The Sea Witch Stole My Voice! Our Two Week Land and Sea Adventure! COMPLETE 4/12

[Lifelong_Dreamer]

Great Last evening update Lessa !!!

Thanks Rosie.

 

[Mysteria]

Everything looks so peaceful for your last walk around the ship.

 

[Lifelong_Dreamer]

Everything looks so peaceful for your last walk around the ship.

It was so quiet up on deck, everybody was probably scrambling to get their bags packed.

 

[EastYorkDisneyFan]

I love how DCL lights there ships at night so much beater the the others.

A caravel cruise ship lit up at night. Doesn't it look like they have Christmas lites up?

And the magic in her glory at night. (I took this one without a flash

 

[Lifelong_Dreamer]

I love how DCL lights there ships at night so much beater the the others.

A caravel cruise ship lit up at night. Doesn't it look like they have Christmas lites up?

And the magic in her glory at night. (I took this one without a flash

Very nice

 

[Lifelong_Dreamer]

For some reason my body naturally woke up at 5:30 on that final morning. No way I was getting out of bed yet so I rolled over and went back to sleep. About an hour later I was woken up by a loud bang! crash! and the ship was shaking. A pretty frightening way to wake up! Visions of the Magic sinking were running through my head. Of course nothing like that happened. Whoever was directing the ship to the dock was not doing a very good job as instead of gliding smoothly in it banged right against the side thus jerking us all awake. I bet that person got a good talking too. I'm curious if there was any damage done as it was a pretty big jolt we felt.

There was no point going back to sleep at that point so I rolled on out of bed. Now we finally get to the story behind my TR title. That final morning when I woke up I had almost completely lost my voice! The most I could manage was a whisper and even when I did that I sounded like an old lady. On top of that I was so congested and achy. Yuck! You will remember how I was sick on our port day in Tortola? Well I guess it did not go away after all but just went into hibernation. I had been experiencing a somewhat sore throat for the few days in between but nothing that was very alarming. That morning though was horrible. I told Mom that hopefully nobody at customs or the airport would want to speak directly with me or they would not be able to understand a word I said. So I wonder when it was that the Sea Witch put her curse on me to steal my voice? Was it when we saw her at Hollywood Studios in the rain? Was it during the Golden Mickey's on that cool and rainy sea day? Or did she sneak up on me when I was splashing around in the water on one of the port days? Unfortunately for me I did not land a handsome and rich prince out of the deal like Ariel did, just a lot of mucus.

There was still some time before we could get off the ship so we sat out on our balcony eating some breakfast (we had snagged some fruit from the buffets the night before) and I sucked on some cough drops. Even though the ship was docked in port they still had to unload all the luggage so that takes awhile. It was a beautiful morning and we got to savor our last few minutes of vacation watching a beautiful golden sunrise with dolphins swimming around in the water right next to us.

Carnival ship coming in behind us

This is the only picture I could get of the dolphins, they are fast!

Just after 7am we decided to make our way down to the lobby. We gathered up all our belongings, triple checked the room to make sure we had everything and then bid farewell to our lovely stateroom.

There were a lot of people in the lobby waiting to get off early so we were not the only ones skipping the farewell breakfast in the restaurant.

A family standing near us was having a heated argument about their stateroom bill. I guess somebody went a little too crazy with the onboard spending. They slip your final bill under your door at some point overnight. It is always a good idea to look over and make sure that you were not accidentally charged for something that another stateroom purchased. Mom and I kept up with this throughout the trip so we only had to give the bill a quick glance.

Right around 7:30 they released this banner and opened the doors so we could start heading off the ship.

You cross over the gangway and down into the lower level of the DCL terminal. Down there they have all your bags assorted in group colours and then once you find yours you proceed to Customs and Immigration. The whole process took MAYBE 5 minutes. It was very fast and quick. I couldn't get a picture of the area as they have Security there who will yell at you if they see your camera out.

The Budget rental shuttle was waiting for us as we exited the cruise terminal and so we were off to pick up our car in no time at all.

We were on the road by 8am. So total time from leaving the ship atrium to the time it took to hit the road with our rental was 30 minutes.

45 minutes later we were at the Orlando airport.

JetBlue made us check in at an automated kiosk to get our boarding passes and then we had to get in line to get our checked bags tagged. That was a bit weird as we had always just done both at once by going to the desk, guess you can't do that at MCO anymore.

We had lots of time to spare so we wandered the shops just browsing, no lines at Security so that was a breeze.

At our gate there was a lady who was trying to fly with her dog. She had gone on the JetBlue website to make sure that her pet carrier was the correct measurements, the size had been approved when she checked in for her flight and now the flight attendant was telling her that she could not bring her dog on as the carrier was too big! Well naturally she put up a bit of a fuss as she had been very careful about making sure it was the right size and it had already been approved that day by JetBlue staff. Well eventually the flight attendant relented and told her "this time they would let it go but she would not be able to do it again". Seemed to me that the flight attendant was the one who made a mistake and didn't know what she was talking about. The dog was very calm through this whole thing, didn't make a sound and was so well behaved!

Soon after we were all boarded onto our flight and were making our way back to Syracuse. It was an uneventful flight and passed quickly.

We made our traditional stop at the grocery store before crossing the border to pick up some stuff we can but in Canada (junk food) and then we made our way home.

The border crossing was really east and thankfully nobody that day at both customs stops or at the airport needed to talk to me.

Almost home!

It's not the Caribbean but it is not too shabby!

The temperature difference was huge in New York and Canada compared to Florida. I was shivering in my shorts and tank top.

When we got home this is what we were greeted with...

It was great to be home, I may have felt differently if I wasn't sick... It took me over a week to sound normal again and two weeks to be completely recovered from whatever the heck I had caught.

It was a fantastic trip even with all the rain and I had so much fun sharing it with you. Don't go away as I still have my final thoughts/souvenir post and a possible link to my next PTR!

Also I am happy to answer any questions people may have about the cruise or the trip in general. So feel free to ask away!

 

[FauntleroyFAN07]

sounds like a smooth trip home.

those are some really good sunrise pics, and the dolphine one still turned out good.

 

[Lifelong_Dreamer]

sounds like a smooth trip home.

those are some really good sunrise pics, and the dolphine one still turned out good.

The sunrise was gorgeous! I loved how the sky and water were a lovely golden red colour.

 

[englishrose47]

Wonderful conclusion to the trip Lessa !!! When will you be starting a PTR for Peepfest!!!

 

[k_reile]

yes Cananda is not the Carribbean but I choose to vacation every year in Canada. My grandparents have 2 cabins on an island at Whitefish Falls, ON (about a half hour from Espanola if you know where that is) and I loved going there every summer of my youth. Unfortunately I have only been back 2 times since I graduated high school and that will have been 12 yrs this summer. My DH family also goes to Horwood Lake every summer which is about an hour away from Timmons,ON. We will be going with DH family again...and let me tell you that is a haul from NW ohio! LOL!

 

[Lifelong_Dreamer]

Wonderful conclusion to the trip Lessa !!! When will you be starting a PTR for Peepfest!!!

Don't you think I should do a TR for the upcoming cruise first?

yes Cananda is not the Carribbean but I choose to vacation every year in Canada. My grandparents have 2 cabins on an island at Whitefish Falls, ON (about a half hour from Espanola if you know where that is) and I loved going there every summer of my youth. Unfortunately I have only been back 2 times since I graduated high school and that will have been 12 yrs this summer. My DH family also goes to Horwood Lake every summer which is about an hour away from Timmons,ON. We will be going with DH family again...and let me tell you that is a haul from NW ohio! LOL!

I have no idea where those places are but I'm assuming they are probably in cottage country north of Toronto. It is a bit of a shame that I don't know the geography of Ontario. I can name of the big cities and where they are but that is about it.

 

[jordanyosh]

Ahhh..that last morning is always kinda sad....I love the DCL's disembarking process...it's so much easier than any other cruise line.

I would've loved to be greeted by your brothers!

 

[Mysteria]

Sorry your illness got that much worse.

What a beautiful sunrise with dolphins for a final send off!!

 

[Lifelong_Dreamer]

I would've loved to be greeted by your brothers!

The house was still intact so that was a good thing.

Sorry your illness got that much worse.

What a beautiful sunrise with dolphins for a final send off!!

It really sucked coming home sick but it could have been worse, it could have worsened earlier in the trip. I didn't it let me slow me down though. I went back to work the next day and answered the phone croaking like an old lady.

 

[LOVEMY3KIDDOS]

I was able to look back at the pix that were not showing before...very nice!! Loved all the characters together like that!!! I can't wait to hear about your plans for your next trip!! We are planning a trip back next March and I think we are going on a 3 night cruise before the parks. So, since you said to ask...I think my biggest question is about the attire on the ship. What exactly is appropriate for the restaurants?? (For adults and children) I am sure I read somewhere that men had to wear pants...no shorts or jeans ever?? I have plenty of dresses and so does my daughter. My husband and boys are more of cargo shorts kind of guys!! So, I definitely want to be prepared ahead of time. I think that's all for now!! Thanks!

 

[UGAFan0829]

I got chills when I saw the pics of the sunrise, and it brought back the sad feeling I had on the last morning of our cruise. I have soooo enjoyed your report. I'm excited to read your final thoughts and see all the souvies you snagged, but most of all I can't wait for your next TR!

By the way, I hate to hear that you woke up sick that last morning, but I'm glad it waited to hit until then. It would have really stunk if you'd been that way during the whole cruise!

 

[jordanyosh]

The house was still intact so that was a good thing.

It wasn't burnt to the ground?

 

[emmaca]

The house was still intact so that was a good thing. /QUOTE]

Are you sure Lessa???, don't you remember Alek's post " See link on this thread for May 20-"Alek interrupts this trip report... "or type in http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=32729465&postcount=817.

 

[carissanboys]

Your pictures of the sun were gorgeous! I love to watch dolphins. Almost every time we go to the beach here we see them.

Sorry you ended your trip sick, but at least the worst of it held off until the end.

 

[Lifelong_Dreamer]

I was able to look back at the pix that were not showing before...very nice!! Loved all the characters together like that!!! I can't wait to hear about your plans for your next trip!! We are planning a trip back next March and I think we are going on a 3 night cruise before the parks. So, since you said to ask...I think my biggest question is about the attire on the ship. What exactly is appropriate for the restaurants?? (For adults and children) I am sure I read somewhere that men had to wear pants...no shorts or jeans ever?? I have plenty of dresses and so does my daughter. My husband and boys are more of cargo shorts kind of guys!! So, I definitely want to be prepared ahead of time. I think that's all for now!! Thanks!

Attire: With Disney the guidelines say no shorts or jeans but they do not really enforce that. If the boys really like their cargo shorts just make sure they are paired with a nice shirt or polo and they should be good. We saw a wide range of attire in the dining rooms ranging from the super casual shorts and t-shirt to the very formal. If you want to stay in the guidelines you could get them some cheap but nice looking khaki pants to wear to dinner and then they can change right after. One of our male tablemates wore shorts almost ever night and several of the nights he wore a t-shirt. On our last night you could can see in the picture that Mom and one of our tablemates were wearing sweatshirts, and two were wearing t-shirts. The only place where the dress code is mandatory is Palo which is the adults only restaurant and now the newly announced Remy which is a new restaurant on the Dream. So just go with what is comfortable for your family but still looks nice and you should be fine.

I got chills when I saw the pics of the sunrise, and it brought back the sad feeling I had on the last morning of our cruise. I have soooo enjoyed your report. I'm excited to read your final thoughts and see all the souvies you snagged, but most of all I can't wait for your next TR!

By the way, I hate to hear that you woke up sick that last morning, but I'm glad it waited to hit until then. It would have really stunk if you'd been that way during the whole cruise!

It was great having you read along and it was fun to compare our cruise experiences.

You are right, better to get sick at the end, wouldn't have wanted to get quarantined to my room!

It wasn't burnt to the ground?

Thankfully not, I can only imagine the chaos that would have occurred if we all had to move into Alek's tiny apartment.

Your pictures of the sun were gorgeous! I love to watch dolphins. Almost every time we go to the beach here we see them.

Sorry you ended your trip sick, but at least the worst of it held off until the end.

It was such a beautiful sunrise, I am glad that we got to see it.

Isn't it fun seeing the dolphins at the beach?! I used to love that too.