disneyfaninaz
It takes faith, trust & pixie dust!
- Joined
- Apr 19, 2007
Well, we are back from a very busy, exhausting and awesome 19 day trip to Europe! I still have mountains of laundry to do and thousands of pictures to download and edit, but I thought I’d get a trip report started.
Cast of Characters:
ME: Disney travel loving, cancer surviving, Band Mom retiring, Trip planning mom.
DH: Loving, Disney enduring, retired, husband of nearly 25 years!
DD: High School graduating, scholarship earning, college bounding, trumpet playing, birthday celebrating, world traveling, Harry Potter obsessing, uber Disney parks and cruise loving, 17 year old.
DNeighbors:
Our partners in crime on Disney cruises!
DNC – Bosom buddy, walking partner and all around partner in conspiracy (especially involving Disney trips).
DNJ – DNC’s husband and all around good egg.
DNDD –Recent high school graduate and huge Disney Cruise and Peter Pan fan.
DJ - DNJ's sister whom we have cruised to Alaska and Norway with. This is her DCL 6th cruise.
Late Editions:
DNJ’s sister DT and her friend DR. – This will be their second Disney cruise as they sailed the Baltic with DNs in 2015.
Background:
Back in March of 2016, DCL came out with their summer of 2017 cruises. Our cruise buddies (neighbors) were interested in the 9 night Alaska Cruise which included Icy Strait and Hubbard Glacier. Two places we hadn’t been to on our last Alaskan cruise and it was later in July closer to bear season. We went to Alaska in 2014 but it was the end of May and way too early for bears. I told everybody that our DD would most likely have band camp that week. DD was going to be a senior so this would be her last band camp. DH said he wanted to book it anyway. This was going to be our first Gold Castaway Member cruise so I was up at o’dark 30 the morning booking came available to call Florida to make my reservation.
Well, as the 2017 summer came upon us, DD went to band camp and I asked the band director when the band camp was going to be for next year, since they book the camp a year ahead. Unfortunately, her camp would be the same week as the cruise. So, we eventually cancelled the Alaska cruise and planned a trip to Oahu and Aulani instead! But that’s another trip report! Hawaii Trip Report
In March of 2017, DCL released their summer of 2018 cruise schedule. Our DD was graduating high school in 2018 as well as turning 18 later that summer. She had been clamoring for a cruise for her graduation gift since we had to cancel our cruise in 2017. As it turns out, along with DD’s graduation, 2018 is a big year of celebrations for us. It will be DH’s and my 25th wedding anniversary, DD turns 18 and I will be cancer free for 10 years!
Now, DD was really hoping for a British Isles cruise. She went to England with a band tour last summer and really wanted to go back to England and possibly Paris. Well, DCL did not cooperate as they flip-flopped the Med and Northern European cruises for 2018. Meaning the British Isle cruise would be in September. Not going to work for a college freshman!
Being a Gold Castaway Club member, we could book our cruise the next morning, so we felt kind of rushed to make a decision. The only other cruise that looked interesting was the 10 night Med cruise in July prior to DD starting college. I pitched it to our neighbors, but my DH just couldn’t get excited about it, and our neighbors had been to most of the ports on a previous cruise. We were beginning to think that a cruise wouldn’t be in our future.
A couple of days later, our neighbors told us that they looked at the med cruise again and booked it. Ironically enough, that very morning, I had searched the cruise to see if the room we prefer to cruise in was available, and lo and behold, it was! It was surely a sign! I immediately put a hold on the room. I had to wait for the right time to talk to DH. DD and I talked DH into booking with the caveat he always gives us, “We can always cancel!” We booked the cruise 2 days later.
The rest, dear readers, is history!
Next: Planning
Cast of Characters:
ME: Disney travel loving, cancer surviving, Band Mom retiring, Trip planning mom.
DH: Loving, Disney enduring, retired, husband of nearly 25 years!
DD: High School graduating, scholarship earning, college bounding, trumpet playing, birthday celebrating, world traveling, Harry Potter obsessing, uber Disney parks and cruise loving, 17 year old.
DNeighbors:
Our partners in crime on Disney cruises!
DNC – Bosom buddy, walking partner and all around partner in conspiracy (especially involving Disney trips).
DNJ – DNC’s husband and all around good egg.
DNDD –Recent high school graduate and huge Disney Cruise and Peter Pan fan.
DJ - DNJ's sister whom we have cruised to Alaska and Norway with. This is her DCL 6th cruise.
Late Editions:
DNJ’s sister DT and her friend DR. – This will be their second Disney cruise as they sailed the Baltic with DNs in 2015.
Background:
Back in March of 2016, DCL came out with their summer of 2017 cruises. Our cruise buddies (neighbors) were interested in the 9 night Alaska Cruise which included Icy Strait and Hubbard Glacier. Two places we hadn’t been to on our last Alaskan cruise and it was later in July closer to bear season. We went to Alaska in 2014 but it was the end of May and way too early for bears. I told everybody that our DD would most likely have band camp that week. DD was going to be a senior so this would be her last band camp. DH said he wanted to book it anyway. This was going to be our first Gold Castaway Member cruise so I was up at o’dark 30 the morning booking came available to call Florida to make my reservation.
Well, as the 2017 summer came upon us, DD went to band camp and I asked the band director when the band camp was going to be for next year, since they book the camp a year ahead. Unfortunately, her camp would be the same week as the cruise. So, we eventually cancelled the Alaska cruise and planned a trip to Oahu and Aulani instead! But that’s another trip report! Hawaii Trip Report
In March of 2017, DCL released their summer of 2018 cruise schedule. Our DD was graduating high school in 2018 as well as turning 18 later that summer. She had been clamoring for a cruise for her graduation gift since we had to cancel our cruise in 2017. As it turns out, along with DD’s graduation, 2018 is a big year of celebrations for us. It will be DH’s and my 25th wedding anniversary, DD turns 18 and I will be cancer free for 10 years!
Now, DD was really hoping for a British Isles cruise. She went to England with a band tour last summer and really wanted to go back to England and possibly Paris. Well, DCL did not cooperate as they flip-flopped the Med and Northern European cruises for 2018. Meaning the British Isle cruise would be in September. Not going to work for a college freshman!
Being a Gold Castaway Club member, we could book our cruise the next morning, so we felt kind of rushed to make a decision. The only other cruise that looked interesting was the 10 night Med cruise in July prior to DD starting college. I pitched it to our neighbors, but my DH just couldn’t get excited about it, and our neighbors had been to most of the ports on a previous cruise. We were beginning to think that a cruise wouldn’t be in our future.
A couple of days later, our neighbors told us that they looked at the med cruise again and booked it. Ironically enough, that very morning, I had searched the cruise to see if the room we prefer to cruise in was available, and lo and behold, it was! It was surely a sign! I immediately put a hold on the room. I had to wait for the right time to talk to DH. DD and I talked DH into booking with the caveat he always gives us, “We can always cancel!” We booked the cruise 2 days later.
The rest, dear readers, is history!
Next: Planning
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