Back to the Island-Double Dip Delight!Western COMPLETE~Cruising with a baby w/PICS!

[TiszBear]

Love your report so far. Can't wait to read more.

[anewmac]

DUH we didnt even think of leaving all our carryons in our elvator area we just dragged them around with us.. NOTE TO SELF for next time.. OH wait they had the alcohol thats why we didnt leave them.. If they took my underwear I could live with that but not my alcohol LOL

I too went overboard with the magnets.. (oh who am I kidding with I went over board with everything,)E still kids me when I get home saying have ya told Mickey everything ya did today, have ya wrote in your Tinkerbell Diary (no I dont have one LOL)

OH and Topsiders... sounds about the same as Parrot Cay.. we hit topsiders and it didnt thrill any of us.

HAHA, and you should have seen me trying to book Palo at Rocken D... I kept telling Sebastion, no Pirate night is on Cozumel night, and he said nope its been switched.. I asked him ARE YOU SURE?? lol we later got him at Palos and he laughed I told him how we had "planned and he said... from the "disboards" YUP he just laughed!

ok I was just thinking you and I know tonya got something from Dreams too.. what the heck we booked with them too and all we got is a horrible cabin on the 1st deck and got earachs from all the noise of that deck lol Im a lil bummed I booked through them and didnt get so much spit in my face hello LOL. Oh I did get $75 on board credit though LOL BUT STILL lol

[zweihund]

Jen, we thought the buffet was a little more sparse than the Wonder as well, certainly not as much vegetarian selection as I remember from my last cruise either. I wonder if this is how the recession affects DCL?

[MaryAz]

Jen
Great installment! Love the cute kid pics. Your door (s) were amazing!!

[crissichef]

Originally Posted by nenner1

Aw, thank you!!! Thanks for reading & enjoy the TR!

Welcome back! Its so great to see familiar names and faces! Thanks so much for reading!!



What's really crazy is that is $4700 for one Cat 11 but $5800 for a Cat 11 AND a Cat 7 (Secret Verandah room that used to be a Cat. 6). That's that DCL funny math for ya.....

Update coming very soon...uploading the pics now....

Hello again Jen - Great report so far! I was just pricing out cruises for 2010 again and there is a 4 night on the Wonder on Sept 26th, 2010 that is half the price of the 5 day in August! It came out to $2360 for all 4 of us in a cat. 10 (I don't know if I could give up the split bathroom and the window). I loved the sea days best and they both have only 1, plus one stop is Nassau where I would probably just stay on the ship anyway........I can't believe the price differences in 1 month!

Crissi

[nenner1]

Originally Posted by TiszBear

Love your report so far. Can't wait to read more.

Welcome! Thanks for reading!!

Originally Posted by anewmac

DUH we didnt even think of leaving all our carryons in our elvator area we just dragged them around with us.. NOTE TO SELF for next time.. OH wait they had the alcohol thats why we didnt leave them.. If they took my underwear I could live with that but not my alcohol LOL
We left our booze there, too...It's a good thing I didn't tell you beforehand, it would have been GONE

I too went overboard with the magnets.. (oh who am I kidding with I went over board with everything,)E still kids me when I get home saying have ya told Mickey everything ya did today, have ya wrote in your Tinkerbell Diary (no I dont have one LOL)
Too funny. I didn't write anything down this time either, it's all coming straight from my noggin Course maybe I woulda if I had a Tinkerbell diary!

OH and Topsiders... sounds about the same as Parrot Cay.. we hit topsiders and it didnt thrill any of us. Now I have to "Wonder" if the Magic buffets are always like that...

HAHA, and you should have seen me trying to book Palo at Rocken D... I kept telling Sebastion, no Pirate night is on Cozumel night, and he said nope its been switched.. I asked him ARE YOU SURE?? lol we later got him at Palos and he laughed I told him how we had "planned and he said... from the "disboards" YUP he just laughed! Sebastian is great!!! We had him for dinner and brunch!

ok I was just thinking you and I know tonya got something from Dreams too.. what the heck we booked with them too and all we got is a horrible cabin on the 1st deck and got earachs from all the noise of that deck lol Im a lil bummed I booked through them and didnt get so much spit in my face hello LOL. Oh I did get $75 on board credit though LOL BUT STILL lol

You only get the gift if you book one of their "Group Rate" rooms. Meaning, when a cruise is first released and the prices are at Tier Zero they buy a bunch of rooms to sell later at the cheaper cost. That was why our whole extra room was only $800 more. But you actually came out better than us b/c we did not get the $75 room credit. (And a little secret, they sell the memory books in TC for about $35, so you could have bought one and still have $40 left!!!
Your room was really horrible? I'm sorry...... Your doors did look nice tho! I wish I had taken my camera when we went a FE'in so I could have taken pics of all the great doors!! D'oh!

Originally Posted by zweihund

Jen, we thought the buffet was a little more sparse than the Wonder as well, certainly not as much vegetarian selection as I remember from my last cruise either. I wonder if this is how the recession affects DCL?

Man, that better be their excuse. It was sad. Apart from the Chicken Strips, Mickey waffles and bars, and Palo Souffle we did notice what appeared to be a decline in food quality across the board, especially in steaks. Shame.

Originally Posted by MaryAz

Jen
Great installment! Love the cute kid pics. Your door (s) were amazing!!

Thank You!!!!

Originally Posted by crissichef

Hello again Jen - Great report so far! I was just pricing out cruises for 2010 again and there is a 4 night on the Wonder on Sept 26th, 2010 that is half the price of the 5 day in August! It came out to $2360 for all 4 of us in a cat. 10 (I don't know if I could give up the split bathroom and the window). I loved the sea days best and they both have only 1, plus one stop is Nassau where I would probably just stay on the ship anyway........I can't believe the price differences in 1 month!

Crissi

I know! That is a way more reasonable price. The 5 nights are outrageous b/c they can and will charge that with the Magic being in the Med/Baltic. We don't know what we are going to do at this point, but after we switched our ressie over its been nagging me more and more. We might just switch back to the 9/26 Eastern....we might change to one of the other 7-nights in Oct /Nov. Dunno yet. But we better decide soon if we want to snag SV rooms.....

I'm going to try to get the next segment up tomorrow, but we have a busy weekend with football, cheer competition, and dance. It may be Monday...

[cyndik1111]

Love your report. Please hurry back to give us more. I am dying to hear how the two rooms worked out. Were you a little nervous about the kids so far away? I would have been panicked! Did the monitors work? We are doing our 1st Magic jan 2009 and so far, from what you've told us, I'm a little worried that this trip isn't going to be as great as I had hoped.

[nenner1]

Originally Posted by cyndik1111

Love your report. Please hurry back to give us more. I am dying to hear how the two rooms worked out. Were you a little nervous about the kids so far away? I would have been panicked! Did the monitors work? We are doing our 1st Magic jan 2009 and so far, from what you've told us, I'm a little worried that this trip isn't going to be as great as I had hoped.

Hi and welcome!

At first we were just a little frustrated. We figured we would just have to keep the kids in our room with us (all five of us in one room). I didn't *really* want to do that, cause there is just not enough space, but at first I did feel it was too far away.
The monitor worked a *little* bit, but honestly not well enough to bother with. If we hung the reciever right near the door you could hear, but it was very staticy. We had it on for ony a short time before I gave up on it.
The good news is, it all worked out rather well. We really weren't in the rooms too much anyway, and the kids were fine to be in there watching TV or showering/getting ready for dinner, etc. We would check periodically, it was just a long walk between the rooms, it would just have been much more convenient if they rooms had stayed close. WHen they would come back to the room at night, they were so tired they fell asleep so quickly it was fine keeping them in there. My son (9) had KTTW cards for both rooms (GS made us spares) so they could come & go if they needed us, but really once we were sure they were asleep I was fairly comfortable with them there, especailly as the cruise went on and they moved between the rooms easily. My biggest concern with these two is just them getting rowdy and noisy or fighting, but the rever really did much of either!

Oh and don't worry....(am I giving away the ending here?) we did have a *fabulous* time! I know you will too!!!

I will try to get the next segment written tomorrow, we have to spend allllllll day at Savannah's competition. I was going to work on it now, but I'm too tired!

[TheDisneyGirl02]

Originally Posted by nenner1

Hi and welcome!


I will try to get the next segment written tomorrow, we have to spend allllllll day at Savannah's competition. I was going to work on it now, but I'm too tired!

How did she do? Was dance or cheerleading?

[nenner1]

Originally Posted by TheDisneyGirl02

How did she do? Was dance or cheerleading?

Its Cheerleading....tomorrow.
We have to be there (an hour away) by 7:30 AM, and it lasts till late afternoon...in a hot football stadium.
She does have her first performance as a member of dance company next Saturday (and then another one Sunday)...so the next two weekends are a little crazy...course crazy is par for the course for me, know what I mean!!!

[nenner1]

Our next stop: the Mickey Pool. We headed up to deck 9 and took the first of many long walks from forward to aft….yes through the Quiet Cove (there is no other way). We moved through as quickly and as quietly as possible but still got the stink eye.

We walked by the Goofy pool, and man that sucker was PACKED. I thought to myself how the tail is wagging the dog when it comes to the pools on embarkation morning. So many folks have read online that then is a good time to swim that it no longer really is a good time. In actuality, there was a little more to it than that. As we rounded past the Mickey Slide (and saw the new splash zone packed full of kidlets also), we quickly discovered the problem. The Mickey Pool was closed. Ron and I gave each other a knowing “Uh-Oh” look, as we had read about all the pool problems the short 3-night special cruise they squeezed in before us had encountered. We saw pictures of all three pools form that cruise looking more than a little scary. Two were green and one was brown. It was then we were so glad we were not the first actual cruise out of dry-dock. Of course it now seemed that at least some of those problems had not yet been resolved. All I knew was that it would be a LONG seven days if they did not get that Mickey Pool up & running!

So, we headed back over to Goofy. I swear my bathtub is bigger than this pool and it is crowded with about six people in it. There were a whole lot more than that in there now, but it didn’t deter the kids in the least. They hopped in and as I relaxed in a lounger (shocker! There were a few available) Ron took our souvenir glasses (that we brought from home) up to the bar for a refill. We found the Magic did not seem to have as many little portable bars set up, and when he handed over our glasses, they did not just hand us new full ones, they actually filled our old ones. Good thing they were clean!



We both chose the drink of the day, which was a Bay Breeze. It was good. Tropical, fruity, and gone quick.




Since we were running a bit later than our previous cruises, we weren’t up on deck long before it started clearing out for the muster drill.







Once that started happening we knew it was about time for us to get to the Dis Meet. The meet actually started at 3 PM in the Promenade Lounge, but we preferred to arrive fashionably late. Of course, though I wasn’t keeping track of time (just try that on a Disney boat…there are NO clocks. Anywhere.) Inevitably, we were much later than that.

By the time we arrived everybody was in groups talking. We just popped into a booth area by the lanyard table and diser-watched.

Here’s what a Dis meet in full gear looks like from the wallflower point of view:



We weren’t there long before the first announcements for the muster drill began. When the room finally started to clear I managed to break into a couple of conversations and meet some of our thread mates. I actually met more folks just around the boat than I did in the meet. I was surprised at how many people knew who I was just in passing, but then again I do post huge pictures of us on the internet so that shouldn’t have been a shocker!

We headed back upstairs and donned our cumbersome fashion statements. Look how cute:





As is now our intention, we were one of the last to arrive to our station on deck 4. No need to stand out there in the “orange crush” for a second longer than necessary. We did have to wait a few minutes for a couple from one of the weird “6300” rooms to show, but it wasn’t long. This is one of the best DCL tips I can give….do not show up early for this thing. You’ll thank me for this advice, I promise!

After we stripped ourselves of our life jackets, we ran up to deck 9 for the sail away party and no matter how fast we book it upstairs we always seem like the last ones to arrive. Deck 10 was packed to the gills; deck 9 was full in front of the stage. There was still some room around the periphery, though. I saw a table by the hot tubs and went ahead and grabbed it. The kids would work their way right up front to the stage anyway, so it was nice to have a seat.

Ready for the Party!



Adventures Away!!!




We found the crew of the Magic doing the festivities just a tad bit less enthusiastic than the Wonder crew. It seemed like they were really bored with the routine. They could have taken some dance lessons from one lady in the crowd. She was really into it, and she was quite good. Several guys, oops, I mean people were watching her get down. I didn't have the camera or else I would have taped her.

The kids did not notice the difference in passion from the onstage dancers. They had a blast:





Still my favorite part: (duh)



The streamers were a hit, but the characters had better ones:



We heard all the staples, Celebration, Vacation, We’re All in This Together, Hey Baby, the YMCA, and that really annoying Carnival-sounding song that was used in the Six Flags commercial, you know... "We Like to Party" by the Venga Boys. And of course the party-killer Casper Slide Pt. 2. Whatever happened to Pt. 1? They could play that one every once in a while, cause I am so over Pt. 2. I have nightmares of criss-crosses (not to be confused with Kris Kross), cha-chas, and turning it out every time I hear it.



As we began to pull out of the channel the crowd dissipated fast. They let all the kids come up on the stage to dance. (And one big kid! Too funny!)










I could not believe how fast the day was going. I knew the whole week would follow suit.


Coming Soon: Is that Buffett I hear?

[cyndik1111]

I am still laughing at that hawaiian shirt you have on the baby...too cute. Where did the streamers come from? Did you bring them? How much did those tropical drinks set you back? I just want to be able to budget for the good stuff. Thanks for taking the time to give us an update. I will be waiting impatiently for the next installment and pictures too.

[TheDisneyGirl02]

OMG! I love your family! I know I have said this so many times but I miss seeing you guys at dinner!

Love the pictures and the report!

How was the weekend competition? How did she do????

[nenner1]

Originally Posted by cyndik1111

I am still laughing at that hawaiian shirt you have on the baby...too cute. Where did the streamers come from? Did you bring them? How much did those tropical drinks set you back? I just want to be able to budget for the good stuff. Thanks for taking the time to give us an update. I will be waiting impatiently for the next installment and pictures too.

Aww, thanks! The outfit is a funny story, as I got a gift card from Saks for $25 (like how much can you buy at Saks for $25???? Seriously!) but I found that outfit on clearance for $27, so we paid $2 for it, but it was a size 3 months and I was so sure she wouldn't fit in it come cruise time (It was a really close call, our only saving grace was that it was a wraparound shirt that tied. And the white bloomers, they are supposed to be pants but they look like shorts on her....too funny...

The streamers are something new they are doing for the sailaway party. CM's hand them out as you approach the Goofy pool area . They are actually not cheap little streamers...they have a nice plastic handle and a little rotating fish hook at the top where the streamer and the handle connect so it doesn't wrap around itself. I think many of them find their way into people's luggage... Actually I thought I had left all of ours hanging in the closet (the last thing we need around our house is streamers!) but somehow one made it home with us....

The drinks....I'm not totally sure. They were the drink of the day, which is always cheaper, I think $4.95...but I was really, really bad about looking at reciepts and at what things cost (even though we were on a budget, which we did stay on!)..but it may have even been $3.95 b/c I do remember seeing a charge for $8.10 and us trying to figure out what it was.

Thanks so much for reading! There will be more coming soon!

Originally Posted by TheDisneyGirl02

OMG! I love your family! I know I have said this so many times but I miss seeing you guys at dinner!

Love the pictures and the report!

How was the weekend competition? How did she do????

LMAO, I am always looking around and waving at dinner, but the only people there are our cats. Hm.

Glad you like the pics...you guys might be in the background of some of the ones in the next segment (speaking of dinner)! I wish I had just gone around taking pics of everyone like Kimberly did...hey wait and you got some of us too! Going through all of the pics, I miss having some of my friends!

The competition was loooong and hot. It lasted 3 1/2 hours longer than it was supposed to and by the time we got home it had been a 12 hour day. The girls actually did not place. We knew as soon as we saw some of the other squads that they were out of their league. The 9 year olds on the other teams really made a difference. But the girls cheered their little hearts out, and they did great! Savannah's first community performance as part of dance Company is this weekend, and we are very excited. I will post pics of it, I promise!

[mickeyluv]

I love, love, love your reports!!! You are very funny (1) and (2) I love your videos!! Can't wait for more!!!! Only 36 more days until we leave for our big adventure with the Nanaheads!!