Coffee on the Verandah - Two by two - 5/21

[emma212010]

Ok, I'm all caught up!

Wow! Atlantis looks beautiful! I agree- there doesn't seem to be much to do on that island. I would have loved to relax on the beach and play some volleyball! But of course, if I was a young boy I probably would have been bored to tears!!

Oooh, K's dress was so pretty on formal night! Great pictures of you all!

Your brunch looked delicious!

[Chilly]

I love love love Palo Brunch. So does DH. I always find it very empty as well. Maybe people don't realise if you can't book online to book when you board.

[eandesmom]

Originally Posted by englishrose47

Thanks Cynthia, I am finally all sleeped UP!!! I am working a 13 hour shift right now , but at least get out at 10p instead of midnight !!!!! Tomorrow is Kyle's birthday and I am off and Judy is taking it off. So should be a fun day !!!

I hope Kyle had a magical birthday!!!

Originally Posted by KatMark

Cynthia, I am slowly catching up on all my subscribed threads.

Your brunch at Palo looks absolutely lovely (where the heck are all the people? ). I really like the look of Jeff's plate and his desserts.

Pastry overload! He was quite happy with his choices. I have no idea where all the people are.

Originally Posted by KatMark

Hmmm...wonder where Kendall was since you knew where Evan was and Eric was still in the room.

Good question!

Originally Posted by emma212010

Ok, I'm all caught up!

Wow! Atlantis looks beautiful! I agree- there doesn't seem to be much to do on that island. I would have loved to relax on the beach and play some volleyball! But of course, if I was a young boy I probably would have been bored to tears!!

That's exactly it. K was fine while playing vball, and would have continued to be I'm sure had she hooked up with anyone her age. The boys were bored silly. However, had it been the first outing of the trip they'd probably have enjoyed it more and done more, it just paled in comparison to the fun they'd already had and what they figured was back on the ship

Originally Posted by emma212010

Oooh, K's dress was so pretty on formal night! Great pictures of you all!

Your brunch looked delicious!

It's a darling dress, isn't it! Thank you, we enjoyed it and it was nice to get a picture of all of us, they are rare!

Originally Posted by Chilly

I love love love Palo Brunch. So does DH. I always find it very empty as well. Maybe people don't realise if you can't book online to book when you board.

You would think they'd open up more spots for before boarding then, I'd think they'd want it full! Love Palo brunch, as much or maybe even more than dinner!

[englishrose47]

The Birthday Boy is having a GREAT Day, his mom took him to pick out the dirtbike jacket he wanted which he is proudly wearing , Gram gave him money, candy and a word book, of course the money was the bestNot sure what he is saving for as it changes daily !!!it's a bike one day, skates the next and so it goes !!! We are off to Olive Garden for supper tonight , his choice !!!!! Cake is made and has blue frosting I am just relaxing for the rest of the day and Judy is letting me which is nothing short of a miracleEarly day tomorrow !!so bed at a reasonable hour !!!

[MEK]

So what's the latest on your DVC reservation? Did I miss it?

[eandesmom]

Originally Posted by englishrose47

The Birthday Boy is having a GREAT Day, his mom took him to pick out the dirtbike jacket he wanted which he is proudly wearing , Gram gave him money, candy and a word book, of course the money was the bestNot sure what he is saving for as it changes daily !!!it's a bike one day, skates the next and so it goes !!! We are off to Olive Garden for supper tonight , his choice !!!!! Cake is made and has blue frosting I am just relaxing for the rest of the day and Judy is letting me which is nothing short of a miracleEarly day tomorrow !!so bed at a reasonable hour !!!

How fun! I'm glad he is having such a great day, sounds like you are too!!!!

Originally Posted by MEK

So what's the latest on your DVC reservation? Did I miss it?

Maybe I didn't do an actual update on it but I have mentioned it in replies I think. I started "walking" on the 26th. I then walked it a day yesterday and another day today. As it stands right now, I could have waited till today to start and probably have been fine but things have come and gone so quickly it was really hard to know and I didn't want to be locked out of my start date. There was a point today where it booked up to be 11m+1 booked out but the +1 has opened back up.

It will be interesting to see where it is at the end of the day/1st thing tomorrow as if that +1 is booked, and I'd have waited to make the ressie tomorrow (my actual 11m day) I'd have been locked out.

So, right now my ressie is for 12/28-1/2. Tomorrow I will call and drop the 28th, add the 2nd and 3rd and be done with it. On 2/4 I'll book the THV part but that hasn't sold out for a single night yet so I'm not remotely worried about that one.

GV's are gone all the way through NYE!

[eandesmom]

After a lovely brunch we headed back to the stateroom. Our plan for the afternoon was a big fat nothing! Which in my world and Jeff’s, on a cruise ship = lounge by the pool. However we did want to check on the kids. "Just Evan" had apparently gone to breakfast. He must have left right after we did as Cabana’s only served it till 11:30. He arrived back at the room right after we did. Which meant 2 out of 3 were accounted for. The 3rd...we didn't know, she hadn't alerted the boys and had been out cold when we’ had left for brunch (those late nights will do you in!). Given that we’ had made her a spa appointment this understandably made us nervous. She hadn't taken a wave phone with her and we didn't know if she’d read the note on the door with the info, or not. All we could do was hope for the best. It was about 1pm and we consulted with the kids. Their plan was similar to ours, lots of pool time, though in their case that included Funnel Vision, maybe checking out the Avengers (again) which was playing in the main theater and checking out the mid-ship detective agency. Before all that though, they had a mission. FE delivery! We had made a gift for each day and now was the perfect time to send them out and do today's deliveries. While they went off, we set to change for our afternoon plans. Still, no Kendall.

We got changed and then made ourselves a drink for the pool, Jeff using one of the refillable mugs and I’ am pretty sure I was using my fabulous new Tervis! As we got ready to leave, the kids came back and we agreed to meet in the room no later than 6 (knowing we’'d likely see them once or twice as we walked by the main pool) to head to the family comedy show. Other than that, we were cutting them loose for the day. We decided to head ot the spa first, hoping she was there.

Nope.

Hmmn...what to do.

Spa said they’d give her about 15 minutes.

Ok.

We headed out to the adult area to try and find loungers. It is set up very differently on the Dream, pool is on one deck but the loungers above it and we were a bit unclear as to what was adult only and what wasn't. The good news is that the adult pool is literally right outside the entrance to the spa. The bad news is...the adult pool is literally outside the entrance to the spa and fitness center, which means a lot of non-adult traffic passes through there as there is no other way on deck to get back there. There are few loungers right near the pool, those that are close are off to the side and actually in a covered area. And in some cases/times, taken up by live music. So you have to go up a deck. I had just gotten back from my now 3rd trip to the spa desk, this time basically cancelling with the generous offer of the spa that if we found her and there was an opening, they’d slide her in with no penalty charge but if we couldn't reschedule, we would be charged. Just as I was walking out who should appear? Kendall! She had gotten totally lost trying to find the spa. Jeff took her back in, at that point I think I was annoyed with both of them at this point, him for giving her more evening freedom than I was comfortable with without any kind of curfew and for not waking her when we left to at least remind her to take the wave phone) and her for not at least leaving a note to indicate she’d gotten the message and would be there. Either way, she was a good 20 minutes late and as a result, they couldn't do both mani and pedi. She opted for the pedi...her soccer tootsies needed some love more than her hands I guess.

Finally, at 2, Jeff and I settled down.

Looking across



To the side



Down



A pretty full pool! It is not very large that is for sure. I'm not sure but it may be smaller than the one on the Wonder even though the ship holds 1,000 more passengers! As you can see it’s only 2/3 pool and the other 1/3 is a funky bar area, where you can sit and drink. On both sides of it kids are passing through to get back and forth on the deck so not all that "adult" if you ask me. I think the hot tubs were on the sides, also covered up by the upper deck and seemingly smaller, you can see one of them behind the musician. I did like the location of them better on the Wonder as well but that really had no bearing on why we didn't go in them, we just didn't for whatever reason, most likely as it's not something I tend to want to do when it is warm out. Which it was. It was also something else.

It was WINDY!





If you weren't leaning back...neither was your chair. Or towel!



There was some lovely music



After about an hour of fighting with the wind and our chairs we moved to try to find a more sheltered spot, which still had sun (not covered in the shade on the pool deck).



This was better, though further away from the music and not nearly as interesting for people watching or looking to see if our kids walked by.

We attempted a bad self portrait



And then read and dozed for a bit. At some point Jeff went and refilled our drinks and we decided to stroll around. Turns out we were missing an entire adult area that was "really" adult and it had MUCH nicer loungers. Meaning it dead ended and kids couldn't really get back there. Across and up from where we had started (and also behind a smoking area). It only took us 2 hours to find it. DOH!

So, we moved! Again!



And then strolled around

CM Pool





More of the adult deck







Leave it to us to find the cool places towards the end of the day. It had been right behind the bar we could see where we first started out. Oh well.





Where IS everyone. Oh yeah, must be time for first seating people to get ready. At this point I am guessing it was around 5 or so. I think I left Jeff on deck, the wind unfortunately really had impacted my ability to totally relax (and nap lol) we’d been relatively idle for about 3 hours which may be my upper limit, and I am guessing that 2 other things were going on. 1, I may have finished whatever I was reading and 2, I had some things I wanted to do that were far better done alone. Those things were:

1. Swing by the DVC desk for the days swag. I’d gotten a note to stop by for a pin and I fully intended to collect it!

2. I also wanted to see our Shutters pictures so far, when it wasn’t crowded, to at least know where our “book” was and see what was in there so far (which was embarkation, royal palace and the family photo shoot) to get an idea of if I liked any or not. I had pre-purchased a 10 credit package (which they no longer sell) and that would get me 5 8x10’s. The main package they sell on board is for 20 credits (10 8x10’s) and I just doubted that we’d end up with 10 pictures I’d want on a 4 night cruise.

3. Check on our stateroom bill to date and apply all the gift cards I needed to use up to it so it’d be out of the way when there wasn’t a line at the desk.

4. Get a re-booking quote. Actually I think I had gotten the quote the day before and maybe stopped by and did the re-booking? Not sure.
Jeff and I met back at the room to change and get ready for the evening.

We’d had a lovely, huge brunch on the later side of things but dinner was still a bit away. What to do? Room service of course!

I present to you the infamous DCL fruit and cheese plate (wine provided by us lol), we hang onto 2 glasses after night one and put a coaster over them so mousekeeping doesn't take them away.





As you can see by the feet in the 2nd picture, the kids were back at the room. I honestly cannot recall if it was all 3, or just the 2. We had touched base with all of them 1-2 times during the day. Our plan had been to go to the family comedy show together. We had really enjoyed the adult version. However, the kids had zero interest in that, the line for the aquaduck drops when first seating starts so they were ALL over that. Okay...fine, be that way! Instead we settled in, Jeff on the verandah I think and I packed up all our FE goodies for the next day’s delivery. That complete, Jeff and I decided to try something new before we met back up with everyone for dinner.

What would it be?

Pirates at Sea

[EastYorkDisneyFan]

Just popping in to let you know the pool at the front of the Dream and Fantasy is actually part of the Teen club and not the CM pool like it was on the Magic and Wonder.

[dizneeat]

Great update, Cynthia.

I really had to when you wrote about your quest to find the best adult areas, as the same exact thing happened to us, only that it took until the last part of a back to back to find them.

Acccording to our CM friends on board, the area that you thought was the CM pool is actually the teen's pool area.
On the Wonder it was the CM pool and when we saw the one on the DREAM we were pretty impressed with the stylish chairs and all, so we mentioned it to Ana and she laughed and told us that this was a teens area.

Your boys ARE right, the time of the first show/first dinner seating IS the time to hit the Aquaduck. We rode it 6 times in the summer, with NO line at all. It is also the time to hit the adult pool. We were the only people in there around that time and it was fun to have the pool and hot tub to ourselves.

[Flossbolna]

Sorry that you weren't able to totally relax! Still sounds like a pretty good day to me! To be honest, sea days sound so nice to me, for me they are one of the things that attract me to cruising. More so than going to specific destinations. I just feel being in a port for a day would never really get me a feeling of the place I visited, so why bother. That's why after the upcoming cruise I have the feeling that if I like it the next one might be a transatlantic...

I think the adult area you found later on is an area that on the Fantasy got a water feature that looks very interesting.

Stupid question: if you aren't sitting directly at a bar, are there servers coming around bringing you drinks or do you have to get up and get them yourself? I kind of like the idea of being totally lazy!!!

[natebenma]

Originally Posted by eandesmom

That complete, Jeff and I decided to try something new before we met back up with everyone for dinner.

What would it be?

Tea on the Verandah?

[MeMom]

The pool is definitely crowded. Glad you found a quiet place to hang out. I would have had to get out of the wind, too. Wind is not my friend because of my already crazy hair.

Nice to know about the Aquaduck during the first seating, in case we do ever sail.

It's nice to see pictures of warmer days.

[MEK]

Originally Posted by eandesmom

So, right now my ressie is for 12/28-1/2. Tomorrow I will call and drop the 28th, add the 2nd and 3rd and be done with it. On 2/4 I'll book the THV part but that hasn't sold out for a single night yet so I'm not remotely worried about that one.

GV's are gone all the way through NYE!

Very cool - I am glad things are working out well for the reservation! You're in the home stretch now. Glad that the treehouses won't be an issue!

I am going to come back and read up last update on my computer, complete with pictures. I have it here, but happened to be working on this computer when the irresistable pull of the DIS boards hit me.

[afwdwfan]

Originally Posted by eandesmom

CM Pool

I know it has to be due to the angle and perspective of the picture, but that thing looks like a kiddy pool and 2 5 gallon buckets.



I'm sorry it took so long to find a good location. That's how it always works, it is the last place you'd look. I guess that's why it is so quiet and peaceful there.

The whole spa situation would really be stressing me out too. It would be a little harder to unwind and relax after worrying about getting everything taken care of there too. All in all though, it looks like it was a nice afternoon to try to read, drink and relax by the pool.

[FauntleroyFAN07]

hmmm, coffee on the veranda while the kids were away?


too bad it took so long to find that extra adult area, hope you were able to use it again.

smart move on keeping wine glasses from the first night, much classier than my drink from the bottle or syrafoam coffee cups