A Christmas Ship Comes Sailing In (A Cam and Luke TR) Completed 2/18 - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
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A Christmas Ship Comes Sailing In (A Cam and Luke TR) Completed 2/18
I had hoped to begin this as a PTR right after we got back from our October WDW trip, but a couple of weeks with kidney stones put a halt to that. We live in exactly three days, so I’ll just start this trip report with some aspects of the planning. I will also be posting this in both Sharing the Adventure: WDW Trip Reports and Sharing the Adventure: Disney Cruise Report at the start. When the actual report begins, I separate into the two sections with links.
I’ll start with how this trip even came to be. One afternoon back in late July, Luke received an e-mail from DVC announcing two member deals. One was for an Aulani trip with 7 nights for the price of 5. The other was for cruises on the Magic during November and December at 30% off. Luke had some time to think about both offers as I was napping snuggly on the couch. When I awoke, he immediately started telling me about both deal. I don’t wake up quickly, so my poor brain couldn’t get a handle on what he was saying. When I finished, I asked, “Are we going on a cruise?”
We actually thought about it for a couple of days, considering the cost and which of the cruises we could work into our schedule. Luke had initially thought we could move our WDW October trip to begin a few days later and then cruise out on November 2. But I reminded him that not only did we already have ADRs and FP+, but we had already purchased and received our MNSSHP tickets. It was took expensive to add 5 more days , so that was out. The other November dates were too near family Thanksgiving times, so those were out, too. The last possible sailing date was December 7. We liked the cruise itinerary in the Western Caribbean, and in the end chose a few days later to book the 7-night Western Caribbean Cruise on the Magic. We bantered back and forth about whether to get a stateroom with a verandah or not. We finally decided that we had enjoyed the verandah on our 4-night cruise back in 2006, so since we’d be on board for 7 nights, we figured we’d enjoy it even more. So we are in a Deluxe Oceanview Stateroom with a Verandah, room #6080. We’re not too far from the elevators or the laundry.
Speaking of the itinerary, here it is.
Sunday, December 7 – Depart from Port Canaveral
Monday, December 8 – Key West (somewhere I’ve wanted to go)
Tuesday, December 9 – At Sea Day
Wednesday, December 10 – Grand Cayman
Thursday, December 11 – Cozumel, Mexico
Friday, December 12 – At Sea Day
Saturday, December 13 – Castaway Cay
Sunday, December 14 – Return to Port Canaveral
It wasn’t until later that I realized that we would be aboard a Very Merry Time cruise with all the Christmas decorations and special events. The cruise just got more exciting. Castaway Cay will be festively decked out. A Deck the Deck Tropical Holiday Party, Tree Lighting Ceremony, Santa meet and greet, some Disney characters will be dressed in holiday attire for meet and greets, holiday storytelling, a life-size gingerbread house, and even special holiday merchandise.
On September 8, we could book Port Adventures. We had both been poring over these for the past month and a half. Our final choices were:
Key West – our own tour of the city with a slice of Key Lime pie somewhere.
Grand Cayman – Nautilus Undersea Tour
Cozumel – Mexican Cuisine Workshop and Tasting (I had suggest the Salsa and Salsa adventure because we both love salsa and would learn to make a few varieties, but Luke did not want to learn to dance the Salsa. )
Castaway Cay – no Port Adventures; just lots of time on the beach.
We also needed to decide when and how to head down to Florida. This trip was totally unexpected, which caught us a little unprepared with funds. So for the how, we’ve decided to drive down for the first time ever. I’m actually looking forward to it. Originally, we thought we’d stay at a hotel near the port, but the more we thought about being that close to WDW and all the Christmas stuff, our minds began to change. Sometime in August, Luke was able to book one night at OKW for one night in a one bedroom as it was the only thing available. He did waitlist us for two nights in a studio at OKW in hopes of getting us more time in the parks. Just a few days before our October WDW trip, I got an e-mail letting us know that the waitlist had come through. We’ll be staying at OKW in a studio on Friday, December 5 and 6. At this point we knew we’d have one full day in a park(s) and maybe an evening on the 5th. Luke later decided that with my arthritis it might be best to make the trip in two days instead of one. So we will actually be leaving her around noon on December 4, right after my manicure appointment. We have a room booked at a Best Western in Macon, Georgia, right off I-75. We hope to leave early, no later than 8:00, on December 5th so we can have part of an afternoon and evening at Epcot.
Once we knew we’d have time for parks, we set up FP+ selections for both days. We have FP+ the afternoon/evening of the 5th for Mission Space, Test Track, and Spaceship Earth. The main goal is to see Illuminations with the holiday tag. On the 6th, we’ll be park hopping. We’ll start at MK with FP+ selections for Space Mountain, Buzz Lightyear, and BTMMR. In addition to these, we’d like to do Jingle Cruise, Peter Pan, and SDMT (we won’t be upset if any of these three don’t work out). We have a lunch ADR at Sanaa for 2:45 PM. We’ll also check out the Christmas decorations at AKL both Kidani Village and Jambo House. The rest of the day will be spent at DHS. If we can make some FP+ selections once we reach the park we will, but the main goal is the Osborne Family Spectacle of Dancing Lights.
Sunday morning plans are still not totally finalized, but the plan is to leave WDW no later than 11:00 AM since our boarding time is 1:00 PM. This is one planning aspect that I let slip up on me. I didn’t do On-line Check-in until last night so we could not get an earlier boarding time. Since we know we have a little time, we’re trying to decide if we’d like a few hours in park or rather have a nice sit down breakfast.
A cruise doesn’t seem to take as much planning as a WDW vacation, or at least this one hasn’t. I purchased pirate costumes back in early October that we used for MNSSHP. I have purchased two little black dresses for formal and semi-formal nights plus a cute, yet comfortable, pair of black dress shoes. Today I pulled out clothes for each day and ironed what needed it. Hopefully, I’ll begin to get these things loaded into the suitcase. We still need to buy Luke a jacket and tie as he owns neither. We’re not fancy folks for the most part, so he doesn’t often have need of these.
How exciting! My DHand I love cruising, but are taking a break until the kids are off to college. Teenagers don't like being away from the internet for five minutes, much less 5-7 days. Lol. I hope you guys have an amazing time and starting it off with a quick visit to the most magical winter wonderland? Perfect
How exciting! My DHand I love cruising, but are taking a break until the kids are off to college. Teenagers don't like being away from the internet for five minutes, much less 5-7 days. Lol. I hope you guys have an amazing time and starting it off with a quick visit to the most magical winter wonderland? Perfect
This is only our second cruise, but I am hoping that we can do this a little more often than once every 8 years.
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I still don’t have the suitcases out, but I have some of my clothes piled in the chair in our bedroom. I’m waiting until tomorrow to bring the suitcases in. With all our Christmas decorations out, the floor space is even more limited than usual. In fact, my scrapbook room floor space is very minimal as I’ve made up gift bags of Stefanie’s toys and stuffed animals for each of my great nieces and nephews. We’ve really tried to get as much Christmas stuff done before we leave as we’ll only have 5 days after we get back before the Matthews Family Christmas and only 10 days before Christmas itself. Another reason I haven’t started putting stuffed in the luggage is the dilemma of a two part vacation. We have four days prior to the cruise. We did decide today that we didn’t really want to haul all the suitcases to our OKW room, so I’ll pack all that we need for the WDW portion in one case that will stay behind in the Edge while we’re at sea. Suitcases will come in tomorrow night to be filled.
We completed our Target shopping this morning, picking up a few travel toiletries we needed and some snack food for the journey. Then we purchased another medium-sized spinner suitcase at TJ Maxx. Finally, we went to Macy’s to shop for a suit jacket for Luke. The first we found was $76 more than the one he had seen a couple of months ago. But then after a bit more searching, Luke found the exact one we’d seen before for the price we preferred. I’ve had it in my head that I wanted a red dress for this trip since it will have a Christmas theme, but I hadn’t been able to find one at our TJ Maxx. So we headed over to dresses where I found a Calvin Klein on clearance, but it was very thin and not quite as dressy as I wanted. More like a t-shirt dress I thought. Back out to the store floor, I discovered that Luke had found another Calvin Klein that was a Macy’s everyday special. Much dressier and the material was also classier. So back to the dressing room where I quickly figured out the size was too small. Luke did some checking and got an associate to get the right size for me off the mannequin. And it fit perfectly, so now I have a red dress along with my two really cute LBDs. I can’t wait to get a picture on the ship with a Christmasy backdrop. Luke has decided to use a few Batman ties he already owns, rather than buy any new ones. Once we got back home, I pulled all my dresses out of the scrapbook closet along with our pirate costumes and they are all laying on the back of the bedroom chair.
A little while ago, I vacuumed out the Edge so it is all nice and clean on the inside. I think we need to run it through a car wash, too, but it was damp and misty all day today. Maybe tomorrow, we can get this done.
Watching the nightly news, we’ve decided we picked a very good time to travel by car. The total cost of gas will be quite a bit less than two round-trip airfares. All that makes me think that we’ll need to top off the tank in the Edge tomorrow evening as well.
We will be cruising with you on our first Disney cruise. So excited!
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Enjoying some very Disney years since 2014 thanks to dd, cast member with great perks!
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You must be on your cruise already! I hope you are having a wonderful time. I can't wait to read about this trip. I've missed a few of your last trip reports. I can't seem to keep up with you, but I always enjoy reading about the adventures you and Luke have. I'm especially interested in this one as I'm planning a cruise soon.
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We’ll also check out the Christmas decorations at AKL both Kidani Village and Jambo House. The rest of the day will be spent at DHS. If we can make some FP+ selections once we reach the park we will, but the main goal is the Osborne Family Spectacle of Dancing Lights. 
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Pixie Dust
. I hope you guys have an amazing time and starting it off with a quick visit to the most magical winter wonderland? Perfect
PassPorter Guide Author
, ladies! I starting to get really, really excited for this trip to start. 
Dreams, Wishes, Hopes... these are the parts of childhood we should never lose.
Waiting for our next adventure after enjoying our Alaska cruise. 
Jenn
Luke has decided to use a few Batman ties he already owns, rather than buy any new ones. Once we got back home, I pulled all my dresses out of the scrapbook closet along with our pirate costumes and they are all laying on the back of the bedroom chair.
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