GooniesAndy
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Sep 18, 2011
First, a breakdown:
Itinerary (links will be added as report is updated)
Before the cruise
April 30, 2015 Travel day
May 1, 2015 Depart Miami, Florida
* Navigator
* Part One
* Part Two
May 2, 2015 Sea day
* Navigator
* Report
May 3, 2015 Cozumel, Mexico
* Navigator
* Report
May 4, 2015 Sea day
* Navigator
* Report
May 5, 2015 Sea day
* Navigator
* Report
May 6, 2015 Cartagena, Colombia
* Navigator
* Report, Part One
* Report, Part Two
May 7, 2015 Canal transit
* Navigator
* Report, Part One
* Report, Part Two
May 8, 2015 Sea day
* Navigator
* Report
May 9, 2015 Sea day
* Navigator
* Report
May 10, 2015 Sea day
* Navigator
* Report
May 11, 2015 Sea day
* Navigator
* Report
May 12, 2015Puerto Vallarta, Mexico Sea day
* Navigator
* Report
May 13, 2015 Cabo San Lucas, Mexico
* Navigator
* Report, Part One
* Report, Part Two
May 14, 2015 Sea day
* Navigator
* Report
May 15, 2015 Disembark in San Diego, California
* Report
The Cast
Me (Erin): I am a stay-at-home mom and freelance copy editor. I love all things Disney and am lucky enough to live a couple hours away from Disneyland.
Elliott, 9: Elliott is at an interesting transitional age right now. He is still a kid, but he is growing up and doesn't want to be classified with the little ones. He feels like he's too old to wait in line for characters, but there are a few of them that he will have fun with if he randomly sees them “in the wild.” He loves to make new friends and come up with elaborate games to play.
Oliver, 6: Oliver is quite a character. He has a flair for the dramatic and knows how adorable he is, which helps him get away with more than he should. He still wants to spend time with me and he loves seeing characters, though he isn't a fan of waiting in lines so he doesn't see them all. Oliver wanders the ship making friends with all, children, adults, castmembers – no one will be spared!
We live in Coronado, California, which is a small city right across the bay from downtown San Diego. You may have seen pictures of our lovely bridge or our famous Hotel Del Coronado. Whenever the Wonder is in port we drive down to the park at the end of our street, where we can look across the bay and wish we were on board. If you are ever in port in San Diego, look across the water more to the left than the right, and that's us!
Our Story
So, I am really going to open up here, in the interest of providing a real understanding of what this trip meant to us.
We went on our first Disney cruise three years ago, in March of 2012. We took the Wonder out of LA on one of the now-discontinued Mexican Riviera cruises and just had an amazing time. At the time we were dealing with my husband's alcoholism and had decided he would not go on the trip with us, however at the last minute I decided to let him go so that the kids could make some happy memories with him before whatever happened happened.
Luckily the trip went off with only minor hiccups and the memories were made, because a week after we returned home things deteriorated with my husband to the point that I took the kids and left. That was hard on them, but they were doing ok until two months later, when my mother-in-law, to whom they were very close, suddenly and unexpectedly passed away. Oliver was only 3, so he doesn't have many memories of all of this, but Elliott was 6 and remembers everything. The last few years have been rough for him.
Fast forward to Spring of 2014. Things had been very difficult for the family as the children dealt with the instability of having a parent in the throes of addiction. The decision had been made that in order to facilitate healing for the children, I would remain a stay-at-home parent, being a constant and reliable presence in their lives. The downside of that was that finances have been very tight. It has absolutely been worth it, but things like real vacations were set aside.
When Disney released the Spring 2015 itineraries, I decided that I was going to find a way to do the three-day cruise that was leaving from the port of San Diego – a quick ten minute drive from our house! My children (and I, frankly) needed something special to look forward to. I had made the booking, but not yet paid the deposit, when my father-in-law drew me aside to tell me that he had finally felt up to dealing with my mother-in-law's life insurance policy, and he wanted to give us the gift of money “to do something special that you otherwise wouldn't be able to do.”
The kids and I sat down and I told them we were going to take a vacation. I asked them what they wanted to do. Oliver instantly said, “China!” Elliott thought that a visit to Atlantis in the Bahamas would be great. Hawaii was a serious, realistic contender. And on and on as I researched every possibility. The final two candidates were Disney World and a Disney cruise. We looked at Alaska, but when I saw that for the same cost (maybe even less once we considered transportation) we could do the two-week Panama Canal cruise, we decided that it would be worth waiting a whole year instead of a few months. We would do a cheapie Carnival cruise over the summer to tide us over.
Starting our countdown in the vicinity of 400 days meant that we had a long time to plan, prepare, and get excited. I joined our cruise meet-up group, which was full of equally excited people and very active. It was a hard year, but knowing we had this vacation to look forward to at the end of it all got us through everything life threw at us. Important lesson learned: always have something to look forward to! It doesn't have to be something as major as a two-week cruise through the Panama Canal, but knowing there is a proverbial light at the end of the tunnel can get you through about anything!
I am a serious planner, so I spent the year making and updating and sorting lists, setting aside everything we might need, and getting to know our cruise group. Traveling as a single parent with two children who likely would want to spend significant time in the kid clubs, having a network of other adults was wonderful. I enjoy my alone time, sitting around reading and relaxing, but sometimes it is just nice to have an adult to talk to or to hang out with at an activity.
As we got closer to the trip, I started to panic a little bit, imagining myself hiding away in the cabin all day. One of the unfortunate side effects of everything that has happened with my husband is that I “hermitized,” not wanting to interact socially because I didn't want to have to make hard explanations. In a lot of ways I forgot how to make friends as I became more introverted and awkward. Luckily, it turns out I didn't have to worry. I met quite a few people and made real friendships. I feel like I found a piece of myself on this trip that I didn't even realize I was missing!
All in all, we are very lucky people and the memories from this trip will carry us forward for a long time to come!
Itinerary (links will be added as report is updated)
Before the cruise
April 30, 2015 Travel day
May 1, 2015 Depart Miami, Florida
* Navigator
* Part One
* Part Two
May 2, 2015 Sea day
* Navigator
* Report
May 3, 2015 Cozumel, Mexico
* Navigator
* Report
May 4, 2015 Sea day
* Navigator
* Report
May 5, 2015 Sea day
* Navigator
* Report
May 6, 2015 Cartagena, Colombia
* Navigator
* Report, Part One
* Report, Part Two
May 7, 2015 Canal transit
* Navigator
* Report, Part One
* Report, Part Two
May 8, 2015 Sea day
* Navigator
* Report
May 9, 2015 Sea day
* Navigator
* Report
May 10, 2015 Sea day
* Navigator
* Report
May 11, 2015 Sea day
* Navigator
* Report
May 12, 2015
* Navigator
* Report
May 13, 2015 Cabo San Lucas, Mexico
* Navigator
* Report, Part One
* Report, Part Two
May 14, 2015 Sea day
* Navigator
* Report
May 15, 2015 Disembark in San Diego, California
* Report
The Cast
Me (Erin): I am a stay-at-home mom and freelance copy editor. I love all things Disney and am lucky enough to live a couple hours away from Disneyland.
Elliott, 9: Elliott is at an interesting transitional age right now. He is still a kid, but he is growing up and doesn't want to be classified with the little ones. He feels like he's too old to wait in line for characters, but there are a few of them that he will have fun with if he randomly sees them “in the wild.” He loves to make new friends and come up with elaborate games to play.
Oliver, 6: Oliver is quite a character. He has a flair for the dramatic and knows how adorable he is, which helps him get away with more than he should. He still wants to spend time with me and he loves seeing characters, though he isn't a fan of waiting in lines so he doesn't see them all. Oliver wanders the ship making friends with all, children, adults, castmembers – no one will be spared!
We live in Coronado, California, which is a small city right across the bay from downtown San Diego. You may have seen pictures of our lovely bridge or our famous Hotel Del Coronado. Whenever the Wonder is in port we drive down to the park at the end of our street, where we can look across the bay and wish we were on board. If you are ever in port in San Diego, look across the water more to the left than the right, and that's us!
Our Story
So, I am really going to open up here, in the interest of providing a real understanding of what this trip meant to us.
We went on our first Disney cruise three years ago, in March of 2012. We took the Wonder out of LA on one of the now-discontinued Mexican Riviera cruises and just had an amazing time. At the time we were dealing with my husband's alcoholism and had decided he would not go on the trip with us, however at the last minute I decided to let him go so that the kids could make some happy memories with him before whatever happened happened.
Luckily the trip went off with only minor hiccups and the memories were made, because a week after we returned home things deteriorated with my husband to the point that I took the kids and left. That was hard on them, but they were doing ok until two months later, when my mother-in-law, to whom they were very close, suddenly and unexpectedly passed away. Oliver was only 3, so he doesn't have many memories of all of this, but Elliott was 6 and remembers everything. The last few years have been rough for him.
Fast forward to Spring of 2014. Things had been very difficult for the family as the children dealt with the instability of having a parent in the throes of addiction. The decision had been made that in order to facilitate healing for the children, I would remain a stay-at-home parent, being a constant and reliable presence in their lives. The downside of that was that finances have been very tight. It has absolutely been worth it, but things like real vacations were set aside.
When Disney released the Spring 2015 itineraries, I decided that I was going to find a way to do the three-day cruise that was leaving from the port of San Diego – a quick ten minute drive from our house! My children (and I, frankly) needed something special to look forward to. I had made the booking, but not yet paid the deposit, when my father-in-law drew me aside to tell me that he had finally felt up to dealing with my mother-in-law's life insurance policy, and he wanted to give us the gift of money “to do something special that you otherwise wouldn't be able to do.”
The kids and I sat down and I told them we were going to take a vacation. I asked them what they wanted to do. Oliver instantly said, “China!” Elliott thought that a visit to Atlantis in the Bahamas would be great. Hawaii was a serious, realistic contender. And on and on as I researched every possibility. The final two candidates were Disney World and a Disney cruise. We looked at Alaska, but when I saw that for the same cost (maybe even less once we considered transportation) we could do the two-week Panama Canal cruise, we decided that it would be worth waiting a whole year instead of a few months. We would do a cheapie Carnival cruise over the summer to tide us over.
Starting our countdown in the vicinity of 400 days meant that we had a long time to plan, prepare, and get excited. I joined our cruise meet-up group, which was full of equally excited people and very active. It was a hard year, but knowing we had this vacation to look forward to at the end of it all got us through everything life threw at us. Important lesson learned: always have something to look forward to! It doesn't have to be something as major as a two-week cruise through the Panama Canal, but knowing there is a proverbial light at the end of the tunnel can get you through about anything!
I am a serious planner, so I spent the year making and updating and sorting lists, setting aside everything we might need, and getting to know our cruise group. Traveling as a single parent with two children who likely would want to spend significant time in the kid clubs, having a network of other adults was wonderful. I enjoy my alone time, sitting around reading and relaxing, but sometimes it is just nice to have an adult to talk to or to hang out with at an activity.
As we got closer to the trip, I started to panic a little bit, imagining myself hiding away in the cabin all day. One of the unfortunate side effects of everything that has happened with my husband is that I “hermitized,” not wanting to interact socially because I didn't want to have to make hard explanations. In a lot of ways I forgot how to make friends as I became more introverted and awkward. Luckily, it turns out I didn't have to worry. I met quite a few people and made real friendships. I feel like I found a piece of myself on this trip that I didn't even realize I was missing!
All in all, we are very lucky people and the memories from this trip will carry us forward for a long time to come!
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