callahanjulie10
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Jul 30, 2000
Me- Julie
Hubby- Bobby
Daughter- Lindsey 10 years old!
We left our house in Panama City Beach, Fl Tuesday afternoon headed to WDW. We stopped and stayed with my aunt in Tallahassee and got an early start Wednesday morning. Got to POR about 8:30 am- got Bobbys Play4 pass and went to MK. Nice weather- warm with a cool breeze. Left in mid afternoon and decided to try Epcot for dinner. Went back to POR- slept like a ROCK! and got up on Thursday to do it again! AK and MGM today. Had a blast but it was more crowded than I had planned on! Weather was great the whole time. On Friday we got up and drove to the outlets then headed to Cape Canaveral! Here we come DISers and the Radission
Friday- 24th Got to Radission around noon. Settled into our room overlooking the pool- 118 It was one of the rooms that have the air purifiers and tap for "bottled water" taste. Great since my daughter- 10 has sever allergies!
Went down to the pool and met up with SILs family- Bbethparsons and Twiceasnice. Planned on dinner that evening at Durangos around 6 pm Meet up with everyone and it was great. Good food- good company Went back to the Radission and meet up around the pool- BWV Pam's family came in and really enjoyed our time together. We all hit it off great. No one else showed up and I had my lime green ribbon on!
Saturday-25th The BIG day!!! Got on 9:50 shuttle (supposed to be 10 but they came early!) They dropped us off in the parking lot with our luggage and no shade and no seats (well- there were 4 plastic chairs but there were a ton of us!) We were approved to go ahead to the ship about 20 minutes later and some porters came out and got the luggage for us. Once in the port we were the first in line. Twiceasnice-BWV Pam-us-Bbethparsons. Unfortunatly the kids didn't get to do the opening thing who knows why? But we were finally able to get on the ship- It is just as glorious a feeling as it was the first time. Excitement was oozing from everyone! We went to Parrot and ate a wonderful lunch. It was amazing. I left and went straight to Palo- it was 12:45. I got brunch seating no problem but High Tea was already filled and Palo wasn't supposed to open until 1! This is the 2nd time I haven't been able to get High Tea- I did put my name on the wait list but was never called. Boo Hoo- Anyway I then went up to the room and it was ready! My hubby and daughter were already there waiting for me. We had a Castaway crate filled with all kinds of goodies from DU- our Castaway present ( great beach towel) and 2 pins. And of course the best- our on board credit! Gotta love the credit. My hubby and I headed up to the spa and got Rainforest passes for the week. This is a great place. I had woken up with a sinus problem and actually needed this really bad anyway! I love the Rainforest rooms. Relaxing- totally relaxing
Once we had done this -we took Lindsey to the Lab and got that squared away. This was done by 2 and we had the rest of the day to enjoy the ship. I actually enjoyed the Navagator Veranda while unpacking! BTW- the Navagators Veranda is great- very private unlike the regular veranda. There is absolutly no way anyone can see in- very nice. I would rather have this unless I got one of the huge verandas! Got unpacked and ready for the drill. I was so happy to learn that we were in Animators for the drill and not outside in the humidity! Wonderful way to start the trip. Got all the luggage by 4:30. Unpacked and dressed for dinner- We had PLAPLAP- liked this rotation because all of us DISers ate together- but did not care for Thursday character breakfast time slot. That was when we had to turn the clock BACK one hour- we totally slept through it!! We had both formal nights in AP- nice with a tux! But we had Mexicalalistic in Lumieres which was kind of lame. That is ok though because BWV Pam and here family joined us at our table and we partied on down and took some great pics! That Pam is one pin lovin' gal!
On Sunday morning we awoke knowing that we had Palo brunch calling our name at 10:30. All of the DISers were there and it was very enjoyable- esp. the stone crab claws! What a treat- they are like $30 for 3 in Panama City Beach! Gave my champayne to SIL- hate it~! We pulled into Key West while were were stuffing ourselves. When we did disembark at KW- I was very dissappointed. There were quite a few other ships in port and it was crowded- that is really an understatement. Oh yeah- and hot and HUMID. I really wish that I would have left Lindsey on the ship but this was our first stop and I really wanted her to go. We were lost for almost the entire time. Never made it to the Southern most point and every shop we passed had inapproiate t-shirts- water bongs shaped like mens organs and
S & M clothing everywhere. This is not a child friendly place! I did get some Kinos though and went back later with Pam to try and get more but they had already closed- Boo Hoo- for both of us! There really isn't time to go out in the evening and have a drink because you have to be on board by something like 9ish. A little rushed if you want to enjoy the ADULT nightlife. I did not so it wasn't a huge deal. My hubby and I went to the Rainforest for the evening- it was really relaxing.
Monday May 27- glorious sea day- My very favorite part of a cruise. I knew that I would probably miss the 3rd sea day on the Western and I was right but I made the most out of the 2 I had!! Had brunch again at 10:30- those stone crab were calling my name. I gave it my best shot. When we finished- I went to the Rainforest because I was very nasal! It made me feel wonderful and I went to the room to read on the veranda. I got tired and went to sleep- this is the most relaxed that I have been in a VERY long time. Total peace and tranquility! Our server had been a little confused- I guess with this being only the 2nd Western and just having finished the Eastern from the week before he had his nights totally wrong. Thank goodness for the Navagator- this was a formal night after all. We dressed and took pics- my whole family did the pics with an open mind knowing that we wanted to have a GREAT family pics and we did! Finally! We set the clock Forward 1 hour
Tuesday May 28- Already- man the cruise is just flying by. We got off in Grand Caymen- had to tender in by going to Walt Theatre and getting a ticket. Had to wait until we were called and then loaded up. We had rented a Maruri (8 seater jeep) at Andys. It was great. My BIL and I got Drivers permits but he wanted to drive and that was fine with me. We went to West Bay, Hell, and then to the other end of the island to see the Blow Holes. They were really neat- I had never seen anything like it but we drove right past it and didn't know until we stopped at a gas station for some refreshments. My hubby paid with a $50 and got back Caymen $$. Nice souvie though. I bought stamps at Hell but didn't mail anything. These places that I have ,mentioned are nothing great but I am glad that we did see them. We then headed to some shops to get Tortuga rum cake and a couple of samll souvies. Ended up at Hard Rock for lunch. Very good. Milk shake was great! Ended up at Seven Mile Beach (which is only 5 1/2 miles long!) and the kids swam for a bit. Nice area and had a restroom and showers and a hut for us lily legged parent to sit under. We then took the Maruti back to Andys and they dropped us off at the port. We tendered in to the ship with no wait. DCL has fruit punch and a tent for you to stand under while waitig though. One thing that bothered me was that you can't buy liquor duty free in GC because DCL is on security 3 and won't accept packages- which is fine but you have to buy the liquor at a local store and pay 3 times as much if you want to carry it out. This is the way DCL explained it to me. I guess it is a Grand Caymen rule about the carrry out thing? Locals do not get it duty free and that is why??? Sounds iffy to me but that is what Guest Services said. We had the Castaway party that night and meet Irish Cowboy and family and Tony adn Barb. We all taook a great pic with the captain and Barb is posting it on her site. Great fun and commrodery
Wednesday May 29- Woke up and got off in Cozumel around 10:30. I had booked an excursion through Shoretrips.com for a 3 hr horseback to the ruins at 1. Fiesta was supposed to come to the pier to pick us up. We waited until 2:30 and no one showed! I tried calling all the numbers on the vouchers and they did not work. BTW- NO ONE speaks english- I asked around and no one could help me- when I dialed the operator she only spoke spanish! I finally went back to the ship to e-mail shoretrips to no avail. My hubby was seriously ill (as in mad!) and my daughter was crushed. This was our only excursion planned and our day was gone by this time. We always horseback ride whenever we go somewhere. It really was horrible and there was little time and zero patience from my family. I had blown it and there was nothing I could do to make it up. We had spent our whole day waiting for nothing. Lindsey checked herself into the lab and I went back to use the phone to call shoretrips- It cost me $$$ to make the call since in Mexico they do not do the prepaid calling cards or 1800 calling cards. I had to bill it to my home phone to make the call. I got in touch and the lady was shocked- said she never had trouble with Fiesta and told me she would call them and I could call her back in 10 minutes. She couldn't call me since I was at a pay phone with no number listed. I called back and they had gone to the wrong pier to pick us up. DCL docks at Punta Longista- there are 3 piers in Coz but that is not an excuse. Shoretrips knew what pier- Fiesta did not. A samll communication error- whatever but it ruined our day in Coz. It was too late to do the trip anyway. It was so disappointing. We got over it and went to dinner- Mexicalistic- had a great time with Pam and her family. Went to WWTBAMouse- panelist! Meet twinsancd? I think is screen name- has twins that 5.5!
Thursday May 30- time is running out but on the positive side- SEA DAY! Rested-played-ate-you name it I did it. Another formal night- love formal night- Gorged on LOBSTER! Seriously- love that lobster.
Friday May 31- got up early since I was rested from that great sea day and went to deck 6 to do the dreaded laundry! I put a couple of loads in and went to guest services to pay tips. Went back to room- no one was awake so I got my book and headed back to the laundry room. Pam and I meet up once again and we did laundry together! It wan't bad at all. We docked at Castaway and I decided that I would start packing so that my evening would be free. Bobby took Lindsey off and they went bike riding. I left the room about 30 minutes later and walked to adult beach. I ended up running into Pam and her hubby again and also saw Bobby and Lindsey plus twiceasnice family all together riding bikes. I took the tram back and we did a little shopping at She sells Seashells. We got back on the ship and ate at Parrot. Had a great lunch. Lindsey took off with the twins like usual- hardly ever saw them that they weren't together! We all knew that the end was near- it was sad but we had been gone for a long time! Had a nice quite evening and ordered room service just for that one last great feeling!
Sat- June 1- woke up and messed around for a while. We finally got Lindsey up and headed up to Topsiders- it was packed so we decided to eat elsewhere off the ship. It was a pretty easy disembarkment. I rode over to the Radission to get the car and left the luggage, Bobby, and Lindsey in the parking lot- I was so relieved to see that it wasn't raining- since there is no covered area! It was hot and humid though. We loaded up the car and off we came back to Panama City Beach!
This trip was relaxing for me because I felt that I could take a nap or read a book and not miss a whole lot. This is #4 for us. I loved the Navagator veranda- liked the Eastern dining rotation better- and felt a little rushed with doing 4 stops in one cruise. I think that Key West should not be a stop only because it isn't really a kid friendly place and that would give you 3 stops with a little extra at each place and 3 sea days to relax. The dinners remained the same but on different nights- and the deck party started while we were still in Cozumel. All in all it was a great trip.
Lindsey will probably add onto this later since she spent her whole trip with Julia and Jenna doing whatever their little hearts desired. She enjoyed herself which was great for me since I am not relaxed if she isn't!
Hubby- Bobby
Daughter- Lindsey 10 years old!
We left our house in Panama City Beach, Fl Tuesday afternoon headed to WDW. We stopped and stayed with my aunt in Tallahassee and got an early start Wednesday morning. Got to POR about 8:30 am- got Bobbys Play4 pass and went to MK. Nice weather- warm with a cool breeze. Left in mid afternoon and decided to try Epcot for dinner. Went back to POR- slept like a ROCK! and got up on Thursday to do it again! AK and MGM today. Had a blast but it was more crowded than I had planned on! Weather was great the whole time. On Friday we got up and drove to the outlets then headed to Cape Canaveral! Here we come DISers and the Radission
Friday- 24th Got to Radission around noon. Settled into our room overlooking the pool- 118 It was one of the rooms that have the air purifiers and tap for "bottled water" taste. Great since my daughter- 10 has sever allergies!
Went down to the pool and met up with SILs family- Bbethparsons and Twiceasnice. Planned on dinner that evening at Durangos around 6 pm Meet up with everyone and it was great. Good food- good company Went back to the Radission and meet up around the pool- BWV Pam's family came in and really enjoyed our time together. We all hit it off great. No one else showed up and I had my lime green ribbon on!
Saturday-25th The BIG day!!! Got on 9:50 shuttle (supposed to be 10 but they came early!) They dropped us off in the parking lot with our luggage and no shade and no seats (well- there were 4 plastic chairs but there were a ton of us!) We were approved to go ahead to the ship about 20 minutes later and some porters came out and got the luggage for us. Once in the port we were the first in line. Twiceasnice-BWV Pam-us-Bbethparsons. Unfortunatly the kids didn't get to do the opening thing who knows why? But we were finally able to get on the ship- It is just as glorious a feeling as it was the first time. Excitement was oozing from everyone! We went to Parrot and ate a wonderful lunch. It was amazing. I left and went straight to Palo- it was 12:45. I got brunch seating no problem but High Tea was already filled and Palo wasn't supposed to open until 1! This is the 2nd time I haven't been able to get High Tea- I did put my name on the wait list but was never called. Boo Hoo- Anyway I then went up to the room and it was ready! My hubby and daughter were already there waiting for me. We had a Castaway crate filled with all kinds of goodies from DU- our Castaway present ( great beach towel) and 2 pins. And of course the best- our on board credit! Gotta love the credit. My hubby and I headed up to the spa and got Rainforest passes for the week. This is a great place. I had woken up with a sinus problem and actually needed this really bad anyway! I love the Rainforest rooms. Relaxing- totally relaxing
Once we had done this -we took Lindsey to the Lab and got that squared away. This was done by 2 and we had the rest of the day to enjoy the ship. I actually enjoyed the Navagator Veranda while unpacking! BTW- the Navagators Veranda is great- very private unlike the regular veranda. There is absolutly no way anyone can see in- very nice. I would rather have this unless I got one of the huge verandas! Got unpacked and ready for the drill. I was so happy to learn that we were in Animators for the drill and not outside in the humidity! Wonderful way to start the trip. Got all the luggage by 4:30. Unpacked and dressed for dinner- We had PLAPLAP- liked this rotation because all of us DISers ate together- but did not care for Thursday character breakfast time slot. That was when we had to turn the clock BACK one hour- we totally slept through it!! We had both formal nights in AP- nice with a tux! But we had Mexicalalistic in Lumieres which was kind of lame. That is ok though because BWV Pam and here family joined us at our table and we partied on down and took some great pics! That Pam is one pin lovin' gal!
On Sunday morning we awoke knowing that we had Palo brunch calling our name at 10:30. All of the DISers were there and it was very enjoyable- esp. the stone crab claws! What a treat- they are like $30 for 3 in Panama City Beach! Gave my champayne to SIL- hate it~! We pulled into Key West while were were stuffing ourselves. When we did disembark at KW- I was very dissappointed. There were quite a few other ships in port and it was crowded- that is really an understatement. Oh yeah- and hot and HUMID. I really wish that I would have left Lindsey on the ship but this was our first stop and I really wanted her to go. We were lost for almost the entire time. Never made it to the Southern most point and every shop we passed had inapproiate t-shirts- water bongs shaped like mens organs and
S & M clothing everywhere. This is not a child friendly place! I did get some Kinos though and went back later with Pam to try and get more but they had already closed- Boo Hoo- for both of us! There really isn't time to go out in the evening and have a drink because you have to be on board by something like 9ish. A little rushed if you want to enjoy the ADULT nightlife. I did not so it wasn't a huge deal. My hubby and I went to the Rainforest for the evening- it was really relaxing.
Monday May 27- glorious sea day- My very favorite part of a cruise. I knew that I would probably miss the 3rd sea day on the Western and I was right but I made the most out of the 2 I had!! Had brunch again at 10:30- those stone crab were calling my name. I gave it my best shot. When we finished- I went to the Rainforest because I was very nasal! It made me feel wonderful and I went to the room to read on the veranda. I got tired and went to sleep- this is the most relaxed that I have been in a VERY long time. Total peace and tranquility! Our server had been a little confused- I guess with this being only the 2nd Western and just having finished the Eastern from the week before he had his nights totally wrong. Thank goodness for the Navagator- this was a formal night after all. We dressed and took pics- my whole family did the pics with an open mind knowing that we wanted to have a GREAT family pics and we did! Finally! We set the clock Forward 1 hour
Tuesday May 28- Already- man the cruise is just flying by. We got off in Grand Caymen- had to tender in by going to Walt Theatre and getting a ticket. Had to wait until we were called and then loaded up. We had rented a Maruri (8 seater jeep) at Andys. It was great. My BIL and I got Drivers permits but he wanted to drive and that was fine with me. We went to West Bay, Hell, and then to the other end of the island to see the Blow Holes. They were really neat- I had never seen anything like it but we drove right past it and didn't know until we stopped at a gas station for some refreshments. My hubby paid with a $50 and got back Caymen $$. Nice souvie though. I bought stamps at Hell but didn't mail anything. These places that I have ,mentioned are nothing great but I am glad that we did see them. We then headed to some shops to get Tortuga rum cake and a couple of samll souvies. Ended up at Hard Rock for lunch. Very good. Milk shake was great! Ended up at Seven Mile Beach (which is only 5 1/2 miles long!) and the kids swam for a bit. Nice area and had a restroom and showers and a hut for us lily legged parent to sit under. We then took the Maruti back to Andys and they dropped us off at the port. We tendered in to the ship with no wait. DCL has fruit punch and a tent for you to stand under while waitig though. One thing that bothered me was that you can't buy liquor duty free in GC because DCL is on security 3 and won't accept packages- which is fine but you have to buy the liquor at a local store and pay 3 times as much if you want to carry it out. This is the way DCL explained it to me. I guess it is a Grand Caymen rule about the carrry out thing? Locals do not get it duty free and that is why??? Sounds iffy to me but that is what Guest Services said. We had the Castaway party that night and meet Irish Cowboy and family and Tony adn Barb. We all taook a great pic with the captain and Barb is posting it on her site. Great fun and commrodery
Wednesday May 29- Woke up and got off in Cozumel around 10:30. I had booked an excursion through Shoretrips.com for a 3 hr horseback to the ruins at 1. Fiesta was supposed to come to the pier to pick us up. We waited until 2:30 and no one showed! I tried calling all the numbers on the vouchers and they did not work. BTW- NO ONE speaks english- I asked around and no one could help me- when I dialed the operator she only spoke spanish! I finally went back to the ship to e-mail shoretrips to no avail. My hubby was seriously ill (as in mad!) and my daughter was crushed. This was our only excursion planned and our day was gone by this time. We always horseback ride whenever we go somewhere. It really was horrible and there was little time and zero patience from my family. I had blown it and there was nothing I could do to make it up. We had spent our whole day waiting for nothing. Lindsey checked herself into the lab and I went back to use the phone to call shoretrips- It cost me $$$ to make the call since in Mexico they do not do the prepaid calling cards or 1800 calling cards. I had to bill it to my home phone to make the call. I got in touch and the lady was shocked- said she never had trouble with Fiesta and told me she would call them and I could call her back in 10 minutes. She couldn't call me since I was at a pay phone with no number listed. I called back and they had gone to the wrong pier to pick us up. DCL docks at Punta Longista- there are 3 piers in Coz but that is not an excuse. Shoretrips knew what pier- Fiesta did not. A samll communication error- whatever but it ruined our day in Coz. It was too late to do the trip anyway. It was so disappointing. We got over it and went to dinner- Mexicalistic- had a great time with Pam and her family. Went to WWTBAMouse- panelist! Meet twinsancd? I think is screen name- has twins that 5.5!
Thursday May 30- time is running out but on the positive side- SEA DAY! Rested-played-ate-you name it I did it. Another formal night- love formal night- Gorged on LOBSTER! Seriously- love that lobster.
Friday May 31- got up early since I was rested from that great sea day and went to deck 6 to do the dreaded laundry! I put a couple of loads in and went to guest services to pay tips. Went back to room- no one was awake so I got my book and headed back to the laundry room. Pam and I meet up once again and we did laundry together! It wan't bad at all. We docked at Castaway and I decided that I would start packing so that my evening would be free. Bobby took Lindsey off and they went bike riding. I left the room about 30 minutes later and walked to adult beach. I ended up running into Pam and her hubby again and also saw Bobby and Lindsey plus twiceasnice family all together riding bikes. I took the tram back and we did a little shopping at She sells Seashells. We got back on the ship and ate at Parrot. Had a great lunch. Lindsey took off with the twins like usual- hardly ever saw them that they weren't together! We all knew that the end was near- it was sad but we had been gone for a long time! Had a nice quite evening and ordered room service just for that one last great feeling!
Sat- June 1- woke up and messed around for a while. We finally got Lindsey up and headed up to Topsiders- it was packed so we decided to eat elsewhere off the ship. It was a pretty easy disembarkment. I rode over to the Radission to get the car and left the luggage, Bobby, and Lindsey in the parking lot- I was so relieved to see that it wasn't raining- since there is no covered area! It was hot and humid though. We loaded up the car and off we came back to Panama City Beach!
This trip was relaxing for me because I felt that I could take a nap or read a book and not miss a whole lot. This is #4 for us. I loved the Navagator veranda- liked the Eastern dining rotation better- and felt a little rushed with doing 4 stops in one cruise. I think that Key West should not be a stop only because it isn't really a kid friendly place and that would give you 3 stops with a little extra at each place and 3 sea days to relax. The dinners remained the same but on different nights- and the deck party started while we were still in Cozumel. All in all it was a great trip.
Lindsey will probably add onto this later since she spent her whole trip with Julia and Jenna doing whatever their little hearts desired. She enjoyed herself which was great for me since I am not relaxed if she isn't!
