Who/When/Where:
Who:
Sue (me), DVC member
Appearances by:
Leesa, Comedy Warehouse regular
Tracy & Tyger, Comedy Warehouse regulars
Adie & Lisa, Darla & Steven, Donna & Joe, Dottie & Joe - DVC friends
Debbie & Don, Rich & Deb, Chris & Mel & Mitchell - DVC friends
Dates:
January 31 February 6,
2003
Travel
Method: Personal car,
Disney Cruise Line
Resort:
Leesa's condo & Disney
Wonder
Experience: Extremely
experienced
INTRODUCTION:
Originally my
February trip was going to be another 3-day weekend at Old Key West, taken
more towards the end of the month. Then DVC announced they had taken over the
Disney Wonder for the February 2nd sailing for a DVC Members-only
cruise. I waited for the details of this "special" cruise expecting a
reduced rate like we've gotten in the past, and laughed at the gall of Disney
to then jack the prices up slightly (so much for it being any sort of a
"deal") for this cruise only. The explanation I heard most often was we were
getting a 2nd day at Castaway Cay, and that costs Disney money.
LOL, I think the truth is the 2nd day MAKES them money, as nobody
can spend their money elsewhere on these 2 days. In any event, I initially
had no desire at all to do this cruise. Of course, I should know to never say
never!
Several DVC
friends were planning to do the cruise, and I enjoy their company but figured
I wouldn't be cruising with any of them until the kids were grown and it was
just the adults left. If I had young children I'd welcome cruising with other
families with kids, but since my kid is pretty much grown up I prefer to stick
with the company of adults. I've done the 4-day Wonder cruise once before,
and frankly any cruise of less than 7 days and which only goes to the Bahamas
is normally not something I'd do without a really compelling reason. I love
many things Disney, but for me the cruise is not where they shine. However, I
fully expect to have a great time spending those 4 nights on the ship
socializing with friends some of whom I only see infrequently. My friend
Leesa has let me stay at her place after a night at Comedy Warehouse to start
many of my trips this past year, so I decided to bring her along and give her
the cruise as a Christmas present. This will be her first cruise, so it will
be fun seeing it all through the eyes of a cruise virgin!
We opted for
late dinner seating this time, which I'm eager to try. Generally I don't like
to eat late, but sometimes early dinner just cuts into the afternoon too much
with prep time (unless you're naturally gorgeous I am not <g>).
Unfortunately, on Disney when you have late dinner you see your show BEFORE
dinner what the heck is up with that??? I know, it's good for the little
kids sigh. I would have preferred dinner around 8, show at 10, but that's
not how they do it. Leesa in particular is a night owl, although she's been
trying to adjust her sleep schedule somewhat in preparation for the cruise.
Unlike most people, if she does not get enough rest she physically might not
be able to move and my biggest fear is the last day will come when we must
get off the ship way earlier than she's used to, and she might have trouble.
On the other days the worst that would happen is she misses whatever we're
doing during the first part of the day. I'm somewhat of an early riser I'll
be up and out, walking the deck, having a light breakfast, so we'll have to
figure out how to get in touch if she's still sleeping.
The Wonder is
much more casual than the cruises I'm used to, so I'm going to take advantage
of that and pack accordingly. The fancy dresses will stay at home, even
though Darla has said she'd have to turn her head away when I come by in
slacks <g>. The daytime weather looks pretty good, getting pretty close to 80
degrees. Nights should be cool, but not cold. I opted for a cabin down on
deck 2 (#2076), without a verandah this time. Since it is Leesa's first
cruise I didn't want to get an inside (aka walk-in closet) stateroom having
the large window is so much nicer. From deck 2 we'll have a great view of the
waves/water as we cruise along although realistically, we won't be doing
much cruising except after dark. Most of our time we'll be anchored
somewhere.
Since the
cruise leaves on Sunday and my workweek ends on Friday, I'm spending the
couple of nights before the cruise at Leesa's and the Comedy Warehouse.
Hopefully Tracy & Tyger will be there Friday night, too. I think the trip is
going to go very quickly, and I look forward to relaxing on the cruise.
The plans:
Fri 1/31:
Work, Comedy Warehouse
Sat 2/1:
Relax & prepare for cruise, Comedy Warehouse
Sun 2/2: DVC
Member Cruise begins
Mon 2/3:
Castaway Cay
Tue 2/4:
Enjoy ship while in Nassau
, Andrea McArdle's show
Wed 2/5:
Castaway Cay,
Thu 2/6:
Breakfast, Leave ship, drive home
DAY 3
SUNDAY FEBRUARY 2, 2003
:
Plan:
DVC Member Cruise Begins!
Actual:
Today starts the DVC Member Cruise
portion of this trip. To recap, Disney Vacation Club (DVC) has taken over the
Disney Wonder for this 4 day cruise and made it exclusively for DVC members &
their guests. I'm bringing along a friend who has never cruised before, and
will be meeting several DVC friends most of whom have cruised the Disney
ships repeatedly, and I think all of them have cruised on some line or
another. This will be my 2nd cruise on the Wonder, 4th
on Disney Cruise Line, and 9th overall. This portion of the story
begins at my friend Leesa's condo near wdw, where I spent last night.
I got up around 7:45
and took my shower. When I
finished I could hear noise that sounded like someone packing a suitcase
Leesa was UP!!! She was finishing her packing & was focused really well
today, which was great! I made my hot chocolate & got online while she took
her shower, then we finished getting our stuff together before leaving around
10:15
or so. It was a quick drive to the
terminal and the entire checking in process went very quickly even though it
felt like we were constantly having to stop to show our photo id. They have
security set up at the entrance to the terminal now, which is a much better
arrangement. This makes boarding the actual ship go faster when that time
comes.
We rode the escalator up and went
to check in, meeting Chris and her mom Mel in line behind us. They are both
so much fun I'm glad they're on the cruise. After Leesa & I checked in we
went and joined Rich & Deb, Darla & Steven, and Chris' son Mitchell in the
line waiting to board the ship. The queue area was completely filled and and
the line extended the length of the terminal 2.5 times by the time we
boarded. Chris & Mel joined us and Chris introduced me to her son Mitchell
warning him that I really don't like kids very much so he needs to be on his
best behavior around me, lol! Mitchell wasn't sure what to think but he
stood up to shake my hand. For the record, he seems like a very well-behaved
kid, and is cute as well. Steven was eating a big bag of potato chips and
Darla was laughing about how that looked like the "studio trash" had arrived
<g>. Years ago I think it was Rich that coined the phrase "studio trash" when
he was staying in a studio rather than the usual 2br villa.
Donna & Dottie arrived and went to
check in, then the boarding started. We missed the announcement & whatever
shenanigans they did, but that's a "been there, done that" thing for us
anyway. Getting on the ship went quickly, and we were herded to Parrot Cay
for the buffet lunch. Since dinner wasn't until 8:30
it was actually possible to
eat lunch! The buffet was nice, with lots of food. They had these hand wipes
for everyone, but I'm not worried about being germ-phobic beyond normal
everyday hygiene practices. The buffet had salads, vegetables, pork, roast
beef, pasta, chicken cacciatore, mahi-mahi, pasta alfredo, breads and a wide
variety of desserts. Most of the desserts I thought looked better than they
tasted, but I only tried a couple of things plus a cookie (those are always
good). Leesa tried a wider variety and said most of it was pretty good. We
had fun catching up with everyone.
By 1:30
people started heading to
their staterooms, and so did we. Our luggage hadn't arrived yet, so we
checked out our gifts. I got a nice Castaway Cay beach towel and a couple of
pins for being a Castaway Club (repeat cruiser) member (gave 1 of the pins to
Leesa). From DVC there were a couple of special pins for this cruise one
for each of us, plus a cheap fan. The Disney Collectibles people also left a
couple of different pins and some postcards. It was nice and we'll also
each get a t-shirt and a lanyard with another special cruise pin. All around
the ship they have SS Member Cruise logo items replacing the usual Wonder
stuff.
Leesa & I decided to wander around
the ship. Since we're using the elevators, we're having to wait forever to
get anywhere. The elevators here are absolutely tiny I don't know how my
friend Kathy managed it on her last (& final) Disney cruise but I remember
she spent an awful lot of time waiting as several elevators came that were too
full for her to get into. At least with Leesa & I being small, we can squeeze
in to just about any space. One elevator had 6 people on it, and it was full
that's ridiculous! We went up to deck 9, then had to get another elevator
to deck 10 (I forgot we weren't doing stairs). We walked around, took
pictures, then Adie & Lisa called to say our luggage was outside our stateroom
so we went back down to unpack.
Leesa needed to take some medicine
and rest, so after unpacking I called Adie & Lisa & went up to join them on
deck 10. I used the stairs, since I could kind of huffing & puffing as I
climbed 7 stories! I found them and sat to chat with them. They were excited
to have booked the mud room thing (private room you smear mud on your naked
bodies and then do whatever until your time is up). Adie found out the price
was good for up to 3 people, so they added me to their party -they'll just
tell me when to show up <g>! Somehow I think I may be busy doing something
else that day, but their invitation was a nice gesture, lol!
Around 3:30
we returned to our
staterooms. Leesa was laying on the couch, so I got to work updating the trip
report. We did the mandatory lifeboat drill at 4pm
and for a change I was
actually on the shady side! Usually I roast out there, but today it was very
comfortable. After the drill we dropped off our life jackets and headed up to
deck 10 for the DIS meet.
We found our DVC friends easily and
admired the buttons that Mark from the DIS board had prepared for everyone.
Donna was telling us how she realized she'd forgotten to put on her deodorant
so as she was walking through the terminal she fished it out of her bag and
shoved it under her shirt to put it on right there, lol! No sense wasting
time finding a restroom! I went to find Mark for my button and ran into
Shontell Crawford. I met her mom Gale and chatted for a few minutes I knew
Shontell was cruising and was glad to run into her so quickly. My next stop
was Mark & his wife Mary Mary had already gotten my bag ready and told me my
button had something extra on it. I laughed when I saw it they did the
regular button but had a ribbon hanging down with a "Diva" glittery sticker on
it! I'm the Diva of DVC, after all <g>. We chatted, then I went back to our
big group.
Frankie & the West End Boys began
playing, and it felt like we were at Pleasure
Island
! Leesa went over to take a
bunch of pictures, while I visited with my DVC friends. It was a perfect day
great weather, good music, terrific company I am really happy to be here!
When we sailed away they blew lots of bubbles and shot streamers over the
crowd. The Sail Away Party seemed to be better attended than my previous
Disney cruises, but it's always pretty crowded. Debbie found us and
introduced us to her husband Don, and Peggy found us as well. Cheryl from
dvctalk came over to introduce herself it was such a fun time being on board
and having so many familiar & friendly faces.
After we started moving it got
chilly really fast, so Leesa & I headed down to the stateroom. I love the
view of the water from deck 2 it's great being close to the ocean, and I
really think a verandah would be too cold for either of us (plus they're much
higher). I updated the report while Leesa did some reading. She was pretty
tired and decided she didn't want to see the show, which was fine with me.
I'd see it again if she wanted to go, but I won't miss it since I've seen it
before!
Leesa stayed in the stateroom to do
some reading while I wandered around. I like the stateroom, but can't spend a
lot of time there when there's a whole ship to enjoy. I checked on our
lanyards and the dvc people said they're making them now and they'd be
delivered to our stateroom tonight. I went and browsed through the shops, and
ran into Donna's Joe in one of them. We chatted a little bit before I headed
out. After a lap around the promenade deck (deck 4) I climbed up to deck 9
and got some hot chocolate from the beverage station before returning to deck
4 to finish the mile. When I returned to the stateroom Leesa showed me an
invitation to the Castaway Club reception had arrived, so we'll go to that
tomorrow night. It's great that since we have 2nd seating we can
do the reception and not be too full to eat dinner.
We dressed for dinner tonight we
eat at Triton's, which is the most formal of the 3 regular dining rooms. I
wore a dressy black & fuschia pantsuit and Leesa wore a long black dress. We
met the others at Triton's, where our servers had created 2 large tables for
us. At our table we had Adie & Lisa, Debbie & Don, and Mari & her daughters
Tara & Shelby. Our servers were very good, and we weren't rushed at all
during the meal.
Nothing really looked all that
appealing to me, but I did order a glass of the moscato that was my favorite
wine at LeCellier. I got the melon in port wine sauce, which was just ok. I
ate some of it, but not all. I also had the chilled vichysoisse (sp?), which
was onion, leeks & almonds. It was very mild not bad, but not something I'd
go out of my way to have again. For an entrιe I got the grilled chicken
breast, which was very moist & tender. My dessert was the grand marnier
souffle with chocolate sauce, but I wasn't impressed and left most of it.
Leesa's beef tenderloin was very dry, and looked awful. She loved the
cauliflower soup but didn't care for the beef. She got the chocolate mousse
cake, which was pretty good especially when dipped in my chocolate sauce!
Some of the others had escargot, shrimp, sea bass, or lamb shank it was all
pretty decent (except the beef), but nothing to write home about. It was
typical for a Disney cruise, but substandard for some other cruise lines.
Lisa had brought her duct tape and scissors to dinner, but ended up not having
to use them. We'd heard there were only about 300 kids on board this cruise
normally there are closer to 1000 or more, so this is REALLY nice!
After dinner I went to the other
table and talked to them for a while, then we finally all left the
restaurant. Leesa & I decided to hang around with Adie & Lisa, so we stopped
at Wave Bands to see if Frankie was playing. Leesa wanted to see them, and
I'd leave her there if they were there. The 70's party was still going on,
and the place reeked of cigarette smoke, so I never got past the doorway.
Smoke can trigger her illness, along with her allergies, and nobody else
wanted to put up with the smoke so we left. I checked at the front desk and
saw Frankie would perform in about ½ hour (at 11:15
) so we decided to walk on
the deck for a while. Lisa was all dressed up and wearing pumps I know the
people on Fortress will be shocked to hear that, lol! We almost made 1 lap
before Leesa started slowing down, and I knew she needed to get inside & sit
down. We sent her in to check for Frankie, and the 3 of walked several more
laps quickly.
When Lisa's pumps started bothering
her she went in to use the internet cafι, I think looking for Adie's
girlfriend Judy (aka Babe). Adie & I walked several more laps she thinks we
did 10 miles, but I'm not so sure <g>. We walked pretty quickly for a solid
hour, so it was probably maybe 3-4 miles. We went inside and she went to
retrieve Lisa while I headed down to the stateroom. Leesa was on the couch
reading the cabin steward had turned down my bed but had not made up the
couch for her. You'd think when 2 women are traveling together they would
just assume they're not sharing a bed, but it seems I always have to tell
them. We folded her bed down and hopefully when the steward sees it in the
morning he'll figure out we'll be using both beds! Leesa never watched
Frankie, due to the crowds, noise & smoke. Our steward had left a swan made
from a towel on my bed, along with a couple of chocolates.
I finished up the report by shortly
after midnight
, and went to bed to read
tomorrow's Personal Navigator. We plan to be off the ship early in the
morning, so we'll see how that goes.
Today was a wonderful day. I'm
surprised at how happy I am to be back on the cruise, and what makes it so
special is having a bunch of friends on board. It really adds to the fun to
have familiar faces around, and I'm looking forward to the next 3 days.
DAY 4
MONDAY FEBRUARY 3, 2003
:
Plan:
Castaway Cay
Actual:
I woke up at 6, not knowing what time it was. I'd set the wake up call for
6:30
, so I just stayed in bed rather
than waking Leesa by playing on the computer. Promptly at 6:30
Mickey called to let me know
there were "big doin's" going on around here, and to be sure to wash behind my
ears. I took a quick shower and got into a swimsuit, then woke up Leesa and
made a cup of cappuccino. The weather was 68 degrees already even though it
was just past 7am
, and it looked like it would be a
great beach day.
Leesa took her
shower and Adie & Lisa came to get us at 8. We went up to Beach Blanket
Buffet on deck 10 and got breakfast to eat outside on deck. I had a little
scrambled eggs & bacon (very good), ½ bagel (kinda tough) and a little Mickey
waffle (just ok). They also had donuts/pastries, an omelet station, cereals,
fruit, and other stuff I don't remember. It was a little chilly eating out on
deck, but once we got off the ship it felt a lot warmer.
After
breakfast we went down to deck 1 just as they were letting people off the
ship. Adie & Lisa had gone to an 8:30
event and would catch up
with us later. Leesa & I got towels and took the tram from the ship. After
walking a while we took the next tram to the adult beach (
Serenity
Bay
), meeting up with Shontell
Crawford & her mom. We rode out with them, and enjoyed their company. They
were headed for massages, while we went directly to the beach to see if any of
the others were there. We didn't see anyone, but we were getting eaten alive
by what we thought were no-see-ums. They turned out to be sand fleas, and the
cm said they were attracted to anything white (like the lovely white beach
towels Disney provides, lol). I laid in a hammock for a while and Leesa took
a walk on the beach but we were both miserable with the damn bugs so we
decided to call it quits.
At the tram
stop we found Adie & Lisa just arriving (by foot Adie again insisted she
walked 10 miles but I think it was more like 1 or 2). We told them about the
bugs and showed them the ones that were still on Leesa's cooler, so they
decided to skip this beach as well. We took the tram back to the family beach
and decided to give it a try. Since we were near the far end there were not
many people, and there were NO bugs! We set up camp and relaxed on the beach.
Leesa went to
walk along the beach looking for small shells and taking pictures, Adie went
snorkeling and Lisa & I sat on our chairs reading. I gave her a trashy Soap
Opera magazine and Adie tried to get me interested in one of her magazines
one I'd never heard of but since it was for women it must be like a Ladies
Home Journal or something <g>. When Leesa came back she mentioned seeing my
DVC friends further down the beach, so while she sat & read the rest of us
went down and joined the others for some conversation & laughter. They'd
bought a couple of 6-packs of beer for something like $22 plus change each,
but they came with a free soft sided cooler. It was fun talking to them, and
eventually people started thinking of getting lunch.
Adie, Lisa & I
went back to get Leesa and we headed to Cookie's BBQ for lunch. The lines
were really short much nicer than I've ever seen it. I got a couple of ribs
and a bite of delicious potato salad. The ribs were very tender I was able
to pull the meat right apart with only a fork. They had the delicious jumbo
chocolate chip cookies, too I think we all ate one at lunch and I brought
another one back on the ship with me. After lunch Adie & Lisa went back to
the ship, Leesa wandered around looking for more shells, and I walked around
taking a few pictures before joining Rich, Deb, Donna, Joe, Chris & Mel
further down the beach. Leesa & I agreed to meet back at our chairs at 2, but
we were both a little early & headed back to the ship then.
I took my
shower first, then updated the report & watched General
Hospital
while Leesa took her
shower. After a lazy relaxing day we were due for a fairly busy evening and
mapped out our strategy for fitting it all in. We found there would be time
to dress for dinner after the show tonight, so we put casual clothes on until
then I wore my Comedy Warehouse cast shirt so even though those people
couldn't really be here, their images were on vacation <g>.
When General
Hospital
was done I went up & used
the Internet Cafι to catch up on some of the email and reply to a few people.
Adie saw me and stopped by to chat on her way to her stateroom it's so nice
to just run into friends on this cruise! I got offline and went down to the
stateroom to check on Leesa. She'd fallen asleep on the couch, so it was
going to take her a while to get moving again. We agreed to meet up on deck 4
before the ship was due to sail at 5, and I went up on my own to do some laps
around the promenade deck. At 4:55
as I was coming down the deck I
noticed we seemed further away from the dock than normal so I stopped and saw
that we were already moving! I kept walking, and soon found Leesa, then Lisa
joined us they missed the sailing away but we can try again Wednesday.
We wandered
around and took some pictures, then it was time for the Castaway Club
reception. On the way I introduced Lisa to Shontell, and we chatted briefly.
The reception was incredibly crowded and filled 3 of the clubs instead of just
Wavebands. Normally there are 150-300 repeat cruisers on board, but this time
there were over 1000! The buffet was excellent fruit, canapes, egg rolls,
chicken wings, fried cheese, mini quiche and my favorite was the "kids'
sushi". This was rice krispie treat wrapped in chocolate, then sliced the
only sushi that will ever pass these lips, lol! I found a couple sitting at a
table with 3 extra chairs so we joined a very nice couple. We talked DVC (of
course <g>) with them, and I got a couple of glasses of white wine and put
the 2nd one in the refrigerator in the room until before dinner.
When the reception ended Leesa went to the stateroom to rest, Lisa went
looking for Adie, and I headed to the Walt Disney Theater for the show.
They did the
DVC version of Who Wants to be a Mouseketeer, with all DVC questions. I ran
into many of the others, so there were 12-13 of us who saw the show together,
plus Shontell came and sat in the row in front of us. It was such fun seeing
the show with the others, and it was amazing how little some dvc members knew
about the different resorts! The higher questions were very difficult like
what type of wood is the boardwalk at Boardwalk Villas made from, and how many
teepee chandeliers are in the lobby of Villas at Wilderness Lodge
who the hell
cares, lol! None of us were called to be contestants, and none of the
contestants won a free cruise, but it was fun.
When the show
ended I went back to the stateroom to update the report and get changed. We
left around 8 and stopped at the Shore Excursion Desk for Leesa to book a
glass bottomed boat tour for tomorrow afternoon, then stopped at the front
desk and then deck 4 to see what the 50% off a future cruise deal would mean
if you were using points. There was a long line of people waiting to get
information on the future cruises, and the discount was "up to" 50% certain
dates, meaning it was much less than that for many dates. The savings didn't
amount to very many points saved.
We headed to
Animator's Palate for dinner and joined the others. Dinner was much better
tonight! I skipped the appetizer and then tried the chilled gazpacho and loved
it! I'd never had it before, and was quite pleased with it. For my meal I
had the herb crusted lamb chop, which came with a delicious risotto. None of
the desserts looked spectacular so I decided to try the kahlua trifle, which
was just ok. I was hoping for more of a coffee flavor rather than actual
kahlua soaking cake underneath the custard. Trifle lovers might love it, but
I guess I'm not a trifle fan. Leesa had a sirloin steak tonight and it was
much better than last night's beef. She also got the salmon appetizer but
didn't like it, and the butternut squash soup, which she liked but not as well
as the Wolfgang Puck version. She got the NY cheesecake for dessert, and that
was excellent.
After dinner
we talked to the friends at the next table, then looked at the pictures in
Shutters (taken of guests by the ship's photographers). Leesa decided she was
done for the night and went to the stateroom. I changed into sneakers and
went walking around the promenade deck with Adie & Lisa for a while. It was a
gorgeous night and I was actually warm walking the deck.
When I got
back to the stateroom Leesa was in bed. Tonight's towel animal was a dog, and
he's wearing my sunglasses. Our cabin steward is doing a good job taking care
of us, but we don't see him much (we don't need to, since he's doing his
job). Tonight's dvc gift was a blue mesh tote bag that says "member" along
with the dvc name. It's not something I'd ever buy, and honestly seems a
little tacky by dvc standards, but hell it's free, it wasn't expected, so
I'm glad to receive it!
Today was a
great day. Once we got away from the sand fleas, Castaway Cay was really
nice. The Castaway Club reception was very crowded but very nice this is
one area where DCL does a better job than HAL. The best thing though is being
here with everyone else that's really making this cruise extra special!
DAY 5
TUESDAY FEBRUARY 4, 2003
:
Plan:
Enjoy ship while at Nassau
, Andrea McArdle show
Actual:
Today the ship is in lovely (not) Nassau
from 8:30 am
until 1:30 am
tomorrow. Since Leesa's
never been, she decided to go ashore and do a glass bottom boat excursion.
I've done one of those in Grand Cayman
and was bored enough to know
it wasn't something I wanted to repeat. I plan to stay onboard and enjoy the
ship while so many people are gone for the day!
Since we
didn't have to get up early (Leesa's excursion was 2:30pm
) I didn't put in for a wake
up call. Instead, the sun woke me up around 7. I got up & dressed, then went
up on deck with my unmade cappuccino just adding hot water at the beverage
station. I love a cruise ship early in the day before everyone else is up and
about! We were on the final approach to Nassau
and I figured it would be
fun to watch the ship tie up at the dock. The Carnival ship and 2 from Royal
Caribbean were already docked, and we'd be the 4th (& final) ship
for the day.
I ran into
Mary & Mark from the DIS boards up on deck and chatted with them for little
while, then continued walking. Next I stopped to talk to Don (from our
group), who told me about the navy ship escorting us in. I continued walking
around and stopped up by the front of the ship, and soon Mel and Chris came by
& joined me. We chatted while watching the ship dock it's amazing how they
can turn this thing completely around and back it into a parking space without
the passengers even feeling a slight bump. I can't park my car that well, lol!
They headed to
Triton's for breakfast and I returned to the stateroom. To my surprise I got
back just as Leesa was leaving I was shocked that she was up & about so
early! She's sure Nancy
will never believe it, but it's
true <g>. It was almost 9am
, so we went upstairs to Beach
Blanket Buffet for breakfast. Today I found the yogurt and added some granola
and sliced almonds to make a delicious breakfast much better than
yesterday. I also had one of the small croissants, but that wasn't anything
special. We ate outside at a table by the railing and it was a gorgeous warm
sunny day!
After
breakfast Leesa went to wander around in Nassau
while I put on my swimsuit
and went up to deck 10 near the adult pool to lay on a lounge chair. It was a
perfect day, with a breeze that kept it cool enough to not get sweaty, but the
sun was warm enough to keep it really comfortable. There was nobody around,
either so it was extremely peaceful like having my own private ship! I
did some reading and enjoyed the beautiful day, then decided a cookie sounded
good. I got up and walked around to see if they had any at Scoops, but they
only had fruit. I figured there were some in Beach Blanket Buffet but didn't
feel I should go in there with just a swimsuit and bare feet so I went back to
Scoops and got some melon.
Soon Leesa
arrived, and told me about her morning in Nassau
. She ran into some of the
other dvc friends, which was nice. I wrapped my wrap thing around my waist,
put on my sandals and went with her to Beach Blanket Buffet for lunch. As
soon as we got inside a cm discreetly and nicely asked me to leave to put on
a t-shirt. I saw plenty of women in a swimsuit with just a waist thing
wrapped around, but I guess since mine is a bikini top I couldn't get away
with it! I wasn't really hungry anyway, so I told Leesa to just get her lunch
and I went out on deck to get a table. I saw Debbie, Don, Mari, Tara & Shelby
and went to chat with them about their day, then returned to wait for Leesa.
She got what was almost a Thanksgiving dinner (turkey), lol, and enjoyed it.
While she was eating I remembered I'd wanted to try some chicken fingers while
I was on the ship, so I went over and got a couple of them and brought them
back to the table. They were good, but I think once is enough <g>.
When Leesa
went to get dessert (with instructions to find me something chocolate) I went
over and joined Darla, Rich, Deb & Dottie for a few minutes. Leesa came out
carrying 2 plates full of desserts, lol 2 banana chocolate pastry things, 4
chocolate chip cookies, pecan pie, 2 brownies and a yummy chocolate mousse or
pudding thing. We looked like absolute hogs walking back to the stateroom
with all of that, and as we passed Scoops the smartypants cm working called
over to us asking if we needed any sweets for dessert <g>. Some of the stuff
was good, some was just ok I'm sure some will end up in the trash but we at
least tried everything.
Leesa rested
in the stateroom for a little while and I put on some clothes over my swimsuit
and left the ship to take some pictures. I never left the docks but spent a
solid 30 minutes walking to another dock to get a good picture of the Wonder.
Our friend Nancy wanted a picture of Donald Duck hanging from the back of the
ship, so I took a couple of those as well in case Leesa doesn't get a chance
to do that. It's great that with digital we can easily share pictures. I got
back to the stateroom around 2pm
, just as Leesa was leaving to meet
her shore excursion. I dropped off my camera and then went back up to deck 10
for another hour of reading in the sun. I brought a new Disney guide book
Making Memories by Dann Hazel & Josh Fippen, and I was absolutely loving it!
Besides covering all the usual stuff they have a bunch of helpful tables and
their perspective of taking a trip that will make memories to last a lifetime
is terrific. I also got a kick out of being quoted in there a couple of
times, lol, and especially finding my name in the acknowledgements each time
was a really cool surprise!
At 3 I
gathered up my stuff, got a small ice cream cone from Scoops and returned to
the stateroom to update the report and watch General
Hospital
. At 4 I went up to deck 4
to talk to the cruise sales manager about possibly booking another cruise for
either the week of Labor Day or the 2nd part of my November trip.
It turned out if you're planning to cruise on points you don't have to stand
in line I found that out after waiting 15 minutes <g>. People booking on
points just call member services within 3 days of the cruise ending.
I walked some
laps around the promenade deck, enjoying the great weather. When I finished I
went back to the stateroom to shower, then went back up on deck for a while.
Leesa figured she probably wouldn't see the show, which wasn't a surprise when
she kept saying "Andrea who?" each time I'd mention Andrea McArdle was singing
for us, lol! I got dressed for the evening and left around 6 to wander around
and see the sunset from deck 10.
I ran into
Mari while on my way to the theater and went back to see her stateroom, then
went and joined the big group (Darla, Rich, Deb, Chris, Mel, Dottie, Donna,
Joe, Debbie, Mari, Adie, Lisa, Shelby & Mitch in the Walt Disney Theater.
Along the main walkway in front of the shops they had laid out a red carpet
and cm's were applauding as people came down. What they didn't know was a
camera was recording their arrival and shortly after they entered the theater
they would see themselves on the 2 giant screens!
The show
consisted of Andrea McArdle, her singing daughter Alexis, and keyboard playing
husband Ed. Her daughter has an incredible voice, too and sang a couple of
songs she had recorded. Hubby wrote lots of music for the superbowl shows and
other shows, and we saw clips of many of those. Andrea sang a song from each
of the big Broadway shows she was in (Beauty & the Beast, Les Miserables,
Aida, & Annie) plus a patriotic tribute to the astronauts who were killed last
weekend. She closed the show with Tomorrow, from Annie which of course was
the highlight for everyone! It was a great show, and a wonderful opportunity
for everyone on board much better than typical cruise ship entertainment
<g>.
When the show
was done some of us ended up in the shop, where I bought a photo album
specifically for this cruise. Adie & I went to meet Leesa at Wavebands for
the 7:45
Cabaret show featuring comic
magician Rich Purpora. This was his "family" show, cleaned up for all the
kiddies, and he involved the kids in all of his stuff. Even though it wasn't
"adult" it was still very funny, and he's a good entertainer. I've seen him
on previous Disney cruises with Sheila, and imagine I'll see him again.
Next we headed
to Parrot Cay for dinner, where service took longer than normal. Our server
apologized and said tomorrow we'll be back on track, so I hope she's right.
The floor show takes up time, and some people didn't stick around to watch.
The servers basically just parade through the dining room while lively music
plays personally I'd rather skip that part & just get the meal finished so
we could get to wherever we wanted to go next. Debbie & Don skipped dessert
in order to get to a 10pm
show. Adie, Lisa, Leesa & I stuck
around for dessert and just made it in time for the 10:30
show.
My dinner was
pretty good. I skipped the appetizers and got a creamy sweet onion soup that
I didn't really care for. For the entrιe I got the mixed grill, which had a
cute little tiny beef tenderloin, small lamb chop, part of a grilled sausage,
and a few shrimp. It also came with macaroni & cheese, but it was just
ordinary elbow macaroni & velveeta nothing special. I gave my shrimp to
Lisa but ate most of the rest of the meat and it was all very good. Leesa got
the bbq chicken wings appetizer, some sort of salad, and a steak. For dessert
I got the sugar free chocolate mousse and it was so good I was tempted to wipe
out the inside of the bowl with my finger to get every last bit. Leesa got a
bowl of berries, but she said they weren't as good as she'd hoped. As
everyone knows, Disney Cruise Line isn't who you book if you're looking for
fine dining <g>!
After dinner
the 4 of us went back to Wavebands and joined Debbie & Don for the Match Your
Mate game. This is like the Newlywed Game except the 3 couples represent
different lengths of marriage. It's always funny, but I only stayed through
the couple selection process & left before any questions started because I
wasn't willing to put up with the smell of cigarette smoke. We were in the
non-smoking section but it still was disgusting and I wasn't about to stink by
staying there. I checked email and then worked on the report a bit before
joining Leesa up on deck 9 at the end of the Tropical Deck Party. She said
the game was really funny it's too bad they do it in a smoking venue.
Thankfully the
deck party was almost finished I don't dance and really don't like those
deck parties at all, but we both were interested in seeing Frankie & the West
End Boys perform since they're so familiar to us from our many nights at
Comedy Warehouse. I got there in time for the last couple of songs, and then
the Disney DJ started up with recorded music. One of the guys in the band who
knows Leesa came over to chat for a while, but it was difficult with the loud
music. He's enjoying playing on the ship, and they'll be here through
February 22nd. Afterwards AJ (Jim Robert's wife she plays sax in
Frankie's band) came over and talked for a while also. I returned to the
stateroom to finish up the report and Leesa stuck around for a while longer.
Tonight we had
a towel elephant, and the dvc gifts were t-shirts and free drink coupons. The
t-shirts are a good quality, the same as what's in the parks. On the back
they put the S.S. Member Cruise 2003 logo and on the front it says "Members
are Magical". We're supposed to wear them for the sailing away party
tomorrow.
Today was
another great day relaxing but also full of things to do the 2nd
half of the day. The weather could not have been nicer, I loved getting to
hear Andrea McArdle sing Tomorrow in person, and it's been fun spending time
with everyone (but not in the mud room <g>).
Tomorrow is
our final day, and we'll be back at Castaway Cay. As far as I know, this is
the first time a ship has gone there twice during a cruise, so it's kind of
fun to be a part of that!
DAY 6
WEDNESDAY FEBRUARY 5, 2003
:
Plan:
Castaway Cay
Actual:
We slept with the drapes open again, with the sun coming up just before 7am
. I was up and out early,
getting cappuccino made up on deck and walking a mile or so around deck 10.
Leesa was awake when I left but decided to stay in bed a little longer. I
returned around 8:15
to see what Leesa was planning to
do. She got dressed and we headed out for breakfast. We met Chris & Mitch
and ate with them I had yogurt with granola & almonds again, and part of a
hash brown. I took one of the chocolate brioche things it ended up being a
dinner roll with chocolate icing & sprinkles on top totally disgusting!
We left the
ship and went to meet the others at our spot on the family beach. It was a
gorgeous day even better than Monday was. At 10 we joined the DVC group
picture, which was so big I doubt we'll be able to find ourselves <g>. Back
at our chairs we sat around talking & laughing, having a great time in the
sun. I can't possibly convey what a nice day it was on that island sitting
around with a group of friends! Leesa went off hunting shells and came back
with quite a collection.
The lunch at
Cookies' BBQ was different today, and I think we all preferred the regular
meal. There were no ribs, but they had seafood jambalaya, salmon, pork
medallions, burgers, hot dogs, bbq chicken and a couple of salads. I tried a
tiny pork medallion, and the glaze was tasty but the meat was like shoe
leather. I had a few bites of a greek salad, but it had no lettuce and no
feta cheese very strange. I ate part of Mel's burger, and a delicious
chocolate chip cookie, and that was enough.
We didn't
spend too much time on the beach after lunch, as the sun was pretty strong and
there was still a lot to do since we have to leave the ship tomorrow. Rich,
Dottie & I went to the Heads Up Bar to take pictures of the ship, and then I
returned to the ship meeting up with Adie along the way. I showered,
started packing, and watched General
Hospital
while writing up this very
brief report. At 4 I went up to the front desk to charge my tips and get the
slips for each person, and also stop by the dvc desk. I was hoping they were
waiving the banking deadlines for people adding on, but they were not. If
they were, I could have bought points, banked the 2003 allotment and received
another allotment on April 1st it would have been like getting a
bonus year. However, if I buy now I'd have to use the 2003 points before
3/31/03
and I don't think I can do that, so
I guess there's no sale to be made.
Leesa went up
and took care of her tips, then we went up on deck to get a drink while the
ship sailed away from Castaway Cay for the final time. Leesa & I went up to
deck 9 and traded in my coupon for a rum punch. She kept hers and gave it to
me since the non-alcoholic drinks were just soda and she didn't want that.
The rum punch soon went to my head, although I'm not sure why. We went down
to deck 4 and watched while they released the ropes and the ship moved
sideways away from the dock. It's amazing how they move this big ship as if
it was nothing at all! Once we'd backed out of the dock area we headed
inside. We met Dottie at the elevator and Leesa went upstairs with her while
I put the rest of my rum punch in the fridge in the stateroom and grabbed a
cold lemonade for Leesa. I went up to deck 9 and gave Leesa her lemonade,
then used the other coupon for another rum punch. They had Goofy dancing on
the stage, but that soon ended and the party was over. Leesa went down to the
stateroom to pack her stuff, while I walked around deck 10.
I ran into
Debbie & Mari, and stopped to talk with them for a while. They may book the
same cruise as me for later this year I hope they do, as it's so much more
fun with friends! Yes, I do plan to book another Disney cruise the 7 day
western Caribbean
with my friend Sheila this coming
November. She's never been to those ports, and although I have a couple of
times I know she'll be comfortable going off on her own to do any excursions
I'm not interested in just like Leesa was on this cruise. This will give me
3 cruises in a 9-month period, which makes me feel like a very lucky person!
Eventually I
grew tired of being wind-blown, and poor Debbie had lost most of her champagne
to the wind (thank goodness she said it tasted awful so she didn't care), so
we headed back downstairs. They went to Bingo and I returned to the
stateroom. Leesa finished her packing and rested a bit. Once down, she
wasn't getting up soon not for the 6:30
Disney Dreams, not for the
7:45
Walk the Plank game show. I
skipped Disney Dreams as well, since I've seen it a couple of times and I'm
not sure if Sheila will want to see it again in November.
The game show
was not my style I left before it ended, when I couldn't stand it any
longer. It also wasn't well attended very small crowd. I went back to the
stateroom to check on Leesa, and she was up. The person delivering tonight's
gift woke her up (that's a good thing). The gift is gorgeous it's a
beautiful Steamboat Willie teapot, along with a DVC member tin which I'm
assuming has some tea bags inside. It's really nice, and a great gift even
though I don't drink tea! I have to admit, the daily gifts have been nice,
and they've taken great care of us on this cruise. It's pretty safe to assume
I'll be on the next one <g>.
Dinner tonight
is the Master Chefs series, which is the "best of" different Disney
restaurants. The menu is the same regardless of which restaurant you're
scheduled to be in, although the dress code for Tritons remains relatively
fancy compared to the casual Parrot Cay & Animator's Palate. Our dinner was
in Tritons, and we headed up to meet the others just before 8:30
. Leesa was exhausted and
lasted about 5 minutes before returning to the stateroom and going to bed.
The portions
tonight seemed larger than other nights, or maybe we were just getting tired
of eating! For an appetizer I got the honey mustard chicken tenderloins that
were breaded in crackers absolutely delicious, and the best thing I ate on
the entire cruise. I skipped the soup/salad and ordered the filet mignon and
lasagna roll for my entrιe. The filet was huge, but what portion I ate was
nice & tender. The lasagna was full of beef, and reminded me of the LA
Lasagna at Planet Hollywood. I like the LA Lasagna but didn't care for this
beef version. For dessert I got the Celebration Cake, which was yellow cake,
cheesecake, strawberries and white chocolate. It was ok, but not worth
finishing. I brought back a Chocolate Decadence for Leesa, which was
chocolate cake with chocolate mousse on top, and a side small parfait of
chocolate mousse & other stuff. All the desserts had a white chocolate
medallion with a full color logo from the DVC S.S. Member Cruise 2003!
After dinner I
returned to the stateroom, where Leesa was sleeping. I finished packing and
put my suitcase out (it had to be out by 11pm
, which is absurdly early
for such a thing). I portioned out the cappuccino I needed for tomorrow
morning and then took what little was left up to deck 9 to make a ½ cup for
tonight. I sat and filled out my comment cards from DCL and DVC before
turning them in and walking some laps. It was so windy I didn't last long on
deck 9 or deck 4. On deck 4 I kept getting wet from the spray of the ocean,
and once outside it was hard to find a door that could be opened to get back
inside.
I stopped by
Wavebands, where Frankie's band was playing, but it was a little too smoky for
me to stick around. Instead, I finished up the report and went to bed.
Today was a
perfect Castaway Cay day, but it's very sad that this cruise is coming to an
end. I really don't recommend the 4 day cruises you really only get 3 full
days, and that is not enough. However, they've been terrific days!
DAY 7
THURSDAY FEBRUARY 6, 2003
:
Plan:
Breakfast, Leave the ship, Drive home
Actual:
We docked in Florida
by 6am
, and had to be at breakfast
in Tritons at 8. I got up just before 6:30
so I'd have time to do some
laps on the deck as the sun came up. I HATE being back in Florida
and having to go back to
work tomorrow, but I guess all good things must come to an end. Leesa was up
and in the shower when I left the stateroom, which was a very good sign. I
made my cappuccino and walked around on deck 10, stopping to chat with Mel for
a while. It sucks being back in Florida
, but at least I have about
an hour to enjoy being out on deck before having breakfast and then returning
to the real world.
I got Leesa
and we stopped on deck 4 briefly. I walked a lap while she was watching
dolphin playing. By 8 we were seated in Triton's for our final meal of the
cruise. Since we'd just finished dinner 22 hours before I wasn't particularly
hungry. I got a yogurt and added some granola, then ate a small croissant and
a muffin. It was way more than I needed, but somehow the "all you can eat"
mentality is hard to resist at the end of the cruise, and I knew it was all
good. Leesa got fruit and a traditional breakfast with eggs, bacon &
pancakes. People were definitely less excited at this meal, lol! When we
finished eating we all said our goodbyes and left the ship.
One advantage
to late seating is by the time you get off the ship more than half the luggage
is already gone, making it very easy to find yours! Usually we're first
seating and we wander the rows searching for our luggage, but this time I
spotted it from far away and walked directly towards it. We rolled our
luggage out to the car and were at Leesa's condo an hour later. I posted the
last few days reports, and Leesa put all of our pictures on a cd rom for me.
The drive home took 3 hours and was uneventful except for wishing I was
still on the ship!
It took most
of the rest of the day/night to go through the pictures and select the ones
for posting in the Ofoto album, then uploading them via dialup modem! The
album has some Comedy Warehouse pictures at the beginning, but most of it's
the cruise. Go to the upper right of this page to access the pictures.
SUMMARY:
I was
definitely skeptical about this cruise, but I have to admit it exceeded my
expectations. Let's get the negatives out of the way first, so the report can
end on a positive note <g>. Four days is NOT long enough it's like a tease
to have 3 full days then get thrown off the ship. The only way I'd do another
4-day cruise would be if it was another DVC Members Cruise. Dining on DCL is
mediocre at best. This cruise our servers were slow, and I can't recall
anything that was truly great except for a chicken finger appetizer! Some
people had food that was overcooked, somewhat cold, or seemed to have been
sitting around. If you're looking for fine dining on a cruise, better book
somewhere else. The smoke in Wavebands was bad enough to make me leave just
as an event I enjoy was getting started. It's a shame they can't either
ventilate those rooms (
Holland
America
seems to have figured out
how to do that) or make the venue smoke-free. The sand fleas at the adult
beach on Castaway Cay were a disappointment, and it was the first time any of
us had encountered that there.
Ok, now for
the positive stuff <g>. Having 2 days at Castaway Cay was wonderful, and with
perfect weather and great company those days were better than I'd ever
imagined they'd be. Leesa enjoyed the shelling while I enjoyed sunning and
socializing. Nassau
was a nice chance for me to enjoy
the ship while everyone else went ashore it was wonderfully peaceful! The
ship was not a floating kiddieland like it usually is, with only 300 kids
rather than 1000 or so. THAT was really nice! We never saw any unruly or
misbehaving kids anywhere on the ship, and other than the screaming toddler
being ignored by her parents on Castaway Cay it was possible to forget kids
were even around. The kids in our group were all great kids/teens, and a
pleasure to be around.
DVC did a
super job making the cruise special! All over the ship there were special DVC
touches, from the flags, signs, and other dιcor. The Who Wants to be a
Mouseketeer show was revised to be all dvc-related. They added special
programs which I don't think any of us took part in things like you'd see on
a 7-day cruise but not a 4-day. The gifts every night were a nice surprise,
and made us feel very appreciated. Our stateroom on deck 2 midship was
terrific, and convenient to everything plus I love being that close to the
water to better see the waves.
The best part
of the cruise though was the company I kept. Cruising with a large group of
friends makes it so much more fun, especially when the group doesn't try to
stick together the whole time. I don't think I ever went anywhere on board
without running into someone I knew, and that was really nice! If there's a
2004 DVC cruise I'll definitely be there! Until then, I'll be calling
tomorrow to book the 11/08/03
Magic Western Caribbean cruise with
Sheila. We've got the Eastern Caribbean
on HAL in June with our
sons, but by November I'll be wanting to get back on a ship again <g>.
My next big
trip is mid-March in a grand villa at Disney's Hilton Head Island Resort,
although I'll probably take a weekend trip just for Comedy Warehouse before
then.
Until next
time thanks for reading
