Coffee on the Verandah - Let the Festival Begin - 5/13

[eandesmom]

Originally Posted by jedijill

I'm with you Karin...I try to schedule either Palo or Remy that night as well.

Jill in CO

I am sure we would to if it was adult only, especially on the shorter cruise.

Originally Posted by dizneeat

Great minds think alike?

Originally Posted by jedijill

You know it!

Jill in CO

Originally Posted by PracPerfPatricia

Hey Cynthia,

I know I wished you a happy Bday on FB but I really do hope it was awesome...

It was! The actual day was mostly a normal work/school day with the lovely exception of NOT having to cook dinner. We went out on Friday to celebrate with the kids and then Jeff and I will run away for a night in a couple of weeks to do a combo bday (his/mine) and valentines getaway as has become our tradition, combined with seeing Mindi Abair (amazing smooth jazz sax) at one of our favorite venues and a night in downtown Seattle with no kids. Maybe I should check your diner sources for a new breakfast spot for the next day, you are my diner breakfast hero right now!

Originally Posted by PracPerfPatricia

I'm sorry to hear about all of the illness in your circle...sigh... sometimes it really feels that when it rains it pours...

Oh I know it's part of getting old but oh, it just seems like so many!

Originally Posted by PracPerfPatricia

Glad about the boys being all about the music... totally agree so important not just because I really love music in its myriad forms but it gives them a good group of kids to hang around with... If I get my way David will swim in HS and be in Jazz Band... (& I plan on getting my way...lol)

I have every confidence you will (get your way that is). It DOES give them a good group to hang around. One of my favorite part of the 6th grade sales job is when this top middle school band stands up as the teacher rattles of stand if you have....done 1/2/3/4 honors classes, a language, school sports or club sports and these 6th graders seeing how many have done several or even all of those things and managed to keep in band as well. It is inspiring and even more so to me as I think I sold Evan short when he was in 6th grade, I never expected him to be one standing there like that, heck at the time I was just thrilled he walked away not wanting to quit. Good thing he didn't know I didn't expect it, we asked him to rise to the occasion and he did and I do believe that has inspired Eric to rise to the occasion far earlier as a result (that whole sibling competition thing). It's so easy to quit and so so worth it not to. It was such a huge part of my school experience, and Jeff's and it means the world to us that they are all having it too, in their own ways. I am so happy ours have embraced it as they have. Not to mention that whole music/math correlation

Originally Posted by PracPerfPatricia

The Meridian Lounge (?) really, really looked lovely and you all looked like you were having a great night at Pirate's night... you are a good mom to hand over the camera to your little man... sometimes as mom's we make those kinds of sacrifices for our children... Fun Pics...

It is my favorite lounge of any Disney ship (granted we've only been on 2) by a landslide. Evan went nuts with those shots, those are but a fraction of what he took.

Originally Posted by PracPerfPatricia

Great Cruise Swag...

Looking forward to seeing Castaway Cay... thinking about doing the short cruise that goes there (3 night? ) before we commit to anything longer... ahhh... but except for the ship... that whole Alaskan thing really appeals to me... I'm going to have to go back and read that trip report of yours on Alaska...

A 3 night is a nice way to start, though I'd advocate a 4 simply as with 3 you'll have just figured out where things are and it's over. We did like the 7 better and Alaska was AMAZING. I'd do a 7 night on the Fantasy depending on the itinerary but Jeff is more interested in the Med so we will see. I have a dummy booking right now that I've just realized won't work based on when Evan will need to be back for Marching Band but hope to move it to a Med Maybe on Thursday when it opens up. It will depend on pricing and even then it will still be a long shot but one can hope. It would be part of a bigger trip and with Ireland now pretty set for 2016 for both boys we will have to see what all we can swing.

Originally Posted by CarolynK

You got some great pins!!

Considering how many people are on board, it sure looks like you and your husband were able to find some quiet areas! Nice!

We did get some lovely pins! It was super cute, they were in the bottle. I found there to be quiet adult spots on both ships, you just had to look sometimes. It is a bit fascinating, on both you'd have places that were packed...and others that were deserted. Sometimes I could understand why and other times, it truly boggled the mind other than perhaps the simple fact that those like us (either adult only or adults ditching their kids) were in the minority and so maybe the places that were busier (adult wise) were closer to where the kids might be? I'm really not sure.

[Disney9.9.10]

Reading your report really makes me wish that I was on a cruise right now Pirate night looks like a ton of fun! The photos of you and your DH with your drinks are so nice too - it looks so relaxing!

[eandesmom]

Originally Posted by glennbo123

I can relate to Evan on the Aquaduct (Aquaduck?), that would've been me at his age.

Dinner looked like a fun time.

That would have been me too. Dinner was fun, and yummy too

Originally Posted by rentayenta

Great update Cynthia. As usual you look gorgeous. You two are a darling couple.

You didn't dress up for pirate night?

Sure I did! I had...big piratey gold hoop earrings and....a DVC pirate mickey pin.

I'm lame, what can I say.

Originally Posted by rentayenta

Let me ask you.....tell me how you handle everyone splitting up without cell phones or ways to communicate? I've thought about how I'll handle Joshua going to the Edge and what we'll do? With only5 nights, I'm not sure that's long enough to really get to know our way around, ya know? Are they allowed to come and go into the clubs as they please?

Yes, at that age they are allowed to come and go in the clubs as they please. They have wave phones that work like cell phones, 2 per stateroom. Also, kids can call from the club, or have a CM call, mine did that a lot on the Wonder. For me, giving the kids the wave phones ($250 if lost!) made me nervous esp if they were going to be swimming so we used the magnetic whiteboard as our main means of communication, either inside or outside the door. It worked great! Most of the time. Doesn't help obviously if the kid is stuck on the Aquaduck!

Originally Posted by KatMark

Great update, Cynthia. I love the picture of you by the rail on the ship. And I am now drooling over that crab cake that one of you had for your appetizer.

Great photos at dinner!

Thanks! That was my app, I could go for one of those right now. Seriously yummy

Originally Posted by Captain_Oblivious

That is awesome! I'd never seen that before. Now I want to find a room in my house to decorate like that!

Restoration Hardware has a series that has some similar elements, I'd love to get some of the pieces but OUCH. So not going go happen. Our family room does have a similar feel, we have vintage seaplane posters and then I just re-covered an automan in a travel stamp type fabic that is kind of similar to that wallpaper.

Originally Posted by Captain_Oblivious

Poor guy. People can be jerks sometimes. As if he was trying to get stuck.

Seriously, how mean was that?

Originally Posted by Captain_Oblivious

It looks a little classier on the Dream. But either spot is pretty cool.

They are both cool, very different for sure. I'm not sure which I like better to be honest and since I didn't get to see the "show" part I can't really fully compare.

Originally Posted by Captain_Oblivious

I remember this being my favorite meal on the Wonder.

I don't remember it standing out on the Wonder (although I liked all my meals) but I really loved this one and the chicken really surprised me, in a good way.

Originally Posted by Captain_Oblivious

You saw a lot more than I did on our cruise!

My kids are older

Originally Posted by Captain_Oblivious

DIS Dads!

is right!

Originally Posted by Captain_Oblivious

By the way, I can't post this on my own TR as an update (yet) because my wife will see it...but our wait list came through for Aulani!

We got into a 1-bedroom island-garden view villa. My wife and I were just in the process of looking for a different place to stay and were ready to give up on it when we got the call. Her birthday is next month so I'm not going to say anything about it until then.

I am SO happy for you guys! That is SOOOO exciting. I've been reading up like crazy, reconsidering my room requests and just getting so excited in general for it. We are at double digits but oh I wish it was sooner.

[eandesmom]

Originally Posted by glennbo123

Congrats!

Ditto!

Originally Posted by MEK

These turned out great!

Nice that you had a little alone time for an adult beverage!

Thanks! Having time to go to Meridian that night was an unexpected bonus. We'd decided at breakfast that we were going to get to Palo early to visit it but were thrilled not to have to wait!

Originally Posted by MEK

Dinner looks yummy!

The Pirate Party looks like fun and fireworks at sea seems like a blast. I'm looking forward to that.

Lots of fun loot!

It was really yummy. Are you going to do an FE or will your friends think that is too wierd. It's lots of fun.

Originally Posted by KatMark

awesome news and what a wonderful birthday surprise.

I agree, great timing

Originally Posted by Flossbolna

I am happy for you, but I am even more excited about the fact that we will get a Captain Aulani TR now!!!

Captain Aualni, I love that!

Originally Posted by Captain_Oblivious

Thanks everyone!

Sorry, Cynthia, I didn't mean to hijack your TR. I just posted that here because you had asked about our struggles getting a reservation there before.

You can hijack away, it is wonderful wonderful news and I'm glad you can share it, and we can be part of the surprise! Do let me know if there is anything specific you want me to check out for you while we are there,

[eandesmom]

Originally Posted by Mndisneygirl

Great pictures again! Love the two of you at Meridian!

Thanks!

Originally Posted by Mndisneygirl

I am so hungry right now - I should NOT have looked at the food pics. Those potstickers look so good!!

I would love that, and the crab cake for lunch. Instead it will be bad buffet seminar food. LOL!

Originally Posted by Mndisneygirl

You got some really good DVC swag! I'm going to have to make an effort to check into that more next time! We got hats and tote bags and maybe one other thing.

Well some came to the room and then others I stopped by the desk, twice I think. I might not have stopped by but on arrival day there was a note to stop by for a special pin, so I did and then they were like you have to come by every day! Which I didn't but I did go back at least once.

Originally Posted by Disney9.9.10

Reading your report really makes me wish that I was on a cruise right now Pirate night looks like a ton of fun! The photos of you and your DH with your drinks are so nice too - it looks so relaxing!

Me too! Of course it doesn't help that I am stalking the opening day pricing threads for the summer 2014 Med cruises.

[Poolrat]

Originally Posted by Captain_Oblivious

By the way, I can't post this on my own TR as an update (yet) because my wife will see it...but our wait list came through for Aulani!

We got into a 1-bedroom island-garden view villa. My wife and I were just in the process of looking for a different place to stay and were ready to give up on it when we got the call. Her birthday is next month so I'm not going to say anything about it until then.

Congrats. I love that you are going to surprise her with it.

[englishrose47]

I think I will not try the Aquaduck !!!! I have experienced "Stuck in an elevator " and do not want "Stuck in a Duck" added to my list of adventures !!!Do they have the menu anywhere for the pirates dinner , and which of the 3 Dream restaurants did you like the best !!! ?? Do you get a choice as to which reastaurant you do twicw on the 4 day cruise ?? Okay 'nuff questions for now !!!

[eandesmom]

Originally Posted by englishrose47

I think I will not try the Aquaduck !!!! I have experienced "Stuck in an elevator " and do not want "Stuck in a Duck" added to my list of adventures !!!Do they have the menu anywhere for the pirates dinner , and which of the 3 Dream restaurants did you like the best !!! ?? Do you get a choice as to which reastaurant you do twicw on the 4 day cruise ?? Okay 'nuff questions for now !!!

As long as you don't go solo, you'd be fine! You can request your rotation so you get a certain restaurant twice, that is what we did. For me, I'd probably say Royal Palace was my fav, followed by Animators and then Enchanted Garden.

Allears does have the pirate menu online

http://allears.net/cruise/ships/drea...us/pirates.htm

[eandesmom]

Quick update with some breaking news.

It's a bit of a long shot that we can pull this off but I moved our 2014 dummy cruise booking to one we really hope we can do. There are a lot of moving pieces that may or may not allow this to work out but I'm sure hoping it does!

We are currently booked on a ....

9-Night Mediterranean Cruise on Disney Magic!

Departs from: Venice, Italy

Ports of Call:
Katakolon, Greece
Piraeus (Athens), Greece
Kusadasi (Ephesus), Turkey
Rhodes, Greece (Greek Isles)
Mykonos, Greece
Venice, Italy



It could be 4 of us, or possibly just 2! Moving pieces are $$ (of course), other vacation plans (hoping for an adult only Australia trip but I think that's more likely for 2015) and kids schedules. Time will tell but we may well be celebrating a big birthday for Jeff in Greece!

[KatMark]

Originally Posted by eandesmom

Quick update with some breaking news.

It's a bit of a long shot that we can pull this off but I moved our 2014 dummy cruise booking to one we really hope we can do. There are a lot of moving pieces that may or may not allow this to work out but I'm sure hoping it does!

We are currently booked on a ....

9-Night Mediterranean Cruise on Disney Magic!

Departs from: Venice, Italy

Ports of Call:
Katakolon, Greece
Piraeus (Athens), Greece
Kusadasi (Ephesus), Turkey
Rhodes, Greece (Greek Isles)
Mykonos, Greece
Venice, Italy



It could be 4 of us, or possibly just 2! Moving pieces are $$ (of course), other vacation plans (hoping for an adult only Australia trip but I think that's more likely for 2015) and kids schedules. Time will tell but we may well be celebrating a big birthday for Jeff in Greece!

Sounds awfully exciting.

[mickeystoontown]

Exciting news! I've envious because I've always wanted to visit Australia.

[Mndisneygirl]

Woohoo!
We want to go mediterranean someday (maybe for my big one), so I'm glad they are offering some alternate itineraries. I might need to book a dummy one while were on the Alaska cruise this summer anyway. I've got another 5 years until I really planned on it, but who knows?
I'd also like to do the Eastern on the Fantasy.

You guys sound like us with lots of places to go!

[Flossbolna]

Exciting news on the Venice cruise!! I like the ports on that cruise very much.

Just promise me to NOT linger in the town of Piraeus! We stayed there one night in one of the nicest hotels there before taking a ferry to an island and not only did Katharina find a cockroach in the shower in the morning, she also got served "steamed toast" and we were woken up in the middle of the night by the night concierge telling us to be quiet as other guests had complained about the noise we were making. I still remember Katharina picking up the phone and just saying over and over again: "But we didn't do anything!". The rest of Piraeus was as wonderful as that hotel. Athens on the other hand is very much worth a visit!! The Akropolis is a spectacular sight and I really enjoyed the Funicular on of the mountains.

[eandesmom]

Originally Posted by KatMark

Sounds awfully exciting.

I am very excited and hope it comes to pass. Awfully fun to think about.

Originally Posted by mickeystoontown

Exciting news! I've envious because I've always wanted to visit Australia.

Jeff has been, I have not. We will go, it's a "when" not and "if". Australia is tied to T graduating from college. If he is on time there is a possibility we can swing it for 2014 but it's much more likely for 2015. Question is if we can pull of both the big family NYE trip and Greece within a span of 7 months. That's a little tight.

Originally Posted by Mndisneygirl

Woohoo!
We want to go mediterranean someday (maybe for my big one), so I'm glad they are offering some alternate itineraries. I might need to book a dummy one while were on the Alaska cruise this summer anyway. I've got another 5 years until I really planned on it, but who knows?
I'd also like to do the Eastern on the Fantasy.

You guys sound like us with lots of places to go!

I was very excited to see this offering. There are only 2 sailings with it and Jeff honestly wasn't jazzed about any of the other med options (the 12 night is out of our reach so I didn't even show it to him lol) besides the 4 night offering and that is well...only 4 nights! It is exactly why I booked the dummy last summer so I'd have the option. It saves so much $$ by doing it, it really is worth it and since you can keep sliding it, it's a very low risk option to have in your back pocket.

I think what may end up happening is Greece for Jeff's big one and Ireland for mine.

Australia would fall in the middle of those trips though so who knows. I'll be shocked if we pull all that off but since both boys will be doing Ireland, it's pretty silly for the 2 of us not to go.

Originally Posted by Flossbolna

Exciting news on the Venice cruise!! I like the ports on that cruise very much.

Just promise me to NOT linger in the town of Piraeus! We stayed there one night in one of the nicest hotels there before taking a ferry to an island and not only did Katharina find a cockroach in the shower in the morning, she also got served "steamed toast" and we were woken up in the middle of the night by the night concierge telling us to be quiet as other guests had complained about the noise we were making. I still remember Katharina picking up the phone and just saying over and over again: "But we didn't do anything!". The rest of Piraeus was as wonderful as that hotel. Athens on the other hand is very much worth a visit!! The Akropolis is a spectacular sight and I really enjoyed the Funicular on of the mountains.

I have actually been to Venice(2x), Rhodes and Athens before. It's funny, we must have stayed somewhere in Athens but for the life of me I can't recall. I don't think we were originally scheduled to spend the night there but I think we had to due to a ferry strike. It's all a bit fuzzy. Post college backpacking trip lol. I don't think we were delayed more than a day though. What in the world is steamed toast?

I did have a scary experience on a Greek Ferry and then on Ios but all of it was SO long ago it will seem new to me. It will all be new to Jeff and overall I am very pleased with the ports. I'd wanted to go to Mykanos before but we had to choose and ended up with Santorini instead.

[Flossbolna]

Steamed toast was speciality that was unknown to us before that trip, too. When we were at breakfast we each got two slices of toast, my parents and I got perfectly normal crispy slices. Katharina's were warm, but also slightly moist and not at all crispy. As if they had warmed them with hot steam. We had no idea how that could have happened and she did not eat those slices...

That trip was quite spectacular as so many funny things happened that we all still love to talk about today. We were staying in friends' (he is Greek) vacation home on one of the Cycladic islands (Syros) and one evening we were supposed to go out for dinner. Since the first evening we dared to show up at a quarter to 8 pm and the whole restaurant was upset that people arrived sooo much too early for dinner, we had decided to wait until 9pm or so before we would head out. When it was 9pm I was famished but the rest of the family had been snacking the whole evening and decided that they did not want to head out that late anymore. I got into quite a fit (there might have been some tears) as I was sooo hungry that the rest of the family started to quickly assemble something to eat for me. My father - trying to lighten the mood - was going to get some tomatos and while doing that started to sing " Tomato, tomato, where are you?" After he repeated that line three times it suddenly knocked on the door! And we all shouted out: The tomato is at the door! But it turned out to be friends of our friends, who were Greek, did not speak a single word of English, only the 11 year old son had learned some English in school. And she spoke some Italian which she used to communicate with my father who speaks French. It turned out that they wanted to invite us to lunch for the coming Sunday. We happily accepted the invitation and since that Sunday was Palm Sunday for the Greek orthodox it was a day of fasting, which meant no meat. But we were treated to about 10 different fish dishes, mainly grilled. My mother hates fish and this was the only time I ever saw her eat fish. They had a huge lobster like animal (wikipedia seems to call it spiny lobster?) which was surprisingly tasty and the only time I ever enjoyed a shellfish. It was quite an experience! And the best part is that the whole family kept a trip journal together which my parents typed into the computer (using different fonts for the different authors) and put it together with pictures from that trip. The perfect memory....

Sorry that got longer than I wanted, just thinking about Greek isles brings back so many memories of fun stories!