Cruising on The Dream - 4 Nights to the Bahamas - Jan 5-9th, 2014. TR complete 1/31/2014 - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
As of January 1, 2019, we have closed our forums. This is a decision we did not come to lightly, but it is necessary. The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk. The server software itself must be updated, and it cannot be without removing the forums.
So it is with a heavy heart that we say goodbye to our long-running forums. They came online in 2000 and brought together so many wonderful Disney fans. We had friendships form, careers launch, couples marry, children born ... all because of this amazing community.
Thank you to each of you who were a part of this community. You made it possible.
And a very special thank you to our Guides (moderators), past and present, who kept our forums a happy place to be. You are the glue that held everything together, and we are forever grateful to you. Thank you aliceinwdw, Caldercup, MrsM, WillCAD, Fortissimo, GingerJ, HiddenMickey, CRCrazy, Eeyoresmom, disneyknut, disneydani, Cam22, chezp, WDWfan, Luvsun, KMB733, rescuesk, OhToodles!, Colexis Mom, lfredsbo, HiddenMickey, DrDolphin, DopeyGirl, duck addict, Disneybine, PixieMichele, Sandra Bostwick, Eeyore Tattoo, DyanKJ130, Suzy Q'Disney, LilMarcieMouse, AllisonG, Belle*, Chrissi, Brant, DawnDenise, Crystalloubear, Disneymom9092, FanOfMickey, Goofy4Goofy, GoofyMom, Home4us123, iamgrumpy, ilovedisney247, Jennifer2003, Jenny Pooh, KrisLuvsDisney, Ladyt, Laughaholic88, LauraBelle Hime, Lilianna, LizardCop, Loobyoxlip, lukeandbrooksmom, marisag, michnash, MickeyMAC, OffKilter_Lynn, PamelaK, Poor_Eeyore, ripkensnana, RobDVC, SHEANA1226, Shell of the South, snoozin, Statelady01, Tara O'Hara, tigger22, Tink and Co., Tinkerbelz, WDWJAMBA, wdwlovers, Wendyismyname, whoSEZ, WildforWD, and WvuGrrrl. You made the magic.
We want to personally thank Sara Varney, who coordinated our community for many years (among so many other things she did for us), and Cheryl Pendry, our Message Board Manager who helped train our Guides, and Ginger Jabour, who helped us with the PassPorter-specific forums and Live! Guides. Thank you for your time, energy, and enthusiasm. You made it all happen.
There are other changes as well.
Why? Well, the world has changed. And change with it, we must. The lyrics to "We Go On" for IllumiNations say it best:
We go on to the joy and through the tears
We go on to discover new frontiers
Moving on with the current of the years.
We go on
Moving forward now as one
Moving on with a spirit born to run
Ever on with each rising sun.
To a new day, we go on.
It's time to move on and move forward.
PassPorter is a small business, and for many years it supported our family. But the world changed, print books took a backseat to the Internet, and for a long time now it has been unable to make ends meet. We've had to find new ways to support our family, which means new careers and less and less time available to devote to our first baby, PassPorter.
But eventually, we must move on and move forward. It is the right thing to do.
So we are retiring this newsletter, as we simply cannot keep up with it. Many thanks to Mouse Fan Travel who supported it all these years, to All Ears and MousePlanet who helped us with news, to our many article contributors, and -- most importantly -- to Sara Varney who edited our newsletter so wonderfully for years and years.
And we are no longer charging for the Live Guides. If you have a subscription, it's yours to keep for the lifetime of the Live Guides at no additional cost. The Live Guides will stay online, barring server issues and technical problems, for all of 2019.
That said, PassPorter is not going away. Most of the resources will remain online for as long as we can support them, and after that we will find ways to make whatever we can available. PassPorter means a great deal to us, and to many of you, and we will do our best to keep it alive in whatever way we can. Our server costs are high, and they'll need to come out of our pockets, so in the future you can expect some changes so we can bring those costs down.
Thank you, thank you, thank you for your amazing support over the years. Without you, there's no way us little guys could have made something like this happen and given the "big guys" a run for their money. PassPorter was consistently the #3 guidebook after the Unofficial and Official guides, which was really unheard of for such a small company to do. We ROCKED it thanks to you and your support and love!
If you miss us, you can still find some of us online. Sara started a new blog at DisneyParkPrincess.com -- I strongly urge you to visit and get on her mailing list. She IS the Disney park princess and knows Disney backward and forward. And I am blogging as well at JenniferMaker.com, which is a little craft blog I started a couple of years ago to make ends meet. You can see and hear me in my craft show at https://www.youtube.com/c/jennifermaker . Many PassPorter readers and fans are on Facebook, in groups they formed like the PassPorter Trip Reports and PassPorter Crafting Challenge (if you join, just let them know you read about it in the newsletter). And some of our most devoted community members started a forum of their own at Pixie Dust Lane and all are invited over.
So we encourage you to stay in touch with us and your fellow community members wherever works best for you!
Welcome! We're happy you've found the PassPorter Community -- the friendliest place to plan your vacation to Walt Disney World, Disney Cruise Line, Disneyland, and the world in general! You are now viewing the PassPorter Message Board Community as a guest, which gives you limited access. As our guest, feel free to browse our messages by selecting the forum you want to visit from the list below.
To post messages and ask questions, join our FREE community today and you'll get access to tools and resources not available to guests, such as our vacation countown timers, "living" avatars, private messaging system, database searches, downloads, and a special PassPorter discount code. Registration is fast, simple, and completely free. Just click the Join Our Community link.
If you think you've already joined, log in below now. If you don't remember your member name or password, please visit our Member Name and Password Recovery page. You are also welcome to contact us.
There were a few differences, and perhaps some of the info will be helpful to those planning to do this cruise in the future. I'll also share a few photos.
The Cast (minus me, since I am taking the photo, as we load up for the 2 hr drive to Port Canaveral):
Just like our last trip, we had DDs 1 & 2, along with DD1SiL, and DGD 1 & 2. DGD 1 turned 12 on our last cruise, and is now almost 14. DGD 2 would be turning 11 on this cruise - which is why we picked January for this trip. And DH, sometimes known as Grumpy Bear. Oh, and me 60 yr old wicked stepmother to DDs 1 & 2
Brief Backstory: We spend our summers in Maine, usually returning to Florida in October. This year, Grumpy decided to have open heart surgery in October - in Maine ... All went well, and we finally got the OK to drive back to Florida the week before Christmas. Had it not been for the scheduled cruise, I fear Grumpy would have held me hostage in Maine for the winter. This would have been ok with Stitch - one of our dogs:
(If you've followed any of my other reports, you may remember I usually find an excuse to sneak in at least one dog photo - )
Fast forward through Christmas - literally - and the kids all arrive from California after the New Year, with a couple of days to acclimate before boarding the ship.
3 Days before we were due to leave, I looked for our cruise booklets and luggage tags - nowhere to be found. I guess I did forget something in Maine A quick call to DCL confirmed it was no biggie - just have photo ID to get into the terminal, and the porters will have spare luggage tags.
2 days before: I never pack until the morning of the cruise, but since I was trying to be more organized this year, I packed early. Guess what? I forgot several essential items So much for that packing ahead foolishness.
The night before the Cruise - I found all of our travel docs and the luggage tags Who knew I would have actually unpacked them and put them away in a travel folder? I tell ya, trying to be organized and on top of things is not helping me this year!
Our van arrived to take us to Port Canaveral at 10am. We had a quiet 2 hour drive - everyone enjoying their iPad, Kindle, or taking a snooze.
The birthday girl is ready to go!
We arrived just shortly after noon, and there were only a few people waiting to get into the terminal. Grumpy (who hasn't been all that grumpy since he feels much better after his valve repair), wore his jacket so he wouldn't have to pack it. We call this his "Dr. Epcot" look:
Up Next: Getting on the Ship, and Sailing Away ...
Jan 5, 2014: Day 1: Part 2 - Getting on the Ship & Sailing Away
After almost no wait to get into the terminal, we quickly passed through security as we made our way upstairs to check in. I didn't take a photo of the check in area, but the lines didn't look too bad, especially since it was just after noon. We made our way to Concierge Check-in, and were quickly checked in and boarding the ship. We were escorted to the Boarding Photo setup, and got a group photo, as well as one for each cabin.
TIP: There is now a new App, called The Disney Navigator App which you can download for your iPhone or Android smart phone. You should do this from home, even though you must be on the ship to use the APP. The advantage of this APP is it will show you all of your Navigator info for the whole cruise, not just day by day like the paper ones. It works over the ships wi-fi, but the connection is free for just the APP.
It seems we always rush this part, and I don't know why. But soon, they were calling our names as we walked into the Atrium. It was only 12:30pm, and our rooms were ready, so we quickly stopped in to check things out. After that, we stopped in at the Concierge Lounge to check on our dining reservations.
Staffing Concierge for this trip were Ashley, Annie-Marie, and Tracey. All were excellent and did everything they could to make us feel welcome. A note on the Concierge Lounge; we did not use the lounge much on our first cruise, perhaps because we were on Deck 11. This time, we were on Deck 12, in 12512, and the door to our room was just past the side entrance to the Lounge. We found it easy to slip in for coffee, a soft drink, or just to relax.
A quick look at the one bedroom suite - the kids had the adjoining room (no suite) next door:
I don't spend much time in the cabin, but Lou (DH) does, and he enjoys the space in the suite.
We grabbed a snack for lunch in the lounge, and the kids went off to get checked into the Edge, and to get some lunch at Cabanas. We just relaxed, explored the ship, and went to the Emergency Muster Drill.
The weather was good - high 70s, no rain, but windy:
The Sail Away Party started, and there were lots of people on deck enjoying the send off - this is the only time we ever saw a crowd:
Since we had the late seating for dinner, I joined DD1 and DD2 for the Golden Mickeys. We enjoyed the show, although I might have dozed off a few times:
No photos allowed during the show - this one was a lap snap taken at the very end - no flash, and the display on the camera was turned off, so I hope it will be considered a small transgression:
Our dining rotation had us starting out in the Royal Palace. We had a nice meal; the only complaint I heard was disappointment about the French Onion Soup, as it wasn't quite as good as some had remembered.
The cute Napkins and Royal Bread Basket - and the youngest in our party stifling a yawn in the background:
I tried the Lobster Mac & Cheese, and enjoyed it. Our server tried to bring out some additional lobster, but I assured him this was plenty.
Sleepy Birthday Girl passed on Dessert, but was delighted when our server brought her a plate, decorated with the phrase she'd used to turn down dessert. We'd seen this before, but the kids thought it was very special:
This may be the reason I keep booking Disney Cruises - the Grand Marnier Souffle at The Royal Palace is my favorite dessert:
No one was up for night clubbing, so we made our way back to our rooms. Jose, our room host, took good care of us all week, and had a couple of surprises:
(Note: I blacked out the sleeping grizzly behind the beautiful swans)
This concludes our first Day on board. So far, everyone was still having a good time, and the weather was holding ... would our luck continue?
Registered Message Board Members save 30% off PassPorter guidebooks! When you register you'll have access to a discount coupon good for 30% off the list price of PassPorter books in our online store.
Wow your photos look like they should be on the Disney Cruise ads, you get such beautiful pops of color! And WOW that suite! Glad it was a nice easy first day on board, complete with your favorite dessert
Oh wow - your suite is just beautiful. One of these days, we're going to have to go concierge...
Once again, and I know I always say this, but your photos are just absolutely stunning.
Thank you, Cheryl. Be careful what you wish for - I booked our first cruise Concierge to get adjoining cabins (I booked quite late) - now it's become a "must" as far as Lou is concerned.
Quote:
Originally Posted by MayraLR
Your suite is amazing! Love the pictures you took around the deck!
Thanks!
Quote:
Originally Posted by xwewhisper
Wow your photos look like they should be on the Disney Cruise ads, you get such beautiful pops of color! And WOW that suite! Glad it was a nice easy first day on board, complete with your favorite dessert
Thanks - it was a relaxing first day and night. My photos will always err or the side of colorful
Quote:
Originally Posted by lauriep
Great first day on board. Love the suite and the lounge area is much bigger than I imagined. Gorgeous photos!
Thanks - the lounge is a nice size. We almost never saw more than 2 or 3 couples/ families in there. The fancy coffee machine was working this time (unlike on our first cruise), so it was really nice to step in for a quick latte after waking up. Still not as nice as the Cove & Outlook on The Wonder!
Well I'm glad I found this as I missed the first round, but I'm thinking I may need to go back and read it.
Wow! That room is gorgeous! And your photos are stunning! They look better than the pics Disney uses to promote.
Can't wait for more!
Wow, your suite looks amazing! And your photos are incredible, as always! I just love looking at them! Thanks for the tip about the Navigator App... I hadn't heard of that, but will definitely try it on my next cruise.
About This Page: 
)
A quick call to DCL confirmed it was no biggie - just have photo ID to get into the terminal, and the porters will have spare luggage tags.
So much for that packing ahead foolishness.
Who knew I would have actually unpacked them and put them away in a travel folder? I tell ya, trying to be organized and on top of things is not helping me this year!
Like
Thank
Pixie Dust
PassPorter Guide Author
I adore the photo of Stitch in the snow! 
Melanie
One of these days, we're going to have to go concierge... 
that suite! Glad it was a nice easy first day on board, complete with your favorite dessert 
Disney Magic - Oct 2015
Linear Mode
