Hello Fellow Cruisers!!!
We drove straight through on Friday...said good bye to our family and was on the road by 11. Missed all storms and had clear sailing the whole way. The only delay we had was a stop for food and fuel. There was a Wendy's, so I ran in..because the drive thru was long..but the line inside was long too. Took about 30 mins for 2 sandwiches and a frosty? We were home by midnight and in bed by 1230. the dogs are back from the kennel, I have one more load of wash to do. The suitcases are in the attic again and everything but the souveniers are put away. We also made a run to Sam's Club for a few groceries. Have to check out the Kroger ad to see if there's anything more we need.
As for the cruise itself.... I am SO happy I got to meet some of you!! SO sad that I didn't get to meet ALL of you!! The room tour was amazing! We are REALLY loving the porthole rooms! I also found out...for those of you that went on the tour...the room to the left of us, with the HUGE balconey...it is NOT an accessible room! They were suppose to be initially, but didn't meet ALL the requirements! We peeked in on the last day. It is a HUGE room!!! There are 6 rooms that are the same...I think they are decks 6,7 and 8...or 7,8 9?? I'd have to look at the chart again. On the 2 back corners. We learned this when we rebooked. She said they are the first rooms to go. We may just have to try for one of those!!
Our waitstaff was wonderful!! Really enjoyed Zacky and Jessica! Wish we could have brought them home with us! LOL All the food was wonderful! I got to talk to Crush at Animators! That was cool!! And I can say that inspite of the fact that ate everything in sight, I still lost 5 pounds over the 2 weeks! I guess walking really does help! I just wish I enjoyed exercising as much as I enjoy eating!
Our room steward was less than wonderful. If he was standing next to me right now, I would not be able to tell you who he was. On the first
Castaway Cay day, the boys went back to the ship at 1. We got back about 3. The room was not made up. hhmmm. Then, as we always do, we hung our towels after using them. I understand that they have the hang your towel card in the bath, BUT after 2 days and 3 showers each, I finally threw them in the tub. Our other stewards always just changed the towels. On our sea day, I had to pad down the hall in my swimsuit to find him so I could get more shampoo...Steve had thrown the empty in the trash that morning. And on our last Castaway Cay day, Steve had to pad down the hall in his swim suit as I was in the shower with no soap! These are things that I expect to receive without asking, if I am to receive excellent service. I marked the card as Just Okay. Yes, he cleaned the room, Yes, there was turn down service, Yes, we had towel animals, but I just wasn't feeling the magic. Now, the Aunts, they were impressed with their steward. He was there to open the door for them, kept them with fresh towels and toiletries. But wasn't annoying or being a creeper either.
As a whole, we LOVED the Dream. Never felt any more crowded than the Wonder or Magic. Never had to wait in any long lines....I take that back. the family photo on the staircase took about 45 mins. The AquaDuck line was a 20 mins wait. That was fun to ride too!!! We only did it once, but that's because I didn't want to wait again. Enjoyed the Quiet Cove hot tub and pool too! The boys LOVED the Vibe and spent a ton of time there!
Oh! Our story on Connor...age 14. He and Colton both enjoyed the Vibe, but hung with different people. The Vibe closed at 2am. Tuesday night Colton came right back to the room. Connor did not. Colton said he didn't know where he was. We doze back off. 3 am, we wake up, still no Connor. Panic starts to bubble up. So Steve dresses and heads to hunt for him. He stopped at Guest Services. They put out an APB. Steve comes back to the room. It's now about 330. We wake Colton, tell him how to call us on the wave phones. I get dressed. The phone rings. It's guest services, they found Connor, walking through Shutters....he said he was on the way home. Steve went and got him. By 4am, we were all back in bed. It was a bit scary there for a while. All I kept thinking is, there's 4000 people on this ship that I don't know....what if???? Steve did mention that there were SO many crew members crawling the ship cleaning, straightening, painting, etc, that it was pretty safe, even at that hour. but still....
So, we are booked for another cruise, but we have to wait for the 2013 dates to come out. We are planning on June, for Colton's graduation. Gosh, it seems like he was just born and here we are booking a graduation cruise!! Crazzy!!!
Going to try and upload some photos later today...not sure what our plans are though!!
Happy Father's Day to all the Dads!!!
Double Dippin' I got the post vacation blues Dreamer!
Michele