Ok, when I left off a while back, it was our turn to get on board! So first you show your boading pass and Key to the World cards to a cast member. At this point they decided they didn't like Jack's picture so they redid it. Then we went through the doors to the tunnel thing. I guess it would be called the gangway? I don't know. Regardless, you stop first to get your welcome aboard photo taken. Some people just bypassed this, but I was hoping it would be a good shot. It wasn't. So then we continue on the gangway and I am getting more and more excited! I took some quick pictures of the side of the ship to illustrate the differences in the size of portholes for future reference.
So once you approach the entrance of the ship, there are crew members there who ask your family name. Then they announce you as you walk across the lobby and everyone claps. How awesome is that???? So the lobby is on the third deck midship. They funnel you through the lobby and guest services in on the right. I didn't have any reason to stop so we followed the traffic, which leads you to the aft part of the third deck where Parrot Cay is located. The lunch options were Parrot Cay or Beach Blanket Buffet on 9. We decided to eat out in the California sunshine so we hopped on an elevator to deck 9. There were cast members there handing out sanitizing wipes before you entered the buffet. We picked a line and were handed trays and silverware. I was pleasnatly surprised to see that they have different trays for kids, they are the kind most of us had in school with lots of different sections. This came in handy because soemtimes Jack can be picky about his food touching, and sometimes he wants things that definitely do NOT go together. Plus he made it his mission to get something in each section! The lunch buffet was relatively impressive and there were plenty of yummy options. Once we were ready to head outside a CM appeared out of nowhere to help me out with our trays! I was so happy because balance is not my strong suit... We made it outside and found a nice table to sit at and soak in the atmoshpere.
Jack had Mac and Cheese, chicken and 2 types of bread along with pink lemonade
I also had 2 types of bread (he gets his love of carbs from me obviously), a tomato and mozzarella mini sandwich, chicken and gherkin salad with what appears to be Sprite. I am not sure what was wrong with me, I don't ever drink Sprite. Oh well.
As we were eating I noticed one of my favorite people on ships, the man with a tray full of drinks!! Now let me clarify from the beginning, I am not a heavy drinker. I do however enjoy "boat drinks" which to me are drinks, usually fruity in nature, that are served in excess on cruise ships. It's really one of my favorite part of cruises because how often am I going to go to a bar and order a Bahama Mama? Never. But on a boat, it's the natural thing to do. So the wonderful man with the drinks notices my excitement and came over. He informed me that the Drink of the Day was in fact a Bahama Mama. I asked the most important question of "How much?" to which he replied that the first drink is $7.50 but I keep the cup and then every drink of the day for the REST OF THE CRUISE would be $4.50. (All prices are before the 15% automatic gratuity and tax). This was a fantastic offer, too good to be true, and one that I would most certainly be taking advantage of!
Now I was really on vacation.
Soon we finished lunch. Jack said he wanted ice cream for dessert, but we couldn't find it so he ended up with a plate of desserts instead:
Once we finished dessert it was still way too early to get into our room. We went to check out the Oceaneer's Club next and Jack was excited about the slide. He played for a few minutes.
We explored a bit, took a tour of the spa where I got to see the beautiful Rainforest Room where I planned on spending some time later on. Then we wandered inside and ran into our first princess!
We hadn't purchased our autograph book yet because the stores have to stay closed until we are out of port, so no autograph.
Then we continued walking around the ship aimlessly. We found the ice cream, and I found another man with Bahama Mama's. I signed the reciept and was pleased to discover the drinks are only $4.89 after all extra fees!
We went to sit in the buffet so Jack could eat his ice cream, and I took note of this brochure for my parents and future clients, as I am not a wine drinker.
As I finished taking pictures, an annoucement was made that rooms were ready!!!
So once you approach the entrance of the ship, there are crew members there who ask your family name. Then they announce you as you walk across the lobby and everyone claps. How awesome is that???? So the lobby is on the third deck midship. They funnel you through the lobby and guest services in on the right. I didn't have any reason to stop so we followed the traffic, which leads you to the aft part of the third deck where Parrot Cay is located. The lunch options were Parrot Cay or Beach Blanket Buffet on 9. We decided to eat out in the California sunshine so we hopped on an elevator to deck 9. There were cast members there handing out sanitizing wipes before you entered the buffet. We picked a line and were handed trays and silverware. I was pleasnatly surprised to see that they have different trays for kids, they are the kind most of us had in school with lots of different sections. This came in handy because soemtimes Jack can be picky about his food touching, and sometimes he wants things that definitely do NOT go together. Plus he made it his mission to get something in each section! The lunch buffet was relatively impressive and there were plenty of yummy options. Once we were ready to head outside a CM appeared out of nowhere to help me out with our trays! I was so happy because balance is not my strong suit... We made it outside and found a nice table to sit at and soak in the atmoshpere.
Jack had Mac and Cheese, chicken and 2 types of bread along with pink lemonade
I also had 2 types of bread (he gets his love of carbs from me obviously), a tomato and mozzarella mini sandwich, chicken and gherkin salad with what appears to be Sprite. I am not sure what was wrong with me, I don't ever drink Sprite. Oh well.
As we were eating I noticed one of my favorite people on ships, the man with a tray full of drinks!! Now let me clarify from the beginning, I am not a heavy drinker. I do however enjoy "boat drinks" which to me are drinks, usually fruity in nature, that are served in excess on cruise ships. It's really one of my favorite part of cruises because how often am I going to go to a bar and order a Bahama Mama? Never. But on a boat, it's the natural thing to do. So the wonderful man with the drinks notices my excitement and came over. He informed me that the Drink of the Day was in fact a Bahama Mama. I asked the most important question of "How much?" to which he replied that the first drink is $7.50 but I keep the cup and then every drink of the day for the REST OF THE CRUISE would be $4.50. (All prices are before the 15% automatic gratuity and tax). This was a fantastic offer, too good to be true, and one that I would most certainly be taking advantage of!
Now I was really on vacation.
Soon we finished lunch. Jack said he wanted ice cream for dessert, but we couldn't find it so he ended up with a plate of desserts instead:
Once we finished dessert it was still way too early to get into our room. We went to check out the Oceaneer's Club next and Jack was excited about the slide. He played for a few minutes.
We explored a bit, took a tour of the spa where I got to see the beautiful Rainforest Room where I planned on spending some time later on. Then we wandered inside and ran into our first princess!
We hadn't purchased our autograph book yet because the stores have to stay closed until we are out of port, so no autograph.
Then we continued walking around the ship aimlessly. We found the ice cream, and I found another man with Bahama Mama's. I signed the reciept and was pleased to discover the drinks are only $4.89 after all extra fees!
We went to sit in the buffet so Jack could eat his ice cream, and I took note of this brochure for my parents and future clients, as I am not a wine drinker.
As I finished taking pictures, an annoucement was made that rooms were ready!!!
Jack and I hurried to the elevator outside of the Beach Blanket Buffet and zipped down to deck 2! It turned out our room was pretty conveniently located not too far from the aft elevators. Soon we were standing in front of our home for the next 7 days!!
I immediately started taking pictures before we could mess anything up! From the entrance, on the right were the bathrooms, left were the closets.
View from entrance:
Toilet bathroom:
Bath products in the bathtub bathroom:
Bathtub/Shower
They had combined the beds into one. I asked Jack if he wanted his own bed and he said he just wanted to share with me, which was fine, it was plenty big!
Cabinet at the end of the bed:
Couch (which converts to a bed):
Desk area:
Info guide, week at a glance navigator, dining tickets:
Inside desk drawers (naturally all this came home with us
)
Wave phones:
Dining schedule:
Convenient bench and drawers:
Inside smaller closet:
Bigger closet, plenty of hangers:
I immediately started taking pictures before we could mess anything up! From the entrance, on the right were the bathrooms, left were the closets.
View from entrance:
Toilet bathroom:
Bath products in the bathtub bathroom:
Bathtub/Shower
They had combined the beds into one. I asked Jack if he wanted his own bed and he said he just wanted to share with me, which was fine, it was plenty big!
Cabinet at the end of the bed:
Couch (which converts to a bed):
Desk area:
Info guide, week at a glance navigator, dining tickets:
Inside desk drawers (naturally all this came home with us
)Wave phones:
Dining schedule:
Convenient bench and drawers:
Inside smaller closet:
Bigger closet, plenty of hangers:
After our 3 pm meet and greet, we headed back to the room to drop off our tshirts and see if our luggage made it yet. It hadn't so we headed to our Muster Drill. This is the first drill I've ever been to where our muster station wasn't outside on a deck. Ours was R I believe and it was in Animators Palate! We sat there for a couple minutes then headed back to our room briefly before heading up to the Sailaway party! Once we got up there, I saw a guy selling Bon Voyage drinks, which were a Pina Colada and Strawberry Daqueri mixed! Naturally I had to try it! I can already see the heads shaking now, "She's on her third drink in 4 hours???" Yes, yes I was. This was the only day that was like that though, and I was ambushed at the elevator by these guys! 
So as I said, we had gone back to our room after teh drill. That was a mistake because by the time we got there it was so packed we had to head up to deck 10 and I had to put Jack on my shoulders so he could see.
Christian, our cruise director:
I took a video of the show on my phone, but it is too large to email, so I have to find a way to get it onto a computer...
We didn't sail away right away, there was some sort of delay, so we headed back to our cabin to unpack before dinner. When we came back up we were moving!
Bye Bye LA!
Our first dinner was at Parrot Cay. We were early seating (5:45 pm) and I had been worried about whether or not this was the right choice. The late seating was just so late. It turned out well, the early seating was perfect for us and our schedules!
I was also very worried about my table mates. I ahd no idea who they would be, and I was supposed to be eating dinner with them for the next seven nights!!! When we got to our table (78) there was another mom and her daughter but the other two seats were empty. We introduced ourselves, the mom was Cassandra and her daughter was Sophia (who was 8). Our servers came and introduced themselves, Teody from the Phillippines and Anthony from France. They were both very nice. There was some confusion at the table because they had the kids cups all ready with water, and they had names on them. Sophia's was obvious, but then there was a John and a Jack... Well Jack's actual name is John... and when the other people came we realized the mistake. We had sat at the one that said Jack, but the other boy's name was Jack! Once the confusion was sorted out, it was smooth sailing! The other Jack is almost exactly a year older than my Jack, 4 1/2. His mom's name is Shayna (not sure if I am spelling that right...) Everyone was pretty quiet at first, it had been a long day for most of us. Jack had fruit for his appetizer and pizza for dinner. Every kids entree came with fries. Every. Single. One.
We also got our very first ketchup Mickey!
I do not remember what I had for my appetizer. This is the only picture I forgot to take!! And it was really more an issue of not wanting my table mates to think I was a complete freak. I figured I would need to ease into it. I didn manage to get a picture of my entree, steak, twice baked potato and corn. I apologize, I had already started eating...
This meal concerned me because my steak was overdone, my potato was dry, and I don't like corn. I worried for nothing, every other meal I had was AMAZING!
For dessert Jack got the first (of many) Mickey bar!
I learned my lesson this night and ordered it without sprinkles the rest of the trip, because I was finding sprinkles for hours after dinner.
I had a delicious banana french toast cake. Not sure what it was actually called...
We left dinner, and I felt pleased that my table mates were people I wouldn't mind eating with for the week!
So as I said, we had gone back to our room after teh drill. That was a mistake because by the time we got there it was so packed we had to head up to deck 10 and I had to put Jack on my shoulders so he could see.
Christian, our cruise director:
I took a video of the show on my phone, but it is too large to email, so I have to find a way to get it onto a computer...
We didn't sail away right away, there was some sort of delay, so we headed back to our cabin to unpack before dinner. When we came back up we were moving!
Bye Bye LA!
Our first dinner was at Parrot Cay. We were early seating (5:45 pm) and I had been worried about whether or not this was the right choice. The late seating was just so late. It turned out well, the early seating was perfect for us and our schedules!
I was also very worried about my table mates. I ahd no idea who they would be, and I was supposed to be eating dinner with them for the next seven nights!!! When we got to our table (78) there was another mom and her daughter but the other two seats were empty. We introduced ourselves, the mom was Cassandra and her daughter was Sophia (who was 8). Our servers came and introduced themselves, Teody from the Phillippines and Anthony from France. They were both very nice. There was some confusion at the table because they had the kids cups all ready with water, and they had names on them. Sophia's was obvious, but then there was a John and a Jack... Well Jack's actual name is John... and when the other people came we realized the mistake. We had sat at the one that said Jack, but the other boy's name was Jack! Once the confusion was sorted out, it was smooth sailing! The other Jack is almost exactly a year older than my Jack, 4 1/2. His mom's name is Shayna (not sure if I am spelling that right...) Everyone was pretty quiet at first, it had been a long day for most of us. Jack had fruit for his appetizer and pizza for dinner. Every kids entree came with fries. Every. Single. One.
We also got our very first ketchup Mickey!
I do not remember what I had for my appetizer. This is the only picture I forgot to take!! And it was really more an issue of not wanting my table mates to think I was a complete freak. I figured I would need to ease into it. I didn manage to get a picture of my entree, steak, twice baked potato and corn. I apologize, I had already started eating...
This meal concerned me because my steak was overdone, my potato was dry, and I don't like corn. I worried for nothing, every other meal I had was AMAZING!
For dessert Jack got the first (of many) Mickey bar!
I learned my lesson this night and ordered it without sprinkles the rest of the trip, because I was finding sprinkles for hours after dinner.
I had a delicious banana french toast cake. Not sure what it was actually called...
We left dinner, and I felt pleased that my table mates were people I wouldn't mind eating with for the week!
After dinner we went back to the room briefly and found that we had already received some gifts in our Fish Extender. *A Fish Extender is something you hang off of the fish that is on the wall outside your room. Then throughout the cruise, people will leave little gifts in it, adn you will take gifts to other people. Usually a group of people decide on this in advance through cruise line roll calls/meet and greet type things, which is what our group did. We ended up with 25 cabins in our exchange.*
Next we headed up to the Walt Disney Theater for the show of the night, who's name escapes me. Maybe the All Aboard show? Anyways we still had plenty of time to kill so we went into the shops right outside and I almost cried tears of joy!
See, I canceled a trip to WDW for this cruise, and the only part I was sad about was missing out on all the Halloween stuff for sale. It never occurred to me that they would have Parks merchandise onthe ship!! They not only had it, it was on sale!!! I was giddy with excitement. I managed to keep my cool though and only bought two items.
It's a lantern/flashlight thing
Placemat:
We also picked up Jack's autograph book. Then we headed into the theater. We got relatively good seats and the show started!
*I never took pictures during the shows because my camera just isn't good enough without a flash*
Jack was tired, but we enjoyed it and it was nice to finally be there!
After the show we headed back to the cabin and saw our first towel animal:
(your guess is as good as mine)
Jack enjoyed his first of many turndown chocolates and then we passed out from sheer exhaustion!
Next we headed up to the Walt Disney Theater for the show of the night, who's name escapes me. Maybe the All Aboard show? Anyways we still had plenty of time to kill so we went into the shops right outside and I almost cried tears of joy!
See, I canceled a trip to WDW for this cruise, and the only part I was sad about was missing out on all the Halloween stuff for sale. It never occurred to me that they would have Parks merchandise onthe ship!! They not only had it, it was on sale!!! I was giddy with excitement. I managed to keep my cool though and only bought two items.
It's a lantern/flashlight thing
Placemat:
We also picked up Jack's autograph book. Then we headed into the theater. We got relatively good seats and the show started!
*I never took pictures during the shows because my camera just isn't good enough without a flash*
Jack was tired, but we enjoyed it and it was nice to finally be there!
After the show we headed back to the cabin and saw our first towel animal:
(your guess is as good as mine)
Jack enjoyed his first of many turndown chocolates and then we passed out from sheer exhaustion!
No comments:
Post a Comment