The DREAM is a wish MY CHECKBOOK made! Complete 1/26/2012 - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
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The DREAM is a wish MY CHECKBOOK made! Complete 1/26/2012
The pretrip report, part 1
After planning this trip for about a year and a half, I can’t believe it’s really almost here!...
It wasn’t even supposed to be a cruise at all – it was going to be five nights with my boys at Walt Disney World. But when money started getting a little tight my husband got kind of nervous about the ol’ vacation budget, and rather than risk him suggesting we cancel the trip I decided on my own to downsize it. I would pay cash for everything, and I squirreled away money every week to make it happen!
Since my older son and I had already made arrangements to be off work beginning December eighth I looked for a cruise leaving late that week…and there it was! – three nights in the Bahamas on the Dream, sailing from Port Canaveral on Dec. 8! While a three night cruise would not have been my first choice, it’s soooo much better than no cruise at all! A quick phone call to my son for his vote, and the decision was made.
Choosing our stateroom was both easier AND harder than I thought it would be – easy, because you can only buy what you can afford, so we were limited in our choices that way. Harder, because there were simply so many available cabins in our price range! We decided on a category 8B Deluxe Family Ocean View Stateroom on deck 9. Why deck 9? Because it’s so close to the pool level (and Cabanas buffet), not an awful walk down to the Promenade deck and because my younger son has OCD and he loves the number nine. Easy peasy!
We won’t be eating at Palo or Remy, because we want to experience all three main dining rooms, and I have no shore excursions booked. Our time in Nassau will be spent shopping on Bay Street!
Want to meet the cast of characters?
That’s me (Linda)– the kid who never grew up! Just because I’m in my fifties doesn’t mean I have to act like it. I’m pretty happy most of the time but I’m a different kind of happy on a Disney vacation! This will be my second Disney cruise.
Jon is our older son – he inherited his mother’s baby face, and is the family trivia wiz! He will be flying in the morning of the cruise from his home in South Carolina. This vacation was supposed to be his second trip to WDW…I’m sure he’ll be just as happy on his first Disney cruise. I really hope it knocks his socks off!
Kevin is our younger son; he still lives at home because of some chronic health issues and needs a good vacation to help him get away from it all for a while. He’s hoping to score a few Cuban cigars in Nassau! This is his first Disney cruise as well, although both boys were on a small-ship cruise to Alaska several years ago.
I have only three simple rules I expect us all to follow on this trip:
1. No buzzkills. We’re on vacation! – let everyone else enjoy themselves.
2. I insist we eat dinner together every night. I don’t care if we’re in the main dining rooms or eating pizza by the pool, but I insist on having this time every day to reconnect and share the stories about our day.
3. Don’t follow me around like a puppy dog just because I paid for this trip. It’s your vacation too – see and do the things you want, and go home without regrets! If you want to see the show and I’m going as well, let’s go together, but don’t go because you think I’d be lonely by myself.
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Last edited by duck addict; 01-26-2012 at 04:49 PM..
I love your plans, they sound like so much fun! So the cruise actually ended up being less expensive than WDW? It must be because I always am pricing the 7 day cruises... Can't wait to read more!
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Saturday, October 9, 2014 - Kaitlyn and I before the Happy Haunted 5K at ESPN Wide World of Sports
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I was so caught up in trying to remember how to post photos that I posted on the wrong board; I've asked the moderators to move me to the DCL trip reports board!
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I have only three simple rules I expect us all to follow on this trip:
1. No buzzkills. We’re on vacation! – let everyone else enjoy themselves.
2. I insist we eat dinner together every night. I don’t care if we’re in the main dining rooms or eating pizza by the pool, but I insist on having this time every day to reconnect and share the stories about our day.
3. Don’t follow me around like a puppy dog just because I paid for this trip. It’s your vacation too – see and do the things you want, and go home without regrets! If you want to see the show and I’m going as well, let’s go together, but don’t go because you think I’d be lonely by myself.
I can certainly agree to those rules, Mom! By the way (for the benefit of everyone else), I'm Jon, the young man in the middle picture.
Last edited by jmdarrall; 11-13-2011 at 10:21 PM..
Reason: Adding Emoticon
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It must be because I always am pricing the 7 day cruises... 
Can't wait to read more! 
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