! I suppose the 3-night attracts more first-time cruisers?

Originally Posted by SOmommy

What a scare with the car repairs! That could've been a huge bummer! Glad you got the Palo ressie

I was seriously like high-anxiety scared for those few days We're actually in Remy, and not Palo. I fought for both but DH pointed out we've been to Palo numerous times, and can only go to so many restaurants in 3 nights.

[Lumieregirl]

Pre-Trip Report, Part 3: It's time to meet Nico

Sunday, June 22

Back when we weren't sure if we could even get into Remy, DH had expressed that he did not want to miss one of the 3 dining rooms for it. I explained to him that I'd learned on PP how to handle this: take the early dining, and book Remy for later. Eat an app or have a drink at main dining, and cut out early for Remy. He pointed out that we can't get to early dining. Because we have many kids to organize? Because we have lengthy daytrip plans? No. The truth is, and I have no idea why - we are fairly organized, smart people - we can't get anywhere early , at least not when it matters. Something always happens. At first I wanted to fight the pessimism but I finally gave into realism. We're just cursed somehow for time. And I really hate feeling rushed. I know I may want to visit the Rainforest in the afternoons, and have plenty of time to get ready for dinner afterwards. He suggested going to the late main dining, and rather than cutting out early, show up a bit late from an earlier Remy . Maybe that will work? I logged into my DCL ressie and it had a message that I could not make any changes to my dining time.

Monday, June 23

When I got to work, I called DCL to see if they could help sort this, and if DH's plan will work. My friendly CM introduced himself as Nico. I explained my situation - with my traditional anxiety - I'm telling you it can be heard in my voice "I don't know if there's any way to do this ... ".

First, he said he could see that I had early dining, then he said "Oh ... WAIT ... PIXIE DUST !!!! You have LATE dining!" Now, that was a quick result, but it got better ... and how cool is it how he did that .

I started to explain how we wanted to eat at Remy on our first night rather than third, and that we didn't want to miss Animator's Palate show and even though it's not a huge "show" I'd like a full meal at Enchanted Garden, so is there any way to get Royal Palace on the first night? Ok, that's what I was GOING to say but I could hear Nico giggling. I said "ummm ...." and he said "I'm sorry I can't help it , and proceeded to tell me EXACTLY what I was going to tell him. He said he couldn't make any promises, but he'd try, and technically you can't get your dining rotation until you arrive but ... then he again said "OH ... WAIT ... BIBBODI .... BOBBIDI .... BOO !!!!"

He then informed me we were the proud owners of Dining Rotation 1:

First night - Royal Palace
Second night - Animator's Palate
Third night - Enchanted Garden

I then thanked him profusely and asked him if he even had a computer at his desk. He advised me no, only Pixie Dust and Magic Wands. I soooo wanna work there !!!!

In all seriousness, this is why I love Disney. Nobody else can create that kind of customer service. He did tell me that almost nobody requests a certain rotation, and since we were only a party of 2, and it was more than 30 days out, it was easy to put this in. I suppose they begin assigning dining around 30 days out? I'd love to be a fly on the wall there and see how they do things.

I wanted to share some photos with you today, but Flickr hates me for some reason, so I'm hoping to come home after work today and show Flickr who's boss, and have some up shortly.

Up Next: Have you put any thought into shore excursions, dear?

[lauriep]

Getting a CM like Nico is Disney magic at its best, for sure. I know few companies empower their employees to make decisions outside the box like Disney does, but it's a perfect match when you get a CM who enjoys the job like that. Sitting at a desk with pixie dust and a wand!

[chezp]

What a great Cast Member you found in Nico and I'm so glad everything worked out for you.

[shazza]

Enjoying your report - sounds like the planning is working out.