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The WHO, WHAT, WHEN, WHERE and WHY” of our Cruise TRIP REPORT
As promised here is my trip report,It will be broken down into the four days, Just bear with me as I will get it all posted eventually but I do have a 2 year old
For minor details please refer to my pre-trip report with same title I do have pictures and hopefully I have enough posts to post them, If not, then any ideas on how to view them would be appreciated but here we go, this is long but here we go:
The Sidnam’s First Disney Cruise. September 30th- October 4,2007
Day 1- Departing Day
- We woke up at my parents house at 9am to get everything packed into the car and ready to go, we were extremely excited and got ready a lot faster then we though we would, we were out of the house by 10am and to Port Canaveral by 10:20am.We got thru the check in process pretty fast considering not many people were there yet. We walked right up and into line without any wait at all. We received our boarding card (#2) which was first boarding after the pre-boarders (which was nice)
- Pluto made an appearance in the lobby at about 11am in front of the display cruise ship and so Christopher (son) and I had to get a photo with him which was a lot easier then at the theme parks. All Aboard
- We were called to board at noon and upon boarding we followed where we were told and were escorted/ shown towards lunch at Parrot Cay. Which was a nice buffet (hubby loved the idea of the buffet) and since I had Chris he got my food. I got chicken, yellow rice and some veggies and Christopher loved his lunch, which were chicken fingers and macaroni and cheese.
-We finished lunch around 12:30 and headed out to explore the ship. We wound up on deck #5 and met a cast member named Kari from England who happened to be a leader in the Oceaneers club. She fell in love with Christopher and was bummed that he wasn’t potty trained yet because she wanted him to stay in the club with her. But she did tell us that we were welcome to come in there anytime with him and hang out, then she took us to the Flounders Reef Nursery and introduced us to her friends that took care of the younger kids,
- After our self tour of the ship, it was almost 1:30pm and so we decided to head towards our stateroom on Deck #7 to see if they were available yet for us to enter, and they opened the rope exactly at 1:30pm So off we went to see our room. I was excited to see our Navigator and dinner tickets waiting for us, so I looked over everything and promptly highlighted our “TO DO’S” before dawning our Life Jackets and heading out to get the drill over with at 3:45pm (we started early with Chris as the drill didn’t start until 4pm) but a lot of people headed down before the actual drill alarmed (we were headed towards Animators Palate for our drill) and thankfully as soon as we walked in, they told us we could take the jacket off of Chris because they had seen that we knew how to properly put it on him and he would be miserable if we left it on him.
- The drill sounded at 4pm and thankfully it went by quickly and they didn’t really call out our number because they marked us off as soon as we walked in earlier (the numbers of your room are on your life jackets) but by this time Chris was getting cranky from lack of nap but we headed back to room to drop off life jackets and then headed straight to deck #10 for the Sail Away party and we grabbed some soda along the way. The deck party started at 4:30pm and as the party was going on, Chris spotted the Pizza place and since that’s his favorite food, wanted some. So we grabbed some pizza as soon as the party ended and headed to our room to watch us sail away…since we did have our own Verandah to watch from, but by the time we made it back into our room, I saw that we were moving. We had left the Port at 5pm. So we ate our pizza out on the verandah while watching us head out of the port. That was neat. Rough Seas Ahead!
- We are soon warned of possible rough seas ahead as tonight as there is a cold front coming thru and the seas are predicted to be roughly 12-14ft high, so there is a lot of rocking in store until about 11pm tonight. All the cast members on board say that the night before was really bad but soon we do start to feel some rocking and us never having been on a ship before find it hard to walk straight and our legs are really trying to stabilize due to the motion, it was very hard to walk around the ship but we didn’t let that stop us!
- We decide to head out at around 7pm to walk around and of course landed back in the Oceaneers Club, and even with the major rocking motion, Chris was able to make himself a door hanger, he did really well considering that he is only 2!! But he loved it and you would have thought that he was around the same age as the other kids. He really likes the club and at 7:15pm Goofy shows up which is really neat and Christopher played on the computer for a few minutes before its time for us to head out to explore more of the ship.
- 7:20pm on the way to look for the gift shops (we have no clue where they are) we find a photo session with Lilo and Stitch, so of course we decided to stop and get our pictures with them, then that gave us the idea to head to shutters to view our photos from earlier (taken as we boarded) and there we purchased the biggest photo plan (a GREAT idea) and while we were waiting to pay for the photo plan Christopher fell asleep in my arms, so we headed to drop the photos off in the room and then to dinner (we had the second seating for dinner, which was at 8pm for us each night). As we dropped off the photos we noticed that turn down service was already done for us and we had a towel lobster waiting for us with chocolates. But we had to head to Tritons for Dinner tonight. Dinner at Tritons- 8pm
- We shared a table with a family of three as well from LA. Thankfully they had a three-year-old little girl who was very cute and sweet and Chris got along with GREAT. We ordered the wine package which included 4 bottles of wine (our choice) and we could have one per dinner or even bring some home, so we choose a bottle of sparkling wine called Rosa Regale 2006 from Italy, it was GREAT! We had tasted it before at the food and wine festival last year so we knew we would like it.
- Our servers were very nice but our assistant server Jose stands out more then our head server Silvije. For appetizers I ordered tomato and basil soup (very good and tangy) and for our meals, both Mike and I ordered the Dijon mustard beef tenderloin and boy was it delicious!! I’m not big on eating but I ate every bit of it! It was good! And Christopher was asleep during the whole meal and since I was eating one-handed, Jose cut up my food for me, how sweet was that?
- For dessert, I couldn’t decide what to get so they brought me two desserts to choose from, the Creme Brule and the Grand Mariner Soufflé and while both were good, I liked the crème Brule the best, and this was the first time that I had ever tried a crème Brule as well. What was funny was that the father in the family at our table said that he didn’t want dessert and so they brought him out a plate with “nothing” written on it out of chocolate!!! It was very funny!
- Just as we were finishing up dessert, Chris woke up, so that means room service later for his dinner. Oh there’s more to the boat?, finding the gift shops.
- As we head out in search of the gift shops once more (we had no luck earlier) we spotted a few familiar faces in the Atrium. Minnie, Mickey and Donald and since Chris was awake he had to go and see them, so we also took the time to get our photos with them…short line equals very happy people! But by now the ship is really rocking badly, making it very hard to walk and even to stand still but on a good note we do eventually find the gift shops YAY!!! We don’t stick around for long though as its very hard to function by now with all the swaying and rocking, so we buy a few things then book it out of there. So we head back to our rooms to relax (although thankfully no sea sickness from any of us, we do feel a little nauseous but nothing horrible, thank god!) Weebles wobble but they don’t fall down, On Rough seas
- By 9:30/10pm Chris asks for some food and so we order room service for him…Pizza and of coarse a snack for us as well. I order a fruit plate and Mike gets Chicken noodle soup. And we also order a drink package since the boat is rocking too badly for us to walk up to deck 9 and get our own drinks. They said that it would take about 30 minutes for it to arrive but it showed up long before that time, maybe five minutes later if that! The food was ok from room service but not nearly as good as in the restaurants and up on deck 9.
- After that we decided to settle down and get Chris ready for bed, and I went over the new navigator for tomorrow, while mike watched TV. By now it’s about 11pm and the rocking has stopped!! WHEW!! We got thru it without getting sick! But I am sure that there have been a lot of others on the ship that were not so lucky.
Good night for tonight, tomorrow is Nassau, and a new day.
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Shauna (Me) Mommy to Christopher (3) and Wife to Mikey
* There are a ton more photos taken so If you would like to see anything in specific from the trip/ ship just let me know and I most likely have a photo of it LOL, I just don't want to bombard everyone with TOO MANY pictures because I do tend to go a little camera crazy
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Shauna (Me) Mommy to Christopher (3) and Wife to Mikey
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Day #2 Nassau Day
October 1,2007
All Ashore, I’d rather have stayed on the boat!
-We arrive in Nassau at 8am and although we are still in bed, I hear the announcement about disembarking, I’m just too tired to get up to actually see us dock
- At 10am we actually get up out of the bed and get ourselves dressed and even against my idea to stay on the ship, hubby decides that he want to go out and see Nassau just to say that he has seen it. (They will never learn will they?) So we head out of the room by 10:30am and then stop at Parrot cay to grab some breakfast before getting off the ship. I just had a bowl of frosted flakes and apple juice and Christopher had fruit (mostly grapes) Mike had more of the real breakfast with Eggs and bacon and coffee.
-We get off the ship right after breakfast and although I’m really apprehensive about it, we visit a few gift shops all the while getting asked a million times if I wanted my hair braided (Yes but not by them) and then getting asked if we wanted a taxi ten million times. While walking around the shops we saw a guy that will being taken in by the police for God only knows what, and that pretty much made my uneasiness go up even more so finally mike decides that he is ready to head back to the ship as well and we do that around noon. We have made the decision that next time if/when we come back that the only reason we would get off the ship, would be to go and see Atlantis. But at least we got a couple pictures of Nassau, although not my favorite place by a long shot!! Back to the ship, YAHOO!
-We headed back to the room and found a lovely plate of mixed cookies and an envelope and some papers. The Note said that we had been chosen as “Family of the cruise” and that we could have the option of full menus for room service, and the other papers were menus from each of the restaurants on the ship as well as a full breakfast menu. I’m thinking we would use it more for breakfast though since we are looking forward to dinner at each of the restaurants and both tonight and tomorrow night is dinner at Animators Palate!!
- After looking over the papers we changed into our swimming clothes and headed toward the pool, and because Chris isn’t completely potty trained he was only allowed in the water sprinkler type play area, which he wasn’t too fond of but was better than nothing. At around 1pm we grabbed a hot dog for myself and chicken tenders for Chris at Goofy’s galley. Naptime!
-at around 1:45pm we decide to head back to the room and change clothes as well as get Chris down for his nap. While I put Chris down for his nap, Mike got on the computer and sent emails to friends and family members about our trip so far.
-Chris woke up from his nap around 3:45pm and so we decided to head out on the ship once again, and ended up back at Shutters to view our photos. Although Shutters didn’t open until 4pm, it was only a few minute wait so we waited, and when they opened I found the pictures and grabbed them, and while we were waiting (we were the only ones there) Chris spotted Donald and Daisy walking thru right past him, so of course he waved and said hi. Exploring the ship some more
-After shutters we went to the Promenade Lounge to grab our treasure maps for tomorrow at Castaway Cay, Mike is really excited about doing a treasure hunt. And then we just decided to walk around the Jogging trail of the ship from about 4:30 to 5:30pm as well as look around and try to find out who all decorated their stateroom doors with magnets like us. We also added a magnet of our own to some doors (it was one that I had made up previous to the trip of stitch in front of black Mickey ears that says, YOU HAVE BEEN TAGGED, YOU MAY KEEP THIS MAGNET OR PASS IT ON) Even Mike liked adding a couple to doors.
- A trip around the ship just wouldn’t be complete without stopping to grab a bite to eat. Pizza again for Chris and myself, and hot dog and tomato salad for mike, the tomatoes were delicious (I had to try them, as tomatoes are my favorite!!).
-At 5:55pm we head back to the room to get our dressy clothes laid out for dinner, as tonight is Dress up night! But after getting our clothes laid out we head out straight away to get our pictures taken with Chip and Dale and then to the theater to see Hercules the musical at 6:15pm. Hercules the Musical
-Hercules was an AWESOME musical and the cast was hilarious and awesome! It was definitely a show NOT TO BE MISSED! Chris sat thru the entire show as well and Mike loved it!
***WE have news about Hercules the musical that we learned on the last day of the cruise but I will add it in here since It pertains to the musical** This was the last show with this cast (who were awesome and funny) and in January it will be the last time they show the Hercules musical at all, it will be replaced by another show in March (but we were not given the name of the new show). We were sad to hear this and wished that we had recorded the show even though they say no flash photography or camcorders allowed. After asking the cruise staff if they sold any copies of the shows on the cruise, they said no (although our cruise director Darren said that there is a copy out on ebay, it isn’t the same cast but he heard it was pretty good) So although they say NO CAMERA’S, they do not enforce it and this is one time that we listened and played by the rules but wish we would have recorded it, it was that good! It was the talk of the whole ship!
-During the Hercules show (around 7pm) we left port at Nassau and headed out to Sea towards Castaway Cay YAY!!!
-7:15pm the show ended and we headed back to our room to get dressed up for dinner and after getting dressed we wanted to get our family photos taken with the ship background (7:30pm) so off we went to get that done before dinner time. I also spotted the pin-trading booth (very tiny and very crowded) but I managed to grab a few pins while Mike waited in the photo line. After we took pictures, we headed straight to Animators palate for dinner at 8pm. Dinner at Animators palate (dress-up Night)
-Our table mates never showed up tonight and so we got the whole table to ourselves, it was their loss because they missed a great night (we later found out they went to Beach blanket buffet to eat dinner so that they wouldn’t have to dress up). Animators Palate has to be my favorite restaurant on the whole ship, just based on entertainment wise, plus I love to draw and so that is an added bonus as to why I love it. Chris was awake tonight for dinner and Jose did a great job entertaining Chris. Chris did entertain himself as well by hiding and playing under the table during the meal.
-For Appetizers I chose the Baked stuffed tomato and Mike got the wild garlic mushrooms, and we shared both. Both were VERY good! For our meal, Chris wanted the chicken tenders, and Jose told Christopher that he could make him a Mickey out of the ketchup, and so he did, it was very cute and Chris LOVED it I also asked Jose if he would take a picture with Mike and Chris and he was more than happy to. Jose was very friendly and very attentive to Chris, he even made a puppet out of the napkins and played with Chris with it. For dinner I ordered the Lemon pepper Chicken (another hit!) and Mike ordered the bacon wrapped filet mignon and he said it was GREAT as well. Desserts were awesome as always, Chris had a Mickey bar and both Mike and I chose the Chocolate and Peanut butter pie, yes it was YUMMY!! Magical moments certificate
- We finished dinner around 9pm or so and of course we headed back to the room to change out of our dressy clothes so we could walk around the ship some more (yes we are not content to stay in the room for very long when there are so much to see and explore) and at about 10pm we head out to the gift shop to pick up some souvenirs and for me to get a new pen because with all this journaling my other pen ran out of ink and I cant have that…too much for me to remember without writing everything down. LOL. While in the gift shop I tell Christopher how to trade pins with a cast member and so he trades his first pin with the guy at the gift shop and of course that called for a magical moments certificate and a pin and lanyard just for Chris, he was so happy that he traded another pin right away with the other cashier in the gift shop. Back to room for the night
- 10:45pm we head back to the room and find a lovely towel rabbit waiting for us on the bed along with our nightly chocolates.
**Forgot to mention that we met our stateroom host, his name is Paul and he is from Jamaica. He was also very sweet and we speak to him every time we leave our room (as you can tell that is quite a lot!) Chris loves him and always says “Hi Paul” or mommy lets go see Paul, which is so cute. Paul makes these lovely animals for Chris and always says, go see what’s on your bed that I made you, which gets Chris excited to go into the room right away to see. And of course Chris eats all of the chocolates each night without us getting any. LOL
- We decided to order room service breakfast for in the morning (you must do this the night before) and so we did tonight because we wanted to eat early to get out onto castaway cay in the morning without having to worry about stopping to grab breakfast before hand. So we order Donuts for Chris, an omelet for Mike and waffles for myself. After that we head to bed to get ready for tomorrow
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Shauna (Me) Mommy to Christopher (3) and Wife to Mikey
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PassPorter's Free-Book to Walt Disney World It’s hard to believe anything is free at Walt Disney World; but there are actually a number of things you can get or do for little to no cost. This e-book documents over 200 free or cheap tips to do before you go and after you arrive. You could save a considerable amount of money following these tips. Perhaps more importantly; you can discover overlooked attractions and little-known details most people whiz by on their way to spend money. Click here to see free sample pages from the e-book! Get this popular e-book free of extra charges when you join the PassPorter's Club for as little as $4.95. A club pass includes access to all our other e-books; e-worksheets; super-size photos; and more! This e-book is also available for separate purchase in the PassPorter Online Store for just $5.95.
Life on the ship... I'm enjoying this, and more great pictures, too!! It's going to be a long year to our cruise, but reading TRs like yours will get me through!
Waitin' for more...
Never heard of "Family of the Cruise". Do they do this for every cruise?
I'm not sure if they do or not, Ive never heard of it before, and we didn't even know that they had this. I'm not sure if everyone gets that same letter or not, but since this is our first cruise ever, I thought I would share it just in case other people have gotten this before as well.
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Shauna (Me) Mommy to Christopher (3) and Wife to Mikey