Are You Ever Coming Home?...No! I am playing with Wizards, Farkles and Sparkling Friends completed 10/21/2017 - Page 8 - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
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Amazing to see the Fantasy as pull into the port as your cruise is just so close and can't wait to get on the ship and begin your cruise! Too funny with that truck and the chainsaw.
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October 6, 2017-Enjoying an amazing dinner at Victoria & Albert's with PP's Dot and Drew
My TR from my most recent trip is now underway. Includes: Universal Studios Florida, Disney World and Sea World Orlando Trifecta TR -Updated December 10th! TR is now COMPLETED!
Hmm, it doesn't sound like having the rental car for the day worked out that well from your description. We tend to just leave ours parked up these days and pay for the parking. I know it costs more, but it's so much more convenient.
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Amazing to see the Fantasy as pull into the port as your cruise is just so close and can't wait to get on the ship and begin your cruise! Too funny with that truck and the chainsaw.
It is so exciting! And then when you get off you look at the ship like it is a traitor...welcoming new passengers and totally cheating on you.
Quote:
Originally Posted by cubfancolleen
That is a bargain for the water!
Once you can see the ship, you really do just want to board. NOW!
It was and worth it not to have to mess with getting water another way.
Yes...I am not patient at all.
Quote:
Originally Posted by chezp
Hmm, it doesn't sound like having the rental car for the day worked out that well from your description. We tend to just leave ours parked up these days and pay for the parking. I know it costs more, but it's so much more convenient.
It wasn't really bad. It was more my fault for not looking at the "route" siri was taking me on. I had just assumed it would take me on the toll roads.
This cruise had a lot of experienced cruisers.....Tons of platinum's and Gold's. Those platinum's have it down how they like to get to the port and many drive and park or return the cars. I have a lot of platinum friends and they almost always drive and drop off their cars. I think with so many drivers for this cruise it just made it backed up. Also, a lot of the platinum's like to get in the ship early too.
Jeanne is platinum and she kind of arrived late for her I think.
Once I got to Alamo and got on the shuttle, things moved fast.
Quote:
Originally Posted by pamcarey
I've used rental cars to Port Canaveral several times, and had bad experiences with shuttles. There's no best way, I think.
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The shuttle today wasn't bad at all. It was there when I dropped the car off...however Rob (Cass's husband) had to wait for it a bit.
In theory, it all should work seamlessly, but we know that is not the case most times.
We found the Alamo location, which we were sort of familiar with since we had used them last Oct, and got in line to drop off the car. I had to start a new row and it was kind of confusing, but I just pulled up next to the car in front as much as I could and got out and all was good. We grabbed our carryon bags and headed to the front. A shuttle was there and I was just about to ask what to do when I saw a guy come out of the building out of the corner of my eye. I paid no attention really to him as I was trying to figure out where to go and then I heard.... “Claire?” I looked up and it was Rob, Cass’s husband. He said the shuttle had just arrived and would be leaving soon.
We all got on the shuttle and talked a bit. Rob took a picture of us to send to Cass.
The driver warned us that the line to get to the port was long. I spoke up and let him know that the car shuttles were able to use the outside lane and go right in. He didn’t believe me and Rob said he saw the same thing. Finally he believed us and sure enough…we were right!
Jeanne messaged that they were letting people on the ship and she was going on and so was Patty….another one of our friends. Dang it! More anxiety!!!!
Rob told me that my phone probably had the “allow toll roads” turned off, so he took it and fixed it for me for the future. It’s so odd as I have used this phone a few times already, the last being in Feb. to get to the port, and it allowed toll roads when I asked directions then. My guess is I accidently turned it off at some point without even knowing I did it.
Soon we were off and pulling out our passports to be let in. A family kind of got between Rob and us and I asked if we could go ahead since we were with him. LOL. Well not technically….but we were.
We then made it through security….lifting that suitcase with water was a chore…and up the escalators to a waiting Cass and a BIG hug!!!! It was so great to see her again! Kira ran and hugged Claire. Claire is not a huggy person…she used to be, but over the years she is too cool for that…but she allowed the hug. LOL.
Cass quickly pushed us in the direction to get checked in and Rob had to go as well….so we did that as quickly as we could and then we were boarding. Woohooo!!!
Cass’s family stopped for a family boarding picture. I had promised Claire that I would not make her get pictures this cruise since we had bought the photo package last cruise and we had plenty….and they are still in their package. LOL.
Cass had said that Kira was shy, but she seemed full of personality to me. She was super friendly and nice. Claire is pretty quiet, especially around new people or strangers. I think Kira did most of the talking. LOL!
We walked right by the new Sweet on You ice-cream shop and I got a blurred picture.
We found everyone and introductions were made. I met 3 of Jeanne’s kids for the first time, Patty’s husband, Fred and their kids and we kind of got settled. I instantly liked Fred. He was talking about something and the way he said it totally made me laugh.
Some of the kids were leaving and so we played musical chairs and got the rest of us bunched into the table and went off for some food.
See that round brown lump next to my roll? That is the chocolate chip cookie now….what did they do with my precious cookies?????? It wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t the same either and I guess that is a good thing as I ate a lot less of them this trip.
Claire and I went to the bathroom at one point and Claire recognized Kwam, who was our assistant server last cruise. We told her we requested Ferdi and was she still working with him. Unfortunately not and she wasn’t even on the same rotation as we were, but she was pretty sure our rotation was the one Ferdi was currently on.
Jeanne’s daughters, Kelsey and Emily, were so friendly. Both are in their early 20’s and were so nice to the girls right off the bat. Emily is a big Harry Potter fan and it seemed her and Kira were bonding with their love of HP.
We all chatted a bit, but slowly people started leaving and the rooms were now open. Cass left and told Rob that he was not to come for another 10 minutes or so as she was going to take pictures of the room before he and Kira came down.
I started posting pictures to facebook and started getting questions..Are you ever coming home?......Um…This is only my 3rd day in FL…I haven’t been gone long….What? A cruise now? Um…again…I only was in the parks for 2 days….wait till they see how long this cruise is. Hahahaha.
After a bit, we left too and went down to check out our room….our first ocean view room (window, no balcony) on a Disney ship together. Claire has only been in balcony rooms and she was a little unsure about how the room would be. I have been in an ocean view in DCL before.
As we walked down to the room some kids were running…a full out run…down the hall and passed us. I said… “hey guys, no running in the halls!” and their reply was “Yes we can” and my reply was “No you can’t” and again “yes we can” and again I said “No you can’t, you can get in trouble for doing so”….and the little brats went in a room a few doors down from us. I was appalled at how they responded. I didn’t even say it meanly….just a heads up kind of way. I will tell you now…as I may forget later with all the incidences that happened…..but these kids were HORRIBLE!!!! And so was their family. They occupied at least 3 rooms after mine…and possibly a 4th. They ran up and down the hall all day and evening. We reported them 2-3 times by phone and going to guest services. Jeanne and Cass both reported them numerous times as well. At times, Grandpa was racing them down the hall. They played Frisbee in the hall. They played kick ball in the hall. The room next to me was loud a few times…like the walls were breaking and I literally pounded on the connecting wall with both fists. They would turn the “please make up the room” signs to do not disturb. Jeanne caught them…with the parents and/or grandparents standing right there with them….as they slid down the staircase banisters. Someone (Maybe Cass) saw them laying on the floor of the elevator and would not move so people could get on. They just rode the elevator like that.
I have never seen kids so bad on a ship in all my life. This cruise seemed to have a lot more kids that misbehaved than any other cruise I have taken, but these kids were the worst of them all. I am not sure if it is because this was my first summer cruise and there were more kids….or we just had a bunch of entitled brats onboard.
It’s one thing if your kid is bad and then you find out and they then get lectured, lose privileges, or in major trouble back in the room….but the family was aware of what they were doing and at times participating. It was unbelievable!
It did NOT ruin my cruise at all though. I had a lot of fun, but I pretty much had to say something to the kids at LEAST once a day. Cass even recorded them on video.
So we made it to our room, 8020,….unaware that the brat kids down the hall would be an issue all cruise long…and we went in and I took some quick pictures.
This room is one of the bigger set up rooms. It was the same size room we had in Oct. minus the balcony we had then. It had a murphy pull down bed, but did not have an upper bunk. Claire wanted to sleep on the murphy.
I didn’t take a ton of pictures as I have so many now over the years and the rooms look similar and the bathrooms pretty much the same. We had a round tub in our shower bathroom.
We headed back out to explore. We had set up the chat feature while we were eating, so we were able to message our friends. Brook I think was just arriving now. She had taken DCL transportation from Disney, which makes you arrive later.
She said she had a different dining rotation than us, which was weird because she requested the same server. She went to get it changed. They could get her in the same rotation, but not in the same area.
At some point we met up with Cass, Rob, and Kira and headed off to the kids club to get the girls their bands. This would be the only time Claire ever had the band on…..I totally give up on clubs with her!
Then something with Stitch came on and Kira coaxed Claire to go watch with her. Claire is not a big Stitch fan really. Honestly she is at that phase where characters of any kind are just not “cool”. I hope she gets over it soon.
And then we headed out. Claire informed me she would NOT be returning to the club at any time during this cruise. UGH!!! Really????? Why not? It looks so fun.
I really don’t know how full this place ever gets, because it seems like these teens meet up and become friends but then hang out all over the ship rather than here.
We then headed to the pre-teen club…the Edge. Claire is eligible to go in either this club or the Oceaneer’s. She came here once in Oct with her cousin and neither one would ever go again. So this time I thought that she might possibly go back to Oceaneer’s with Kira….nope….she is a stubborn girl. She even told me at home she would give it a try this time….she lied.
With the clubs toured, we still had a little bit of time before the Muster Drill. The girls went off together for a bit, but I gave Claire strict instructions to be back at the room at a certain time so I could pick her up to go with me to the drill.
I then went off on my own for about 20 minutes or so and then headed back to the room. Claire was there, a little early, but I think she worried about being late.
Yay - you're on board! Those clubs look amazing. I can't believe Claire wasn't interested. Like you said, if they had stuff like that when I was a kid, I'd have been all over it!
I seriously cannot believe the behaviour of that family. The attitude of the kids is bad enough, but my goodness, I can see where they get it from, if that's how the adults behave. Wow. Just appalling.
Wow, I really can't believe the behavior of those kids and their parents and grandparents! It's people like them who give the rest of us (kids/parents) a bad name!
Great pictures of the clubs-- love the energy of the counselors!
When my daughter was Claire's age she went through the "too cool for this" phase but it has now passed. She requested to go to Crystal Palace to see Pooh etc. and get pictures this coming January and also can't wait to get on the boat--too old for the clubs, but if I know her, she will be all over those coffee shops (which is really just a Big Kids Club anyway, imo)
Glad you didn't let the Rudes ruin your fun. Those poor kids are not going to know basic manners and won't be able to function in society and shame on those adults for neglecting their upbringing like that. 'K, rant over. Sorry.
Can't wait for the drill to be over and then the fun can truly begin!
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Nice tour of the Fantasy and many of the kids rooms look quite cool with the color variations! I guess Claire is at that age where she thinks it's uncool to do certain things. That family was unbelievable with their behavior. The kids were bad and the adults were just as so and they didn't care what they did or disrupted others enjoyment. I hate to say this but some people should not have children as being so immature as adults and irresponsible!
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October 6, 2017-Enjoying an amazing dinner at Victoria & Albert's with PP's Dot and Drew
My TR from my most recent trip is now underway. Includes: Universal Studios Florida, Disney World and Sea World Orlando Trifecta TR -Updated December 10th! TR is now COMPLETED!
Wow, that family sounds like a complete nightmare!
Like so many other things, kids don't appreciate what they have until they no longer have it. Those clubs look amazing to me!
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Yay - you're on board! Those clubs look amazing. I can't believe Claire wasn't interested. Like you said, if they had stuff like that when I was a kid, I'd have been all over it!
I seriously cannot believe the behaviour of that family. The attitude of the kids is bad enough, but my goodness, I can see where they get it from, if that's how the adults behave. Wow. Just appalling.
I don't understand why she won't go but I bet she will regret it some day. She did have fun however, so I guess thats all that counts.
The behavior was just awful. If an adult had told me to stop running, I would pray my parents didn't here and if i saw that person again I would be sure to be good in front of them. My parents would not be happy with me if I had been disturbing others...with in reason. And I know kids will be kids, but when it continued and the adults were doing it too, it was way beyond that.
Quote:
Originally Posted by pamcarey
Wow, I really can't believe the behavior of those kids and their parents and grandparents! It's people like them who give the rest of us (kids/parents) a bad name!
exactly. When we got off the ship a few people talked about the bad kids running the halls of deck 8. I don't think that family was in the group.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Big Baloo
Great pictures of the clubs-- love the energy of the counselors!
When my daughter was Claire's age she went through the "too cool for this" phase but it has now passed. She requested to go to Crystal Palace to see Pooh etc. and get pictures this coming January and also can't wait to get on the boat--too old for the clubs, but if I know her, she will be all over those coffee shops (which is really just a Big Kids Club anyway, imo)
Glad you didn't let the Rudes ruin your fun. Those poor kids are not going to know basic manners and won't be able to function in society and shame on those adults for neglecting their upbringing like that. 'K, rant over. Sorry.
Can't wait for the drill to be over and then the fun can truly begin!
I hope she goes back to wanting to see characters eventually. I like seeing them. LOL. As a little kid she loved all that stuff. I guess I gave her too much. hahaha.
I can't even describe how bad they were. Cass was almost in tears one day with anger. And when she videoed them they came right up to her and asked what she was doing and why.
Quote:
Originally Posted by SuperDave
Nice tour of the Fantasy and many of the kids rooms look quite cool with the color variations! I guess Claire is at that age where she thinks it's uncool to do certain things. That family was unbelievable with their behavior. The kids were bad and the adults were just as so and they didn't care what they did or disrupted others enjoyment. I hate to say this but some people should not have children as being so immature as adults and irresponsible!
They really have nice clubs. Hopefully in a few years Claire will get out of her funk. I think once she is old enough for the adult clubs though, she will definitely be going. She always seemed interested in anything I was going to do that she couldn't go to. I did bring her to adult trivia one evening though. The day before I attended one in the pub and lots of kids were there playing games, etc and they didn't kick them out because it wasn't adult only time yet. So the next time she came with us and no one said anything. She looks older anyways and she is well behaved in situations like that. I told her she could come, but if they asked her to leave she would have to, but again there were more kids there that evening as well.
Quote:
Originally Posted by cubfancolleen
Wow, that family sounds like a complete nightmare!
Like so many other things, kids don't appreciate what they have until they no longer have it. Those clubs look amazing to me!
They were a total nightmare....I hope karma caught up to them.
Claire does not realize how good she has it and when she is older she will regret not going.
Quote:
Originally Posted by rhinohunter
Your ship is huge. I got tired just reading ans looking at the pictures. Sorry about the family down the hall. Hope it didn't mess you up too much.
it is a big ship, but it doesn't seem too bad navigating and then at least I am burning calories. LOL.
Our bags had arrived, so I pulled them in and put a few things away and then we headed off to our Muster station for the drill. We were in the Walt Disney Theatre this time. Yay!!!!! It was super crowded though. I am glad we arrived early. We were near Cass and family…yay! But Jeanne’s family was late. I saw people were standing but she messaged me that she got one of the balcony box seats. I looked but there was a drape there but it looked like it was her between the crack in the drape. Sure enough, she messaged me and said she could see me through the crack. LOL.
After the drill we slowly made our way out. We walked out with Jeanne and went to the deck party.
This cruise had a lot of experienced DCL cruisers on it and my guess is that a lot of them have seen the party many times and didn’t need to see it again.
Jeanne was much too hot and she headed off to cool off and Claire and I walked around and soon ran into Cass and family and Brook and family. We watched us sail away with them.
Cass had put out a Canadian flag and a poster for some of her friends to see on the webcam.
Here is the video. It takes about a minute or so before the ship is really in front of the camera. We are at about minute 4:55 and on for about 25 seconds.
I sat down with them a bit, but I was too excited to sit for long. This group of crew all came by and it looked so cool with them all walking in their yellow suits, but I couldn’t get my camera our fast enough.
And I was too antsy to sit for long, so I headed back to the room to get ready for the show tonight and to get our things all squared away.
Once it was time for the show, Claire and I headed down and bought 2 popcorn buckets (and brought our own water) and found a seat near Cass and family. I think Patty’s family sat near us and possibly Brooks. It’s hard to remember each night and who all came.
The show is a welcome aboard show and has a little story along with snippets of what to expect this cruise. It started with Mike our cruise director who got us excited for the cruise. I believe Mike is a new cruise director, but I really liked him a lot. He was a lot of fun and I saw him a few times on the ship and he would stop and talk to us each time. His wife and fairly new baby were onboard as well.
We got a snippet of a group called Six Appeal. They sang with no music, but made all the “music” sounds with their voices. They were AMAZING! I couldn’t believe they could do all that with just their voices. We did have to laugh at their attire though. ALL 6 of them had on really tight pants…..well tight in the crotch area…and we didn’t really have to imagine too much…let’s just say. Hahaha. But they were fun and really good. I had heard later that the cruise before us was the first time they had been on with Disney, so we were their second sailing. I am pretty sure they will be back. They were well liked.
No pictures are allowed at the shows anymore, but at the end I always bring my phone up and take a few.
After the show, I think Claire headed back to the room and I went off on my own for a little bit. One thing about summer cruises….it stays daylight late. I had never thought about that before…but of course it makes sense.
Once again, I never did get in the adult pool this cruise. One of these days I will get in this one or on the Dream….I have been in the one on the Magic, but it is set up differently.
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Too funny with that truck and the chainsaw. 
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Those clubs look amazing. I can't believe Claire wasn't interested. Like you said, if they had stuff like that when I was a kid, I'd have been all over it! 
Wow. Just appalling.
The kids were bad and the adults were just as so and they didn't care what they did or disrupted others enjoyment. 
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