Cast: Me, TravelMom, turned 40 on the cruise
DS, Will turn 13 on Christmas eve, decided he would be in Teen Group for cruise
DD, Will turn 11 this month (Busy month for us - especially when you add a cruise!)
Friend Chris, Nikos best friends Mom, 30-something
Background:
We booked through Disney originally, but switched to Dreams Unlimited to take advantage of a $75 cabin credit and a $75 rebate on our final payment. Later, DU said Disney wouldnt honor the cabin credit portion (because it was a switched reservation) but DU honored it by giving me a $150 rebate instead. Way to go, DU!
I also received the $50 postcard cabin credit by just calling Disney and asking for it (way last April) and that worked out great too. I let the kids each have a $25 spending limit and they really enjoyed that (having their own credit cards). Both did great at not exceeding it (or losing their KTTW cards).
We had an inside cabin 11, which is really all our budget could afford. We tried to bring Chris and her son Brandon, but couldnt fit 5 in a standard cabin (or any up to a huge family suite). Since Brandon requires a large power wheelchair, I had concerns that a cruise might not work out for him (not to mention the logistics of getting his chair from Duluth to Minneapolis to Orlando to Port Canaveral) and I also worried his parents wouldnt let him go without one of them. In the end we just brought his Mom instead (who really needed a break also, as she not only cares for him, but also works at a Group Home for developmentally disabled adults, a very demanding job).
Day T - One:
We got up early, drove from Duluth to MSP, then got on our Delta flights to Orlando. The $138 round trip rate I got on Cheaptickets.com had us traveling to Cincinnati on the way to Orlando. (Hey, for that price, Ill go via Timbuktu.) Anyway, it was a long day of traveling, and we were glad to finally arrive at the airport Fairfield Inn ($49 Come out and Play rate) at 8:00 PM. We ate at Bennigans, which was good, except the hostess told my son he looked like Harry Potter, which totally embarrassed him. (This happened to him three more times on the trip, and he doesnt even have round glasses or dark brown hair!) Not to mention, magical powers would have gotten us to Florida a lot quicker than 10 hours.
Day One:
After a good nights sleep and a free breakfast at the Fairfield Inn, we took their free shuttle to the half mile or so back to the airport, then boarded the Disney bus to Port Canaveral. The bus was nice and plush, and everyone was duly excited, especially the two little girls in the seats in front of us. They turned out to be five year old cousins, traveling with their grandparents. We continued to run into them all week, and they were as cute and wild, as they could be.
The terminal was beautiful and decorated for Christmas. The check-in was easy, and Chris and I were able to set up separate accounts. (Later, they charged her for the snorkeling excursion I had previously booked for her, but a quick stop at Guest Services put it on my account with the others.) I got in the very short line to the ship while the others goofed around until the line got seriously long, then joined me. (I met my first DIS member here - ThumperOne - she was wearing a lime green necklace, so I couldnt help asking!) After we chanted We Love Tom! they let us in, ahead of schedule as usual. They did introduce us (as The Quinn Family but my son, who, like his sister, has his Dads last name, went back and had them announce his name too!). We went right up to lunch at Parrot Cay, which was wonderful, and our first taste of Disneys great food. Though it was still kind of early, I was dying to check our stateroom. I warned the others to expect it to be very small (as they havent cruised before, it can be a shock if youre expecting a hotel-sized room) but I was very pleasantly surprised at the roominess, and downright niceness, of our category 11. I would imagine anything up from there is even nicer! One thing I liked about the cat. 11 was the larger bed (in our case, two twins) is in the back, with the seating area nearer the bathroom. (We visited a category 8 (porthole) and it seemed weird to have to trip over the beds to get to the seating area.) The cabin was nice and quiet all week.
THE MOST AMAZING THING IN OUR ROOM WAS THE BASKET FROM SHIRLEY AT THE PERFECT GIFT AND DIS BOARD MEMBERS! I wrote a pre-trip report about trying to take Chris and her disabled son Brandon and it must have tugged at the heartstrings of some of the wonderful folks at the DIS board, who all chipped in to send her a basket. Special thanks to:
Mary Jatar
Tommie Issa (Tammie?)
Kim Missine
Hygiene 99 (?)
Laura Harris
Merricki Reynolds
Susan Dalugo
Beth Buttimer
Shirley and Norm from The Perfect Gift
( I apologize if I got anyones name wrong, but was working from the handwritten gift card!)
Inside the huuuuge basket was all kinds of gourmet food, a bottle of champagne, a fancy Christmas ornament, Mickey and Minnie beanies, and many more things. I liberated a bag of Mickey chocolates, my daughter claimed the Minnie beanie, my son gave Chris the Mickey beanie for his best friend Brandon, and we made Chris keep the lot. We chilled up the champagne for the sailaway party!
We also received a Castaway Crate from Dreams Unlimited! I could not believe the kindness - to have given us a $150 credit over Disneys price, and then to send us a nice box - when we were only in a cheap cat. 11! DREAMS UNLIMITED AND DIS BOARD FOLKS ARE THE BEST! The crate had pop and munchies in it too. We had brought a cooler with champagne, wine, drink pouches, and tiny cans of Coke, so we had plenty of drinkables all week. Our luggage had arrived by now too, so Chris and I go to work unpacking. We let the kids go explore the ship and we spent about an hour getting organized, which made me feel ready for the week. (We also hung a large banner on our cabin door that said Island Party so we could find our room easier.)
We also put our passports, return plane tickets, extra cash, jewelry, etc in the safe. One tip I learned from another board was to use a different card from your KTTW card to close and open the safe (this is only useful if you have more than one adult that may need to use the safe, and youre not always together). Any card with a magnetic stripe on it will work. I used my ATM card, then we hid it in the room in a place where Chris and I could both access it. If we had used my KTTW card, for instance, and Chris needed something from the safe, she would have had to come and find me. The card that locks it, opens it. So this worked well for us. (I figured that there was little danger in leaving the ATM card around, even if it wasnt hidden, because its pretty useless without the code. Just dont forget to take it when you leave!)
When the kids came back, we put our swimsuits on and hit the pools! When I got all comfy poolside, Chris says Werent you going to make some kind of reservations? Me, the total planning queen, had completely forgotten to make Palos reservations, which I should have done before unpacking! Believe me, Ive been obessively planning the trip since April, and had a single spaced typewritten list for each and every day! (If this sounds about as fun and spontaneous as a forced march, Im actually pretty flexible - the list is just a guide. And I have a giant typewritten list for my everyday life, too.) And obviously, having the list doesnt help if you dont read it! So off I went to Palos - the only one there in a swimsuit and coverup - feeling like a dork. All dinners were already full, but we only wanted brunch. Sunday was full so I picked Monday. So OK! Back in time for swimming, the lifeboat drill (Station M, in the baking sun) and the sailaway party! Chris and I availed ourselves of the champagne in some cute acrylic glasses I had brought, and I bought the kids each a fancy (non-alcoholic) drink. Hey, were on vacation!
We got the dining rotation I had requested: PLAPLAP, though DU had said you could not actually request such, so it might have just been a coincidence. We chose early seating because I tend to get awfully tired after a day in the sun, so I figured: dinner, show, bed. We requested a table just for four, but when we were seated, we were with a Mom and her daughter, who was the same age as DD11. This turned out to be one of the best things about our vacation! DD and the other girl got on like a house afire, as my old Auntie would say. The Mom was also a DIS Board reader (vying with me as the Obsessive Planner of the Year) and she had made many of the same plans as we had. (Even ending up with the same shore excursion! Plus she had Palo dinner reservations, spa treatments lined up, etc. I was very impressed that as a single parent, she was still planning to participate in all the ship had to offer.) If youre reading this Kathy, Hello and the photos are coming soon!
Our servers were Cedric, a dreamy Frenchman, and Deepesh from South Africa. Deepesh was very sweet but shy, and Cedric was just a doll. Both were very accommodating and kind. Cedric confessed to us that he had just gotten engaged (to the performer who posed for photos as Belle; later we saw her as a dancer in Disney Dreams) and we later found out it was both of their last week. They were to be off to meet each others families at Christmastime, then coming back next Spring.
After dinner, I signed DD up for Oceaneers Lab, though she hardly ever went. We had made plans for her to meet DDF (darling daughters new friend, our dinner companion) at the O Lab the next morning, but after that, they rarely went. They preferred to hang out at the pool, or go to a movie together, etc. That way fine with me; I like to spend time with her and was concerned that the opposite would be true: that she couldnt be dragged from the clubs for dinner. Every day Id say: Oh, look, theres a fun activity happening in 15 minutes, shed say Id rather do this. Same with my DS13. He was actually still 12, with his birthday in a couple weeks, but he would NOT sign up for O Lab and wanted to do teen stuff in Common Grounds. But he felt a little young for them, so he barely participated either. We did stuff together, and it was great!
After dinner, my daughter wanted to see Max Keebles Big Move at the Buena Vista Theater. Not exactly Citizen Kane but she enjoyed it. The theater is beautiful, with wood Queen Anne style chairs. I was exhausted by then, but Chris wanted to check out Beat Street, so we went out. There was supposed to be a singles party at Sessions (for me, not Chris, not that I was trolling for dates) but no one was there, so we went to Rockin Bar D for a drink, then ended up at Dueling Pianos. We enjoyed that, and when they said the one performer was from Minnesota, Chris and I whooped and hollered. So he came over to meet us and was very nice. During the week he told us some interesting things about working on the ship, and invited us to visit the crew space (which I would have loved to do, but didnt want to put anyone in an awkward position). Then it was time to turn clocks back and hour and go to bed!
Day Two:
Th ship was really moving to and fro the previous night and this AM. DD and I got up early to meet DDF at the O Lab at 9:00. We had breakfast at Topsiders, and I was impressed by the variety and quality of the food. The attendants were nice and got me an iced tea (I dont drink coffee) though obviously they dont serve many iced teas in the AM because they had to scramble to get some. Besides the usual eggs, bacon, & sausage, there was all kinds of fresh fruit, wonderful pastries and bread (the breads are WONDERFUL), a whole huge bar for yogurt, with dried apricots, marinated apricots, marinated prunes, raisins, yellow raisins, almonds, walnuts, etc, anything you could imagine to top yogurt. Also there was a made-to-order omelet bar and Mickey waffles, both behind the regular line.
After I dropped off DD, I went to the Goofy Pool to stake out a spot. I never had a problem getting a spot. Chair reserving was much less evident than on the previous (Carnival) cruise I took. Of course, this day I was up early, but other days I would come later and still no problem. (We would use two chairs for the six of us.) There were huge waves in the Goofy Pool, which the kids loved. (Kind of like the surf pool at Typhoon Lagoon!) DD and her new friend didnt want to leave the pool for lunch (DDFs Mom took them to Topsiders, eventually), but DS, Chris and I went to Lumieres for a nice sit down lunch. I had a french dip sandwich, which was proportioned small for lunch, leaving room for a wonderful dessert (cant decipher my notes to see what kind I had!)
DIS Moderator Rhonda had a small DIS meet that AM, so I got to meet her. She even had small goodie bags made up for the kids. How sweet! Thanks, Rhonda!
In the afternoon, Chris and I went to the wine tasting, which she had signed us up for. That was a surprise! I liked it even though I had a crashing headache (which re-occurred several times throughout the first 4 days or so - perhaps atmospheric changes, perhaps reading in the sun, perhaps too much champagne?) But the prodigious amount of wine cured it! We received a pamphlet to take notes - one of the wines was, I swear to God, made by Fess Parker, of Disneys Daniel Boone renown. My notes say: Oaky, with a note of Trigger. (Nota Bene, I know that wasnt his horse, but couldnt remember Daniel Boones horses name. Anyway, it slayed them at the wine tasting!) We got a nice pin for participating. The kids were at Legally Blonde which worked out well, because it got them out of the sun for awhile.
Dinner was formal night at Lumieres. We got all gussied up (starting at 4:00) so we could take photos at 5:00 and beat the lines. We brought our servers (and our stateroom host) 1/3 of their tips for the week (for the four of us) and a 100 minute phone card, each, in a nice Thank You card. I figured: Might as well tip them ahead of the game, instead of only after! I had scallops and the rack of lamb for dinner. Usually I hate lamb, but Cedric convinced me, and it was very good. (Juicy, not dry; and no mint sauce slathered all over it - yuck!) For dessert: Chocolate hazelnut cake.
When we came out of dinner, it was the Captains reception, and waiters pressed drinks into our hands on the stairwell. OK! Chris and I went out to Secret Deck 7 Aft and enjoyed the full moon, the balmy night, and the free drinks! Though we were tired, we dragged ourselves to Morty the Magnificent which was absolutely the stupidest, most annoying show Ive ever seen. Midway through, we saw DDs new friend and her Mom walking out, and DD begged to be released too, but we were in the middle of a row. When the people next to us left (clearing that end of the row) we joined the exodus. (We were in the back, so felt that we were minimally disrupting.) I thoroughly missed Voyage of the Ghost Ship - even though Ive never seen it, it MUST have been better!
We went back to our room, and it would have been Lights Out but we wanted to go to midnight dessert buffet. It was fun, and the desserts and presentation were lovely, but we brought WAY too much back to our room (on the premise that DS was there, wanting some), and we were eating dessert for the next couple of days! I cant see wasting food, and I let the kids eat anything they wanted throughout the week, as long as they didnt waste it.
The kids really enjoyed their beds. The fold out bed in the couch is a real mattress, as is the fold down bunk. Both very comfy, from all accounts.
Day Three:
My 40th birthday! The kids had each brought little gifts for me (even wrapped!), my boyfriend sent a couple, and Chris had some for me too. How sweet! Cutest of all was DD - she used part of her $25 ship credit to buy me a gift! She knows I collect fridge magnets, so she went to Mickeys Mates to buy one, but they were only in a set. Somehow the guy gave her (and DDF) each a stray magnet, and she bought me two 89 cent Mickey ear hair clips. So they guy wrapped it all up in a splendiferous Disney box for her!
We hung out by the Goofy Pool AM, while Chris went to her second in the Art of Entertaining series. She really enjoyed them! I went to one: Dazzling Desserts where they made a dessert out of a tomato. They brought each person a whole dessert and a glass of champagne (for free). There was a similar offering for each presentation (with wine - no wonder why Chris liked them!
I did laugh at the recipe card they handed out - for ten people, it called for 4 tomatoes, one apple, then a pound and a quarter of pecans, walnuts, and pistachio nuts; three and an eighth pounds of brown sugar, and a pound and a half of butter! (Whoever made up the card must have been into the champagne!) Obviously a gremlin got into the recipe.
I brought the kids to lunch at Topsiders, because Chris and I were signed up for the champagne brunch later that morning. We invited Kathy (DDFs Mom) to come too (and she invited Chris to share her Palos dinner reservation later that week). I really enjoyed the brunch, but I enjoyed the fancy lunches in the sit down restaurants too. The only thing I didnt like was my entree: Eggs Julia (like eggs Benedict but with salmon) but the yolks were sooooo runny it was a little gross. Our waiter, Marco, was cute but did not understand English very well, though he said hed been on the ship for 2 years. (He spoke well enough, but couldnt understand our quick speaking.)
After lunch, Kathy went to a spa treatment while Chris & I and the girls went to gingerbread house making at Studio Sea. (You signed up the day before as it was limited to a certain number of families.) It was fun but we didnt understand the rules (as most people also did not); you were judged only on how clean your table was afterwards. (We knew that was ONE of the prizes, so we kept our table clean, but it turned out there were no prizes awarded to the best house itself.) The girls did a great job, even landscaping the yard and adding a snowman, etc. Despite the lack of fame and glory, we had fun. (They provided you with all the fixins, and you could take it home afterwards. Instead, we let the kids eat it a day later.)
We had dinner at AP with the show, and they brought a cake for my birthday. I was a little tired and didnt want a fuss, and the LAST thing we needed was more dessert in our room (We had already eaten dessert with dinner, so the cake was to take back with us, and we had just about finally gotten rid of the midnight desserts, but Oh well.) Sandra, our excellent head waiter, made it all perfect by slipping me a very cool I had my birthday on Disney Cruise Line pin. (My son ate the cake for breakfast the next day.) Sandra knew all of our names and greeted us warmly each evening.
We went to Hercules which was miles better than Morty. Chris made me go out to Dueling Pianos again, so they could harass me for my birthday. They made me do the Hokey Pokey onstage with another birthday girl, and you can guess which part of my anatomy they made me put out. The fun part was that we got to pick a guy from the audience to take our place on stage, so I picked a grandfather type that was with his young family. (He had to shake his bum.)
Before we went to bed, I ordered sandwiches from Room Service for St. Maarten.
Day Four:
I went to Topsiders (in my Mickey PJs, having totally gone native by this point) and filled a tray with breakfast items for the kids. It was raining, hard. Oh no!
We went ahead and packed up the cooler, snorkels, etc, and ferried to Great Bay Beach. When we stepped off the ship, the rain was over! For the $10 ferry cost (for four; kids were free) and the $10 chair cost (for two), we had a fabulous day! (A lady met us right at the end of the pier and took us to her area, right by the trampoline in the water.) The beach wasnt too crowded (there were people in chairs next to us but they were not too close, and it was nice meeting them anyway, they were all from other ships and curious about Disney), and it was an easy, cheap beach day. The kids were finding the most amazing shells! Huuuuge conch shells, and a variety of other beautiful, unbroken shells. I had a hard time convincing them to leave most and just take a representative sample home.
About 11:00 we broke out the sandwiches for a nice free lunch. The hairbraiders and sellers were omnipresent, but were easily waved away. I did say to one nice lady Not now about braiding my daughters hair, so she quickly said: Ill come back in an hour. She was dressed very neatly, so I told her OK, and she was true to her word. I only had $30 left so I planned to just have DDs front hair braided (headband style) and leave the back undone. When I told Julia that, she asked how much I had, and finally said shed do her whole head for the $30. This was a great deal, in my estimation, as it took her an hour and a half (with another lady, I think her daughter) helping, and they put in 45 braids. I scrounged up $5 more dollars: $2 to buy her a cool drink and $33 for the braiding.
One odd incident: while she was braiding, we sat at a covered picnic table. A man came over and said (in a strong New York accent) Is that your baby? referring to my 11 year old DD. I said yes and he asked where we were on the beach. Clueless me, I thought he was another vacationer, and gestured to my rented chairs directly in front of us. Turns out, he was the owner of the bar behind us, and the beach chairs, and the picnic table. Once he found out we had indeed rented chairs from him (and had been buying frosty drinks) he was somewhat mollified, and didnt yell at me, but he was generally mad at the hair braiders for plying their trade on his picnic table. Right in front of Julia, he said These people have no respect, all they care about is money, they wont even greet me on the street. I refrained from pointing out that the hair braiders were plying merely their trade, as was he, and at least they were indigenous to the area rather than expatriates. (Though of course he had a point about the use of his tables, but we were his customers, and no one else was using his adjacent two tables to eat during the time we were there.) Some may think of the hair braiding as a touristy kind of thing, but its also kind of a cool folk art in a lot of ways.
I had intended to be at the beach by 9:00, then back to the ship for lunch, then go back for shopping, but the rain and the late start wrecked that schedule. Instead, we had our picnic lunch on the beach, and Chris went shopping while I stayed with DD as she got her hair braided. DS slept under the umbrella, which can only be ascribed to him having swallowed a couple gallons of sea water while he was picking up shells, I guess. So I never got to shop at St. Maarten. Chris said that the deals were much better there than St. Thomas. So I have a reason to return!
We had a festive Tropical Night dinner at Parrot Cay (which is why I wanted the PLAPLAP rotation, because wed be in Lumieres for Formal Night and Parrot Cay for Tropical Night); I had garlic shrimp pasta. Then we went to the Prem-Ear of Monsters Inc which we all enjoyed. We didnt spend much money on the ship, but I allowed the kids to go hog wild at the candy counter adjacent to the Walt Disney Theater every night, which they loved. The WD Theater is lovely, too. We had brought glow-in-the-dark necklaces and fancy foil hair and ankle flowers for the Tropical Party, and gave extras to our dinner companions. The girls went to the Glow Party at the Off Beat Club, and pronounced it Lame. They preferred the family party on deck.
Day Five:
All you need to disembark at St. Thomas is your KTTW and a photo ID, but I would suggest bringing a photocopy of your passport, too, in case you get left behind, as one guy did! Id hate to be stuck in a foreign country without one.
We went to the WD Theater at 6:20 AM (all in our PJs) so that we could get through immigration before the line grew. Everyone must go, kids and all. Its a little tough to rouse the kids, especially after the late night party the previous AM. (Something more to resent Osama Bin Laden for.) But it went quick and the kids were back resting in bed by 6:40. By then, the theater was full; glad we went early. I went to Topsiders again and cajoled the kids into eating in bed.
On the positive side, we were up and at em for our excursion at 7:40. Of course, there was one family on our tour that hadnt gone through immigration, so we had to wait for them. DD was thrilled that DDF was also going snorkeling on the 5 Star St. John Snorkel. The Leylon Sneed was a nice new boat, the crew were fun, the equipment was nice, and the snorkeling was the best Ive seen. Even the first time snorkelers among us (my kids and Chris) quickly learned how. The inflatable vests help make you feel confident. We snorkeled off the side of the boat in deep water for awhile, then some of us swam to the beach and others took the dingy to shore. I tried snorkeling near the beach (not expecting it to be very nice) and there were some great fish there too. So if you plan on this excursion, but worry that your little ones might be freaked out by the deep water, take the dingy and then snorkel near the reef to the left of the beach. On the way back, they served rum punch, and for a tip, they added some kind of coconut liquor that made it extra yummy. I gladly tipped them an extra $10 for their kind assistance through the morning.
One cool thing, they had a photographer who took digital photos throughout the AM and then when you were on the ride back, she pulled them up on the computer. The price was great; $5 for the first one, $2 for each subsequent one. (Downright cheap next to Disney prices!) The catch was they were on disc (or else shed email them to you). We bought a disc of several, with the idea of having them put onto photo paper when we returned. They were cute!
When we had showered, we went to Lumieres for lunch again. This time DD got the royal treatment (DS went before) . We had ham and cheese croissants and DD had a smoothie. Chris, DD and I went shopping in St. Thomas at Havensight Mall; DD got tired of trooping through jewelry stores so we left a little before Chris. As it approached 4:00, I started getting nervous that she would forget to come back! She walked in at 4:10, but another man was not so lucky, and got left behind. We went up on deck for the sailaway and a ROWDY boat of people on The Wild Side passed us... I heard later that there was a tragedy on the Adventure of the Seas docked next to us; a woman on that excursion fell or jumped off her balcony afterwards and was killed. Cruising is such a mellow, fun vacation that it can be easy to forget things like getting back to the ship or safety concerns. My prayers are with that young girl and her family!
That night, Chris and Kathy (DDFs mom) went to Palos, and I took the three kids to dinner. The night before, mine were WILD - and theyre usually very good in nice restaurants. I think several nights in a row of fine dining took the awe out of it, so they were pushing their limits. (And, just having fun.) So I asked them to be nice young ladies and gentleman (since I was the only adult) and they were good as gold. I had the herb encrusted sea bass - yum - and I wanted the kids to try escargot, so Cedric willingly brought them an extra order to split. When they were squeamish, he did all but feed it to them, and they each tried one (with one child going back for seconds.) Incidentally, all three kids freely ordered off the adult menu all week, occasionally choosing something from the kids menu. For dessert, we had the chocolate raspberry torte (very dry chocolate - yum) and creme brule (my favorite food on Earth).
Who Wants to be a Mouseketeer was that night, and entertaining even to someone who doesnt watch the game show. A guy won the cruise, the first time in 3 months, they said. Kathy from our group whooped and hollered and was chosen for the panel, for which she received a nice pin (and she and her daughter collect the pins).
Day Six:
This was our character breakfast morning. I would have preferred to have it earlier in the week but this was our assigned time - 8:15 AM - and the kids were awfully tired and it was hard to get them up. But we had really not interacted with the characters all that much (since you have to stand in brief lines, usually, to see them) so I got them up. DD has started to really dislike costumed characters, and she has more of a grimace than a smile in most of the photos. DS, who is older and way too cool for such things, actually looked a lot happier! We saw Minnie, Chip, and Dale. Goofy, who gives me the willies anyway, didnt come by, nor did Mickey, though we caught him on the way out.
We went to the Goofy Pool again, while Chris went to another Art of Entertaining event (and got us tickets to visit the galley later that day). DS was involved in a Gotcha game with the teens (the first Common Grounds activity he really participated in all week) - of course, murder and mayhem, something he can really enjoy! (The teens are assigned someone to kill; though since its Disney, they spooned their victims, not knifed them.)
Lunch at Topsiders for the seafood buffet, with crab claws, shrimp, sushi, and the most heavenly creme caramel. (We took 2 back to our room for later, having eaten our way through all the other desserts.) Since the kids were good sports about eating the snails, I didnt make them eat wasabi sauce! I went to a Behind the Scenes Disney Trivia game with the author of the Ultimate Disney Trivia Book and was chagrined to learn I didnt know as much about Disney as I thought. I only got 11 out of 20 right! Two ladies got 17, and the question that they answered for a tiebreaker was What was Mickeys original first name? I would have guess Willie, but it was Mortimer. The winner won mouse ears with a graduation tassel on it; very cute.
The galley tour was interesting, and the female chef (one of only 5 female galley workers out of dozens and dozens of men) told us many facts, including that they are able to guess, within about 10 entrees, how many people will pick the shrimp entree, or the steak entree, etc. each night. So there is very little waste. They walk through the dining room to see if there are a lot of half eaten entrees, and then scale back portion size or change ingredients, etc. (Presumably by now theyve gotten the menus down to a science.)
Back to dress up for the second formal night, and photos with Mickey. I wanted a formal shot of all three of us (me and the two kids) as DS had begged off on having his photo taken the first formal night. We had our photo taken with formally dressed Mickey and Minnie and that was a hoot. The seas were rough again, and DS was a little ill at dinner, so he left after a couple bites of his lobster. DDF didnt like hers (as she was used to Maine lobsters) so Chris and I each had double portions - yikes! Plus I had ordered an extra steak (with Bearnaise sauce, another fave) for all of us to share. Gee, we could barely fit in dessert! ;-)
Disney Dreams was afterwards, and it was great. Didnt cry, though, was too full! Then off to bed - very tired from having so much fun. The kids were much more vigorous, and enjoyed hanging out until 11:00 or so. Turned our clocks back before bed.
Day Seven:
We took our time getting off the ship and had no trouble finding a good spot at the family beach. (I thought all week that the ship must have been only 2/3rds full but turned out it was full! You wouldnt have guessed it - no lines or crowds to speak of.) We brought our snorkels, water noodles, etc. and had a nice leisurely day. I ordered a Konk Kooler and when Chris settled down and tried one, she had to have one too! They really are good! I ordered her one in the fancy glass (I generally go for the cheaper version) but it didnt come in a pink shell, but a covered glass with a straw. She was happy with it, though.
Lunch at Cookies came before it seemed possible to be hungry. The ribs were good, tried a lobster burger (good but a little weird, I liked it better off the bun). Left the kids with DDF and her mom and Chris and I tried the adult beach. I snorkeled there and saw one cool thing: a school of about 10 big fish (about 12 inches long each). Otherwise, didnt see a thing.
Got nervous about the kids (and the sky was getting dark) so I took the tram back to the family beach. Got our things together, and was going to order a Konk Kooler for the road, when they served me two! (It was happy hour - so if you want to try some and be economical, get them after 2:00 - 3:00 when its happy hour) Then it started POURING! So here I am with the kids and all our stuff, clutching two cocktails like a crazy woman. We found a little shelter, waited for the worst of it to pass over, then made it back to the ship (the drinks just slightly watered down - thats where the covered glass would have come in handy!) Once we were in our stateroom, Chris came a few minutes later - having decided to buy ME a Konk Kooler since I had bought her one earlier - so she had two also! We laughed and laughed and took on the tough task of drinking two.
Got DD ready for the childrens show (she had barely participated, but wanted the T-shirt) and then I went to see her in it. When they played the music about Dream of a perfect vacation... I cried, it really touched me. Felt like a dork for crying, but it made me feel good that I could give my kids this kind of wonderful vacation that the song was describing.
We gave Cedric and Deepesh (and our stateroom host, Iwayan, who was very kind all week and made us the requisite towel animals) their final tips, along with Thank You notes, and gave Sandra the Headwaiter her tip and a huge bottle of Merlot we hadnt opened yet. (We gave Iwayan a bottle of champagne, too.) I dont always tip the Headwaiter, but Sandra was exceptionally attentive and kind and we were happy to give her more than the suggested amount.
After dinner, I checked on my charges and paid the balance with a check. We only paid $536 for the week, and $180 of that was the four shore excursions. (We paid tips in cash.) So I thought we did well, especially since we were pretty free with letting the kids buy smoothies and candy. I had put down $450 initially, so only had to write a check for $86. Chris account was $80 or so, mostly photos. She had so many BEAUTIFUL photos, I dont know how she narrowed it down.
The only bad thing about not using my credit card was that I was dying for a cold Coke while I was packing, but had closed out my account. Youre more free to spend money and have fun on the last night if you use a credit card.
I packed from 8:00 until about 10:55, non-stop! I guess since it took me about 3 months to pack to go, it should take at least three hours to pack to leave. I squeaked under the wire with 5 minutes to spare! The kids were out with DDFs mom, and went to an 11:00 movie. I was glad when they returned halfway through it, so all were present and accounted for!
Day Eight:
The next morning, we opted for a later breakfast at Topsiders (instead of our assigned time of 6:15 at Parrot Cay) but was a little surprised it was only rolls and juice. No more huge slabs of bacon! No more Mickey waffles! An easy disembarkation (we were going to use a porter, but none was around, so we saved $8 in tips), breezed through customs and immigration and were on our way. Thankfully, our flights to Minneapolis via Atlanta went well, as did the drive up to Duluth. We unraveled DDs hair braids at the Orlando Airport and her hair looked even MORE wild! Disney addicts, we had to hit the Disney Store at the airport, too. DS, who had not spent a nickel of his $37 spending money (other than his $25 shipboard credit, which he spent at the arcade) bought his girlfriend a necklace at the Disney Store. Ah, young love!
If youve gotten this far and you have any questions, please post them. Im having surgery on the 17th so wont get to them until the 19th, I think. Thanks to all who helped make our vacation so splendiferous!
(P.S. We hope to go in 2003 - Bringing DS, Chris and her son, Brandon. DD and I will go on a different cruise in 2002.)
DS, Will turn 13 on Christmas eve, decided he would be in Teen Group for cruise
DD, Will turn 11 this month (Busy month for us - especially when you add a cruise!)
Friend Chris, Nikos best friends Mom, 30-something
Background:
We booked through Disney originally, but switched to Dreams Unlimited to take advantage of a $75 cabin credit and a $75 rebate on our final payment. Later, DU said Disney wouldnt honor the cabin credit portion (because it was a switched reservation) but DU honored it by giving me a $150 rebate instead. Way to go, DU!
I also received the $50 postcard cabin credit by just calling Disney and asking for it (way last April) and that worked out great too. I let the kids each have a $25 spending limit and they really enjoyed that (having their own credit cards). Both did great at not exceeding it (or losing their KTTW cards).
We had an inside cabin 11, which is really all our budget could afford. We tried to bring Chris and her son Brandon, but couldnt fit 5 in a standard cabin (or any up to a huge family suite). Since Brandon requires a large power wheelchair, I had concerns that a cruise might not work out for him (not to mention the logistics of getting his chair from Duluth to Minneapolis to Orlando to Port Canaveral) and I also worried his parents wouldnt let him go without one of them. In the end we just brought his Mom instead (who really needed a break also, as she not only cares for him, but also works at a Group Home for developmentally disabled adults, a very demanding job).
Day T - One:
We got up early, drove from Duluth to MSP, then got on our Delta flights to Orlando. The $138 round trip rate I got on Cheaptickets.com had us traveling to Cincinnati on the way to Orlando. (Hey, for that price, Ill go via Timbuktu.) Anyway, it was a long day of traveling, and we were glad to finally arrive at the airport Fairfield Inn ($49 Come out and Play rate) at 8:00 PM. We ate at Bennigans, which was good, except the hostess told my son he looked like Harry Potter, which totally embarrassed him. (This happened to him three more times on the trip, and he doesnt even have round glasses or dark brown hair!) Not to mention, magical powers would have gotten us to Florida a lot quicker than 10 hours.
Day One:
After a good nights sleep and a free breakfast at the Fairfield Inn, we took their free shuttle to the half mile or so back to the airport, then boarded the Disney bus to Port Canaveral. The bus was nice and plush, and everyone was duly excited, especially the two little girls in the seats in front of us. They turned out to be five year old cousins, traveling with their grandparents. We continued to run into them all week, and they were as cute and wild, as they could be.
The terminal was beautiful and decorated for Christmas. The check-in was easy, and Chris and I were able to set up separate accounts. (Later, they charged her for the snorkeling excursion I had previously booked for her, but a quick stop at Guest Services put it on my account with the others.) I got in the very short line to the ship while the others goofed around until the line got seriously long, then joined me. (I met my first DIS member here - ThumperOne - she was wearing a lime green necklace, so I couldnt help asking!) After we chanted We Love Tom! they let us in, ahead of schedule as usual. They did introduce us (as The Quinn Family but my son, who, like his sister, has his Dads last name, went back and had them announce his name too!). We went right up to lunch at Parrot Cay, which was wonderful, and our first taste of Disneys great food. Though it was still kind of early, I was dying to check our stateroom. I warned the others to expect it to be very small (as they havent cruised before, it can be a shock if youre expecting a hotel-sized room) but I was very pleasantly surprised at the roominess, and downright niceness, of our category 11. I would imagine anything up from there is even nicer! One thing I liked about the cat. 11 was the larger bed (in our case, two twins) is in the back, with the seating area nearer the bathroom. (We visited a category 8 (porthole) and it seemed weird to have to trip over the beds to get to the seating area.) The cabin was nice and quiet all week.
THE MOST AMAZING THING IN OUR ROOM WAS THE BASKET FROM SHIRLEY AT THE PERFECT GIFT AND DIS BOARD MEMBERS! I wrote a pre-trip report about trying to take Chris and her disabled son Brandon and it must have tugged at the heartstrings of some of the wonderful folks at the DIS board, who all chipped in to send her a basket. Special thanks to:
Mary Jatar
Tommie Issa (Tammie?)
Kim Missine
Hygiene 99 (?)
Laura Harris
Merricki Reynolds
Susan Dalugo
Beth Buttimer
Shirley and Norm from The Perfect Gift
( I apologize if I got anyones name wrong, but was working from the handwritten gift card!)
Inside the huuuuge basket was all kinds of gourmet food, a bottle of champagne, a fancy Christmas ornament, Mickey and Minnie beanies, and many more things. I liberated a bag of Mickey chocolates, my daughter claimed the Minnie beanie, my son gave Chris the Mickey beanie for his best friend Brandon, and we made Chris keep the lot. We chilled up the champagne for the sailaway party!
We also received a Castaway Crate from Dreams Unlimited! I could not believe the kindness - to have given us a $150 credit over Disneys price, and then to send us a nice box - when we were only in a cheap cat. 11! DREAMS UNLIMITED AND DIS BOARD FOLKS ARE THE BEST! The crate had pop and munchies in it too. We had brought a cooler with champagne, wine, drink pouches, and tiny cans of Coke, so we had plenty of drinkables all week. Our luggage had arrived by now too, so Chris and I go to work unpacking. We let the kids go explore the ship and we spent about an hour getting organized, which made me feel ready for the week. (We also hung a large banner on our cabin door that said Island Party so we could find our room easier.)
We also put our passports, return plane tickets, extra cash, jewelry, etc in the safe. One tip I learned from another board was to use a different card from your KTTW card to close and open the safe (this is only useful if you have more than one adult that may need to use the safe, and youre not always together). Any card with a magnetic stripe on it will work. I used my ATM card, then we hid it in the room in a place where Chris and I could both access it. If we had used my KTTW card, for instance, and Chris needed something from the safe, she would have had to come and find me. The card that locks it, opens it. So this worked well for us. (I figured that there was little danger in leaving the ATM card around, even if it wasnt hidden, because its pretty useless without the code. Just dont forget to take it when you leave!)
When the kids came back, we put our swimsuits on and hit the pools! When I got all comfy poolside, Chris says Werent you going to make some kind of reservations? Me, the total planning queen, had completely forgotten to make Palos reservations, which I should have done before unpacking! Believe me, Ive been obessively planning the trip since April, and had a single spaced typewritten list for each and every day! (If this sounds about as fun and spontaneous as a forced march, Im actually pretty flexible - the list is just a guide. And I have a giant typewritten list for my everyday life, too.) And obviously, having the list doesnt help if you dont read it! So off I went to Palos - the only one there in a swimsuit and coverup - feeling like a dork. All dinners were already full, but we only wanted brunch. Sunday was full so I picked Monday. So OK! Back in time for swimming, the lifeboat drill (Station M, in the baking sun) and the sailaway party! Chris and I availed ourselves of the champagne in some cute acrylic glasses I had brought, and I bought the kids each a fancy (non-alcoholic) drink. Hey, were on vacation!
We got the dining rotation I had requested: PLAPLAP, though DU had said you could not actually request such, so it might have just been a coincidence. We chose early seating because I tend to get awfully tired after a day in the sun, so I figured: dinner, show, bed. We requested a table just for four, but when we were seated, we were with a Mom and her daughter, who was the same age as DD11. This turned out to be one of the best things about our vacation! DD and the other girl got on like a house afire, as my old Auntie would say. The Mom was also a DIS Board reader (vying with me as the Obsessive Planner of the Year) and she had made many of the same plans as we had. (Even ending up with the same shore excursion! Plus she had Palo dinner reservations, spa treatments lined up, etc. I was very impressed that as a single parent, she was still planning to participate in all the ship had to offer.) If youre reading this Kathy, Hello and the photos are coming soon!
Our servers were Cedric, a dreamy Frenchman, and Deepesh from South Africa. Deepesh was very sweet but shy, and Cedric was just a doll. Both were very accommodating and kind. Cedric confessed to us that he had just gotten engaged (to the performer who posed for photos as Belle; later we saw her as a dancer in Disney Dreams) and we later found out it was both of their last week. They were to be off to meet each others families at Christmastime, then coming back next Spring.
After dinner, I signed DD up for Oceaneers Lab, though she hardly ever went. We had made plans for her to meet DDF (darling daughters new friend, our dinner companion) at the O Lab the next morning, but after that, they rarely went. They preferred to hang out at the pool, or go to a movie together, etc. That way fine with me; I like to spend time with her and was concerned that the opposite would be true: that she couldnt be dragged from the clubs for dinner. Every day Id say: Oh, look, theres a fun activity happening in 15 minutes, shed say Id rather do this. Same with my DS13. He was actually still 12, with his birthday in a couple weeks, but he would NOT sign up for O Lab and wanted to do teen stuff in Common Grounds. But he felt a little young for them, so he barely participated either. We did stuff together, and it was great!
After dinner, my daughter wanted to see Max Keebles Big Move at the Buena Vista Theater. Not exactly Citizen Kane but she enjoyed it. The theater is beautiful, with wood Queen Anne style chairs. I was exhausted by then, but Chris wanted to check out Beat Street, so we went out. There was supposed to be a singles party at Sessions (for me, not Chris, not that I was trolling for dates) but no one was there, so we went to Rockin Bar D for a drink, then ended up at Dueling Pianos. We enjoyed that, and when they said the one performer was from Minnesota, Chris and I whooped and hollered. So he came over to meet us and was very nice. During the week he told us some interesting things about working on the ship, and invited us to visit the crew space (which I would have loved to do, but didnt want to put anyone in an awkward position). Then it was time to turn clocks back and hour and go to bed!
Day Two:
Th ship was really moving to and fro the previous night and this AM. DD and I got up early to meet DDF at the O Lab at 9:00. We had breakfast at Topsiders, and I was impressed by the variety and quality of the food. The attendants were nice and got me an iced tea (I dont drink coffee) though obviously they dont serve many iced teas in the AM because they had to scramble to get some. Besides the usual eggs, bacon, & sausage, there was all kinds of fresh fruit, wonderful pastries and bread (the breads are WONDERFUL), a whole huge bar for yogurt, with dried apricots, marinated apricots, marinated prunes, raisins, yellow raisins, almonds, walnuts, etc, anything you could imagine to top yogurt. Also there was a made-to-order omelet bar and Mickey waffles, both behind the regular line.
After I dropped off DD, I went to the Goofy Pool to stake out a spot. I never had a problem getting a spot. Chair reserving was much less evident than on the previous (Carnival) cruise I took. Of course, this day I was up early, but other days I would come later and still no problem. (We would use two chairs for the six of us.) There were huge waves in the Goofy Pool, which the kids loved. (Kind of like the surf pool at Typhoon Lagoon!) DD and her new friend didnt want to leave the pool for lunch (DDFs Mom took them to Topsiders, eventually), but DS, Chris and I went to Lumieres for a nice sit down lunch. I had a french dip sandwich, which was proportioned small for lunch, leaving room for a wonderful dessert (cant decipher my notes to see what kind I had!)
DIS Moderator Rhonda had a small DIS meet that AM, so I got to meet her. She even had small goodie bags made up for the kids. How sweet! Thanks, Rhonda!
In the afternoon, Chris and I went to the wine tasting, which she had signed us up for. That was a surprise! I liked it even though I had a crashing headache (which re-occurred several times throughout the first 4 days or so - perhaps atmospheric changes, perhaps reading in the sun, perhaps too much champagne?) But the prodigious amount of wine cured it! We received a pamphlet to take notes - one of the wines was, I swear to God, made by Fess Parker, of Disneys Daniel Boone renown. My notes say: Oaky, with a note of Trigger. (Nota Bene, I know that wasnt his horse, but couldnt remember Daniel Boones horses name. Anyway, it slayed them at the wine tasting!) We got a nice pin for participating. The kids were at Legally Blonde which worked out well, because it got them out of the sun for awhile.
Dinner was formal night at Lumieres. We got all gussied up (starting at 4:00) so we could take photos at 5:00 and beat the lines. We brought our servers (and our stateroom host) 1/3 of their tips for the week (for the four of us) and a 100 minute phone card, each, in a nice Thank You card. I figured: Might as well tip them ahead of the game, instead of only after! I had scallops and the rack of lamb for dinner. Usually I hate lamb, but Cedric convinced me, and it was very good. (Juicy, not dry; and no mint sauce slathered all over it - yuck!) For dessert: Chocolate hazelnut cake.
When we came out of dinner, it was the Captains reception, and waiters pressed drinks into our hands on the stairwell. OK! Chris and I went out to Secret Deck 7 Aft and enjoyed the full moon, the balmy night, and the free drinks! Though we were tired, we dragged ourselves to Morty the Magnificent which was absolutely the stupidest, most annoying show Ive ever seen. Midway through, we saw DDs new friend and her Mom walking out, and DD begged to be released too, but we were in the middle of a row. When the people next to us left (clearing that end of the row) we joined the exodus. (We were in the back, so felt that we were minimally disrupting.) I thoroughly missed Voyage of the Ghost Ship - even though Ive never seen it, it MUST have been better!
We went back to our room, and it would have been Lights Out but we wanted to go to midnight dessert buffet. It was fun, and the desserts and presentation were lovely, but we brought WAY too much back to our room (on the premise that DS was there, wanting some), and we were eating dessert for the next couple of days! I cant see wasting food, and I let the kids eat anything they wanted throughout the week, as long as they didnt waste it.
The kids really enjoyed their beds. The fold out bed in the couch is a real mattress, as is the fold down bunk. Both very comfy, from all accounts.
Day Three:
My 40th birthday! The kids had each brought little gifts for me (even wrapped!), my boyfriend sent a couple, and Chris had some for me too. How sweet! Cutest of all was DD - she used part of her $25 ship credit to buy me a gift! She knows I collect fridge magnets, so she went to Mickeys Mates to buy one, but they were only in a set. Somehow the guy gave her (and DDF) each a stray magnet, and she bought me two 89 cent Mickey ear hair clips. So they guy wrapped it all up in a splendiferous Disney box for her!
We hung out by the Goofy Pool AM, while Chris went to her second in the Art of Entertaining series. She really enjoyed them! I went to one: Dazzling Desserts where they made a dessert out of a tomato. They brought each person a whole dessert and a glass of champagne (for free). There was a similar offering for each presentation (with wine - no wonder why Chris liked them!
I did laugh at the recipe card they handed out - for ten people, it called for 4 tomatoes, one apple, then a pound and a quarter of pecans, walnuts, and pistachio nuts; three and an eighth pounds of brown sugar, and a pound and a half of butter! (Whoever made up the card must have been into the champagne!) Obviously a gremlin got into the recipe.I brought the kids to lunch at Topsiders, because Chris and I were signed up for the champagne brunch later that morning. We invited Kathy (DDFs Mom) to come too (and she invited Chris to share her Palos dinner reservation later that week). I really enjoyed the brunch, but I enjoyed the fancy lunches in the sit down restaurants too. The only thing I didnt like was my entree: Eggs Julia (like eggs Benedict but with salmon) but the yolks were sooooo runny it was a little gross. Our waiter, Marco, was cute but did not understand English very well, though he said hed been on the ship for 2 years. (He spoke well enough, but couldnt understand our quick speaking.)
After lunch, Kathy went to a spa treatment while Chris & I and the girls went to gingerbread house making at Studio Sea. (You signed up the day before as it was limited to a certain number of families.) It was fun but we didnt understand the rules (as most people also did not); you were judged only on how clean your table was afterwards. (We knew that was ONE of the prizes, so we kept our table clean, but it turned out there were no prizes awarded to the best house itself.) The girls did a great job, even landscaping the yard and adding a snowman, etc. Despite the lack of fame and glory, we had fun. (They provided you with all the fixins, and you could take it home afterwards. Instead, we let the kids eat it a day later.)
We had dinner at AP with the show, and they brought a cake for my birthday. I was a little tired and didnt want a fuss, and the LAST thing we needed was more dessert in our room (We had already eaten dessert with dinner, so the cake was to take back with us, and we had just about finally gotten rid of the midnight desserts, but Oh well.) Sandra, our excellent head waiter, made it all perfect by slipping me a very cool I had my birthday on Disney Cruise Line pin. (My son ate the cake for breakfast the next day.) Sandra knew all of our names and greeted us warmly each evening.
We went to Hercules which was miles better than Morty. Chris made me go out to Dueling Pianos again, so they could harass me for my birthday. They made me do the Hokey Pokey onstage with another birthday girl, and you can guess which part of my anatomy they made me put out. The fun part was that we got to pick a guy from the audience to take our place on stage, so I picked a grandfather type that was with his young family. (He had to shake his bum.)
Before we went to bed, I ordered sandwiches from Room Service for St. Maarten.
Day Four:
I went to Topsiders (in my Mickey PJs, having totally gone native by this point) and filled a tray with breakfast items for the kids. It was raining, hard. Oh no!
We went ahead and packed up the cooler, snorkels, etc, and ferried to Great Bay Beach. When we stepped off the ship, the rain was over! For the $10 ferry cost (for four; kids were free) and the $10 chair cost (for two), we had a fabulous day! (A lady met us right at the end of the pier and took us to her area, right by the trampoline in the water.) The beach wasnt too crowded (there were people in chairs next to us but they were not too close, and it was nice meeting them anyway, they were all from other ships and curious about Disney), and it was an easy, cheap beach day. The kids were finding the most amazing shells! Huuuuge conch shells, and a variety of other beautiful, unbroken shells. I had a hard time convincing them to leave most and just take a representative sample home.
About 11:00 we broke out the sandwiches for a nice free lunch. The hairbraiders and sellers were omnipresent, but were easily waved away. I did say to one nice lady Not now about braiding my daughters hair, so she quickly said: Ill come back in an hour. She was dressed very neatly, so I told her OK, and she was true to her word. I only had $30 left so I planned to just have DDs front hair braided (headband style) and leave the back undone. When I told Julia that, she asked how much I had, and finally said shed do her whole head for the $30. This was a great deal, in my estimation, as it took her an hour and a half (with another lady, I think her daughter) helping, and they put in 45 braids. I scrounged up $5 more dollars: $2 to buy her a cool drink and $33 for the braiding.
One odd incident: while she was braiding, we sat at a covered picnic table. A man came over and said (in a strong New York accent) Is that your baby? referring to my 11 year old DD. I said yes and he asked where we were on the beach. Clueless me, I thought he was another vacationer, and gestured to my rented chairs directly in front of us. Turns out, he was the owner of the bar behind us, and the beach chairs, and the picnic table. Once he found out we had indeed rented chairs from him (and had been buying frosty drinks) he was somewhat mollified, and didnt yell at me, but he was generally mad at the hair braiders for plying their trade on his picnic table. Right in front of Julia, he said These people have no respect, all they care about is money, they wont even greet me on the street. I refrained from pointing out that the hair braiders were plying merely their trade, as was he, and at least they were indigenous to the area rather than expatriates. (Though of course he had a point about the use of his tables, but we were his customers, and no one else was using his adjacent two tables to eat during the time we were there.) Some may think of the hair braiding as a touristy kind of thing, but its also kind of a cool folk art in a lot of ways.
I had intended to be at the beach by 9:00, then back to the ship for lunch, then go back for shopping, but the rain and the late start wrecked that schedule. Instead, we had our picnic lunch on the beach, and Chris went shopping while I stayed with DD as she got her hair braided. DS slept under the umbrella, which can only be ascribed to him having swallowed a couple gallons of sea water while he was picking up shells, I guess. So I never got to shop at St. Maarten. Chris said that the deals were much better there than St. Thomas. So I have a reason to return!
We had a festive Tropical Night dinner at Parrot Cay (which is why I wanted the PLAPLAP rotation, because wed be in Lumieres for Formal Night and Parrot Cay for Tropical Night); I had garlic shrimp pasta. Then we went to the Prem-Ear of Monsters Inc which we all enjoyed. We didnt spend much money on the ship, but I allowed the kids to go hog wild at the candy counter adjacent to the Walt Disney Theater every night, which they loved. The WD Theater is lovely, too. We had brought glow-in-the-dark necklaces and fancy foil hair and ankle flowers for the Tropical Party, and gave extras to our dinner companions. The girls went to the Glow Party at the Off Beat Club, and pronounced it Lame. They preferred the family party on deck.
Day Five:
All you need to disembark at St. Thomas is your KTTW and a photo ID, but I would suggest bringing a photocopy of your passport, too, in case you get left behind, as one guy did! Id hate to be stuck in a foreign country without one.
We went to the WD Theater at 6:20 AM (all in our PJs) so that we could get through immigration before the line grew. Everyone must go, kids and all. Its a little tough to rouse the kids, especially after the late night party the previous AM. (Something more to resent Osama Bin Laden for.) But it went quick and the kids were back resting in bed by 6:40. By then, the theater was full; glad we went early. I went to Topsiders again and cajoled the kids into eating in bed.
On the positive side, we were up and at em for our excursion at 7:40. Of course, there was one family on our tour that hadnt gone through immigration, so we had to wait for them. DD was thrilled that DDF was also going snorkeling on the 5 Star St. John Snorkel. The Leylon Sneed was a nice new boat, the crew were fun, the equipment was nice, and the snorkeling was the best Ive seen. Even the first time snorkelers among us (my kids and Chris) quickly learned how. The inflatable vests help make you feel confident. We snorkeled off the side of the boat in deep water for awhile, then some of us swam to the beach and others took the dingy to shore. I tried snorkeling near the beach (not expecting it to be very nice) and there were some great fish there too. So if you plan on this excursion, but worry that your little ones might be freaked out by the deep water, take the dingy and then snorkel near the reef to the left of the beach. On the way back, they served rum punch, and for a tip, they added some kind of coconut liquor that made it extra yummy. I gladly tipped them an extra $10 for their kind assistance through the morning.
One cool thing, they had a photographer who took digital photos throughout the AM and then when you were on the ride back, she pulled them up on the computer. The price was great; $5 for the first one, $2 for each subsequent one. (Downright cheap next to Disney prices!) The catch was they were on disc (or else shed email them to you). We bought a disc of several, with the idea of having them put onto photo paper when we returned. They were cute!
When we had showered, we went to Lumieres for lunch again. This time DD got the royal treatment (DS went before) . We had ham and cheese croissants and DD had a smoothie. Chris, DD and I went shopping in St. Thomas at Havensight Mall; DD got tired of trooping through jewelry stores so we left a little before Chris. As it approached 4:00, I started getting nervous that she would forget to come back! She walked in at 4:10, but another man was not so lucky, and got left behind. We went up on deck for the sailaway and a ROWDY boat of people on The Wild Side passed us... I heard later that there was a tragedy on the Adventure of the Seas docked next to us; a woman on that excursion fell or jumped off her balcony afterwards and was killed. Cruising is such a mellow, fun vacation that it can be easy to forget things like getting back to the ship or safety concerns. My prayers are with that young girl and her family!
That night, Chris and Kathy (DDFs mom) went to Palos, and I took the three kids to dinner. The night before, mine were WILD - and theyre usually very good in nice restaurants. I think several nights in a row of fine dining took the awe out of it, so they were pushing their limits. (And, just having fun.) So I asked them to be nice young ladies and gentleman (since I was the only adult) and they were good as gold. I had the herb encrusted sea bass - yum - and I wanted the kids to try escargot, so Cedric willingly brought them an extra order to split. When they were squeamish, he did all but feed it to them, and they each tried one (with one child going back for seconds.) Incidentally, all three kids freely ordered off the adult menu all week, occasionally choosing something from the kids menu. For dessert, we had the chocolate raspberry torte (very dry chocolate - yum) and creme brule (my favorite food on Earth).
Who Wants to be a Mouseketeer was that night, and entertaining even to someone who doesnt watch the game show. A guy won the cruise, the first time in 3 months, they said. Kathy from our group whooped and hollered and was chosen for the panel, for which she received a nice pin (and she and her daughter collect the pins).
Day Six:
This was our character breakfast morning. I would have preferred to have it earlier in the week but this was our assigned time - 8:15 AM - and the kids were awfully tired and it was hard to get them up. But we had really not interacted with the characters all that much (since you have to stand in brief lines, usually, to see them) so I got them up. DD has started to really dislike costumed characters, and she has more of a grimace than a smile in most of the photos. DS, who is older and way too cool for such things, actually looked a lot happier! We saw Minnie, Chip, and Dale. Goofy, who gives me the willies anyway, didnt come by, nor did Mickey, though we caught him on the way out.
We went to the Goofy Pool again, while Chris went to another Art of Entertaining event (and got us tickets to visit the galley later that day). DS was involved in a Gotcha game with the teens (the first Common Grounds activity he really participated in all week) - of course, murder and mayhem, something he can really enjoy! (The teens are assigned someone to kill; though since its Disney, they spooned their victims, not knifed them.)
Lunch at Topsiders for the seafood buffet, with crab claws, shrimp, sushi, and the most heavenly creme caramel. (We took 2 back to our room for later, having eaten our way through all the other desserts.) Since the kids were good sports about eating the snails, I didnt make them eat wasabi sauce! I went to a Behind the Scenes Disney Trivia game with the author of the Ultimate Disney Trivia Book and was chagrined to learn I didnt know as much about Disney as I thought. I only got 11 out of 20 right! Two ladies got 17, and the question that they answered for a tiebreaker was What was Mickeys original first name? I would have guess Willie, but it was Mortimer. The winner won mouse ears with a graduation tassel on it; very cute.
The galley tour was interesting, and the female chef (one of only 5 female galley workers out of dozens and dozens of men) told us many facts, including that they are able to guess, within about 10 entrees, how many people will pick the shrimp entree, or the steak entree, etc. each night. So there is very little waste. They walk through the dining room to see if there are a lot of half eaten entrees, and then scale back portion size or change ingredients, etc. (Presumably by now theyve gotten the menus down to a science.)
Back to dress up for the second formal night, and photos with Mickey. I wanted a formal shot of all three of us (me and the two kids) as DS had begged off on having his photo taken the first formal night. We had our photo taken with formally dressed Mickey and Minnie and that was a hoot. The seas were rough again, and DS was a little ill at dinner, so he left after a couple bites of his lobster. DDF didnt like hers (as she was used to Maine lobsters) so Chris and I each had double portions - yikes! Plus I had ordered an extra steak (with Bearnaise sauce, another fave) for all of us to share. Gee, we could barely fit in dessert! ;-)
Disney Dreams was afterwards, and it was great. Didnt cry, though, was too full! Then off to bed - very tired from having so much fun. The kids were much more vigorous, and enjoyed hanging out until 11:00 or so. Turned our clocks back before bed.
Day Seven:
We took our time getting off the ship and had no trouble finding a good spot at the family beach. (I thought all week that the ship must have been only 2/3rds full but turned out it was full! You wouldnt have guessed it - no lines or crowds to speak of.) We brought our snorkels, water noodles, etc. and had a nice leisurely day. I ordered a Konk Kooler and when Chris settled down and tried one, she had to have one too! They really are good! I ordered her one in the fancy glass (I generally go for the cheaper version) but it didnt come in a pink shell, but a covered glass with a straw. She was happy with it, though.
Lunch at Cookies came before it seemed possible to be hungry. The ribs were good, tried a lobster burger (good but a little weird, I liked it better off the bun). Left the kids with DDF and her mom and Chris and I tried the adult beach. I snorkeled there and saw one cool thing: a school of about 10 big fish (about 12 inches long each). Otherwise, didnt see a thing.
Got nervous about the kids (and the sky was getting dark) so I took the tram back to the family beach. Got our things together, and was going to order a Konk Kooler for the road, when they served me two! (It was happy hour - so if you want to try some and be economical, get them after 2:00 - 3:00 when its happy hour) Then it started POURING! So here I am with the kids and all our stuff, clutching two cocktails like a crazy woman. We found a little shelter, waited for the worst of it to pass over, then made it back to the ship (the drinks just slightly watered down - thats where the covered glass would have come in handy!) Once we were in our stateroom, Chris came a few minutes later - having decided to buy ME a Konk Kooler since I had bought her one earlier - so she had two also! We laughed and laughed and took on the tough task of drinking two.
Got DD ready for the childrens show (she had barely participated, but wanted the T-shirt) and then I went to see her in it. When they played the music about Dream of a perfect vacation... I cried, it really touched me. Felt like a dork for crying, but it made me feel good that I could give my kids this kind of wonderful vacation that the song was describing.
We gave Cedric and Deepesh (and our stateroom host, Iwayan, who was very kind all week and made us the requisite towel animals) their final tips, along with Thank You notes, and gave Sandra the Headwaiter her tip and a huge bottle of Merlot we hadnt opened yet. (We gave Iwayan a bottle of champagne, too.) I dont always tip the Headwaiter, but Sandra was exceptionally attentive and kind and we were happy to give her more than the suggested amount.
After dinner, I checked on my charges and paid the balance with a check. We only paid $536 for the week, and $180 of that was the four shore excursions. (We paid tips in cash.) So I thought we did well, especially since we were pretty free with letting the kids buy smoothies and candy. I had put down $450 initially, so only had to write a check for $86. Chris account was $80 or so, mostly photos. She had so many BEAUTIFUL photos, I dont know how she narrowed it down.
The only bad thing about not using my credit card was that I was dying for a cold Coke while I was packing, but had closed out my account. Youre more free to spend money and have fun on the last night if you use a credit card.
I packed from 8:00 until about 10:55, non-stop! I guess since it took me about 3 months to pack to go, it should take at least three hours to pack to leave. I squeaked under the wire with 5 minutes to spare! The kids were out with DDFs mom, and went to an 11:00 movie. I was glad when they returned halfway through it, so all were present and accounted for!
Day Eight:
The next morning, we opted for a later breakfast at Topsiders (instead of our assigned time of 6:15 at Parrot Cay) but was a little surprised it was only rolls and juice. No more huge slabs of bacon! No more Mickey waffles! An easy disembarkation (we were going to use a porter, but none was around, so we saved $8 in tips), breezed through customs and immigration and were on our way. Thankfully, our flights to Minneapolis via Atlanta went well, as did the drive up to Duluth. We unraveled DDs hair braids at the Orlando Airport and her hair looked even MORE wild! Disney addicts, we had to hit the Disney Store at the airport, too. DS, who had not spent a nickel of his $37 spending money (other than his $25 shipboard credit, which he spent at the arcade) bought his girlfriend a necklace at the Disney Store. Ah, young love!
If youve gotten this far and you have any questions, please post them. Im having surgery on the 17th so wont get to them until the 19th, I think. Thanks to all who helped make our vacation so splendiferous!
(P.S. We hope to go in 2003 - Bringing DS, Chris and her son, Brandon. DD and I will go on a different cruise in 2002.)
