A Fantastic Framily Frolic Far Far Away - COMPLETE (6/23)

Your nails are super cute!!!

I wish the Classic ships had the magic porthole. Our first cruise, on the Wonder, we were in an inside room (11A I think) - 184 sqft and I think the Fantasy they are 169 sqft? Anyway, it was a bit of a squeeze for four of us but we did ok. Now of course we've done a verandah and have a verandah and oceanview booked for our next two :rotfl2: one of these days I really should get us back into an inside! maybe a sideways....hmmmm....

Sounds like you had a very smooth check in that day, 30 minutes is excellent from start to finish!:thumbsup2

Oh and on an Alaskan-cruise-related-note: we did Fly Over Canada today :jumping3: And it was fantastic! So yes I would encourage you to do it the morning you embark on the Wonder :thumbsup2 If you buy your tickets online (you don't have to provide a date) you save 10%.
 
Love your nails!!! The closet alone would make me nervous! That's the type of room my family was just in before they found the bugs and there were 3 of them in that size of room! As PP said though, I guess you're around the ship more often than in your room! Your parents had the room my mom and I would have had had our room on deck 9 not opened up!
 
Oh and on an Alaskan-cruise-related-note: we did Fly Over Canada today :jumping3: And it was fantastic! So yes I would encourage you to do it the morning you embark on the Wonder :thumbsup2 If you buy your tickets online (you don't have to provide a date) you save 10%.

Great! I think we may end up doing it the night before. I've been doing some research into the port, and it seems like getting there early is a good plan. I loved going late to PC, but I can't imagine DD waiting in huge customs lines.

Your parents had the room my mom and I would have had had our room on deck 9 not opened up!

They loved it! It was a great location and I liked the navigator's verandah.
 




Day 1 Part 3

Now it was time to wake up DD for the muster drill. I could already tell that the darkness of the room was going to help with sleeping. If I'm honest, the coziness of the room helper me get a little nap too. :faint:

Our muster station was outside again this time but it wasn't nearly as unpleasant as last time. To get there we took crew stairs. Very steep especially for DD. We lined up and handed our cards to be scanned. This is also about the time the Navigator app finally started working.

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Remember how I said we had our cards scanned? Well, the little iPad thing glitches and the 6-8 rooms right around us were all showing up as not at the drill. It was so embarrassing having my room number called as though I hadn't been there on time. :scared: Luckily the staff knew what happened and everyone around us were in the same situation so we joked about it. I just want to reiterate that IT WAS NOT MY FAULT that the drill took a couple extra minutes.

Once the drill was over my parents took DD to the sail away party while I finished unpacking. I had some surprises I wanted to squirrel away from her and it was just easier with only 1 person in the room. I didn't feel us start to move, but at one point I looked up and saw this.

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We were away!

Our dinner tonight was in Royal Court. We all headed that way but, once seated, one of the other girls said she needed a sweater. So of course DD needed a sweater. So off I went back to the room to get it. :sad2:

Dinner was very good as always. Our server was Adrian from Jamaica and our assistant server was Clefton from India. We really enjoyed them both. They got to know the kids right away including food preferences and drinks. All 3 girls found the veggie portions too small so they always made sure to bring them extra broccoli, carrots, and, as DD calls it, white broccoli (aka cauliflower.)

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Mickey ketchup of course.

Dessert was the first of many Mickey bars. I ran all 3 girls up to the club right before entrees were delivered. I had to stop and register DD on the way. There was a desk set up next to Port Adventures which mate it super easy. DD has no food allergies, but yogurt upsets her digestive system. :confused3 No other dairy is an issue, but they went ahead and gave her a red clip so they knew to check her food choices. Then, they were dropped and we were kid free for a bit. Phew. The meal was much more relaxing after that. It had bern a full day and they were all overstimulated.

For my dinner I had the lobster and shrimp appetizer, ahi tuna Niçoise salad, and the grand marinier soufflé. Well, I actually had 2 soufflés since I told Adrian it was my favorite. :rolleyes1 It was totally worth it. We talked to Adrian about speeding up the kids meals a bit more for future dinners and then we said our good nights.

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After dinner one mom wasn't feeling well so she went back to her cabin while the other mom and I picked up the girls. The grandparents all went for drinks in the adult area. Lots of characters were out having meet and greets.

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There was a variety act tonight instead of a show and honestly, we were all a bit wiped after a busy day. The girls all came to my cabin so I could give them their cruise essentials goodie bags and then we settled in for the night.

We had also received our first FE!
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And with that, we were off to bed.

Reflections on Day 1

There were so many things different about this day 1, and I was so happy how it all went! First, getting to port when we did meant no check in lines. Woohoo! However, I am so glad we waited to do club check in on board. Our friends who checked in at the port were delayed quite a while.

Second, going to lunch and waiting for our rooms was not a big deal. We'd always had our rooms ready in concierge, so we were worried about this.

Third, while the inside room is small, the two of us were able to fit and we really liked the porthole. Fourth, doing my own dine & play worked very well.

If day 1 was any indication, this was going to be a great trip!
 
Ugh muster drill. A necessity yes and I understand why but the waiting around....ugh....and then to have your key still be an issue. Oh well ,it's sorted now so hopefully that was the only glitch for you!

Ok so I guess I don't fully understand how the magic porthole works-you do get to see images that are happening currently outside the ship as well? And how often do those images appear?

Sounds like a lovely first meal! The souffles on a Disney ship.......soooooo divine!!!
 
Ok so I guess I don't fully understand how the magic porthole works-you do get to see images that are happening currently outside the ship as well? And how often do those images appear?
So the main picture is a camera feed from outside the ship and that is always running like a window. Because my room faced aft, it was an aft camera. Rooms that face forward have a forward image. At night it's just a picture of stars. You can turn the whole thing on and off like a tv.

Every so often characters come by. I've got some pictures of those later in the trip.
 
So the main picture is a camera feed from outside the ship and that is always running like a window. Because my room faced aft, it was an aft camera. Rooms that face forward have a forward image. At night it's just a picture of stars. You can turn the whole thing on and off like a tv.

Every so often characters come by. I've got some pictures of those later in the trip.

I had no idea they showed current images from outside, very cool! They really need these on the Classic ships:thumbsup2
 
Day 2 Part 1
Day at Sea


I woke up around 7:30 today. DD was still sleeping so I read and watched the porthole for a bit. She woke up around 8:00 and came to bed with me while we watched the porthole some more.

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We had put out the door hanger the night before to have breakfast delivered between 8:00 and 8:30. They arrived around 8:15 with coffee, cereal, and coffee. The day just cannot begin without coffee. :coffee:

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I went to put the fruit in the fridge and realized it was not cold. There was also a puddle of water so I called guest services.

We had read the Navigator the night before and knew there would be Monsters Inc characters out this morning, so we headed down to the atrium.

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DD played an epic game of hide and seek with Sully. And she said she was like Boo in that bathroom scene.

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Strangely she was afraid to go see George but I took his picture anyway.

2319!!!!

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We also had our first unscheduled character meet.

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Then I got her changed into her swimsuit and headed to the Mickey pool until they closed it for cleaning.

Rules people! They apply to you and your kids! >:(

So, we headed to the Mickey slide which is always a huge hit.

At this point, my parents came to meet us on the pool deck. They had gone to breakfast in Royal Court and enjoyed it. They took over care of DD so I could do a few things.

First, I made a quick stop at a FB group meet & greet. It was very informal but I wanted to be sure to stop by. We had a GREAT group for this cruise.

Then, I headed back to our room to get changed for my 12:30 Palo brunch reservation!
 
Day 2 Part 2
Day at Sea - Palo Brunch


Time to get ready for brunch! Since we are silver cruisers, we were able to book Palo brunch at our 90 day window. While I had originally hoped for an earlier time, we ended up with a 12:30 reservation. Brunch on SWDAS had lots of availability, but we knew we might end up with ticket times on that day, so we picked the first day.

When our friends' window opened, there was no more availability on this day. My parents decided they would prefer to skip brunch and let all the "middle aged" people go out together. Our original reservation was for 3 people, but it was no problem at all to add the 4th person once on board.

So, at 11:45 or so I handed DD off to my parents and headed back to get dressed. I also used this time to deliver our first FE gifts. But, I forgot to take photos. Oops. They were valet trays that I made. One side had anchor fabric and the other side had a navy circle pattern. I think they came out very cute.

At 12:30, I arrived to check in at Palo. One friend was waiting in Meridian and we waited just a couple minutes for the other two. Then it was on to food! The buffet was amazing as always. I loved the lobster salad and marinated mushrooms. I also tried a croissant this time. Mmmmm. Instead of chicken Parmesan I had pennette pasta. It has salmon, spinach, and a light cream sauce. It was very good. My friends had chicken Parmesan and were VERY happy.

We all got a selection of desserts. The cannoli were incredible and our server told us that the chef was from Sicily, the region where they originated, so it was his specialty. Yummy.

You'll notice the lack of brunch photos. Honestly, I didn't want to freak out my friends. But, what happened next has led me to go searching the internet for a picture. Our server had told us to try the baked yogurt on the dessert table. Well, we all ignored her. So, she brought us a few. Oh. My. Goodness. All of us agreed it was the best dessert we had. Amazing. So, here's a photo I found online. It's the one in the lower right hand corner. If you go to brunch, try it! (You can see the cannoli too.)

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One of the most common things I see people talk about with brunch is the servers helping or not helping. This time they seemed to have found a middle ground. I loaded my own plate but they carried all the ladies' plates back to the table. I was never bothered by the help, but perhaps people are complaining.

Something that surprised my friends was that Palo changes your napkin based on your clothes. We were all wearing darker clothes, so they traded out all of our napkins for black ones. My friends had never seen this before and I guess it is less common than it used to be.

Ok. That was a lot of text. Sorry. I'm worried the Dis will eat it though if I don't save. So, next update coming very soon with more pictures!
 
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Day 2 Part 3
Day at Sea - Princesses and Formal Night


Very full, I headed to find my parents and wake DD up from her nap. It was meet & greet time! We opted not to do bbb this trip. She had fun last time, but we didn't think it was something she needed to do every time.

The princesses at our event were Ariel, Tianna, Belle, and Cinderella. DD was wearing her awesome TJ Maxx princess dress and her gold glitter sandals. There was much shoe discussion. She had also been working on her curtesy.

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Showing Ariel how her dress spreads out. Ariel's makes a shell.

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Serious conversations with Tianna. DD was comparing the jewel on her dress with Tianna's flower.

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Shoes with Belle.

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Curtesy practice with Cinderella.

All in all a great visit.

Then it was on to the Frozen sisters. This interaction wasn't as great as last time but it was definitely good.

As we left AP, we looked out the portholes and were able to get good views of Cuba.

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Havana

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Later in the day we saw cliffs.

We headed up to deck 11 for a snack. Then DD hung out with my parents while I ran to guest services to put a gift card on our account and hand in our debark form. I also stopped by the bar for a mai tai because vacation. It was beautiful and delicious.

After that it was time to get ready for formal night. We did formal photos and saw some characters. It was also the Captains Gala, so we had some cocktails.

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Daisy was very impressed that DD was wearing almost the same outfit. Just a different color blue!

Dinner was the Crush show in AP. I had the seranno ham appetizer, a double order of pursettes for my entree, and some of the cheesecake for dessert. The cheesecake was very so-so.

The kids went to the clubs for a bit and I changed clothes before we all went to see Aladdin. This was the first show we had attended start to finish and it was very good! We all had a great time and DD though genie was hilarious. I thought the carpet was amazing.

DD wanted a snack, so she and I headed to vista cafe for some cheese and grapes. While we were out, we ran into some more characters.

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Then it was as off to the room for bath and bed. Tomorrow was Cozumel and our first DCL excursion!
 
Glad you had such a fabulous brunch! I never knew that about the napkins! :confused3

Oh my gosh, your DD's interactions with the princesses is priceless! :love:
 
Great double update!!! When my mom and I went to Palo, I was wearing a blue and black dress and they gave me a navy blue napkin and took the white one away. Such great pics!!
 
Day 3 Part 1
Cozumel


I realize that I forgot to reflect on Day 2. All in all it was a lovely day. Palo brunch is always amazing and I can never get enough of seeing DD enjoy the characters. This sea day felt very different than our previous ones and I've been trying to think about why. I think it's because DD and I had so much alone time together. We lazed around in the morning, went to the pools, and had late night adventures. Since we'd always shared rooms with other people before, we didn't always get solo time. Plus, my work situation has been so insane that we haven't had as many opportunities to do field trips and such lately. I didn't get as much of a chance for me time, but I just would not trade that special day for any number of hours at Satellite Falls.

On to Day 3

The clocks had turned back an hour. We woke up around 7:30 but it felt like 8:30. We had ordered room service for breakfast again. This time I just got myself a coffee but I ran up to Cabanas for something a bit more substantial since I knew we had an excursion. I made myself a breakfast sandwich with eggs and sausage on a croissant. It was delicious. I also grabbed a couple things of cereal to take with us in case DD got hangry again.

Our excursion meet time was 8:45 in D-Lounge. This was our first DCL excursion. I had read quite a few less than stellar reviews of going on DCL excursions. I think the words "herd" and "cattle" were the most frequently used. I didn't have high hopes for the process.

We arrived at 8:45 and were given our pink Simba stickers. DD enjoyed watching cartoons while we waited. The waiting period was very short before they started giving instructions about who should get towels etc.

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The paddles of power. I always thought that was a Dis nickname but they really do call them that.

We were off the ship by 9:15.
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We walked down the pier to get our wristbands from the vendor.
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Then we walked across the overpass through the shopping center. There's a parking lot at the back where cabs arrive.
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Coconuts!

We loaded into cabs at 9:30 to head out. We had to take a small detour because the main road was closed. It was a spring festival day and all the kindergarten aged kids were parading around dressed as bugs. It was the cutest thing I'd ever seen but I didn't get any good photos.

The drive only took about 7 minutes and then we had arrived!

Next up, the excursion. Those pictures are on my computer though, so it will have to be another post.
 
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Day 3 Part 2

Our Port Adventure was CZ87 - Chocolate and Pinata Seaside Workshop Here is the description from the DCL website.

Chocolate, Piñatas and Fun!

Your piñata will brighten the day of underprivileged kids at a local school.

On this adventure you will…

  • Meet your guide and take the 15-minute transfer by taxi.
  • Arrive at the beautiful air-conditioned seaside terrace of world-famous Stingray Beach to hear all about chocolate’s origins in Mexico. Get ready to learn the ancient Aztec and Mayan processing techniques. With a spectacular view of the Caribbean to inspire you, take a pass at making your own cocoa bar from scratch.
  • Receive instruction on making a traditional Mexican piñata and participate in the tradition of breaking them. Take home authentic Mexican candies.
  • The final piñata you decorate will be donated to underprivileged children at a local school. Enjoy the feeling that your creation will give them an afternoon of joy. You will be also be treated to a scrumptious piece of chocolate cake.

We chose this excursion for a few reasons. First, at 4 years old, there are some limits to what DD could do. Second, she had studied making pinatas in school and was very interested. Third, chocolate. Fourth, the price seemed very reasonable. Fifth, it was relatively short, and we didn't know for sure how much DD would like this kind of thing.

When we arrived, I took a peek at Stingray Beach. There was a nice beach area and the snorkeling water looked good. They also pulled out some huge raft things once in a while for people to ride.

We went in a small room that was set up for our Chocolate Making. We had three people helping us and we learned the history along with the process.

We started by grinding the beans.

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This was actually a bit of a workout and DD got frustrated that she couldn't turn the crank all on her own.

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Looking at the ingredients in their natural form.


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Scraping off the excess chocolate grounds. Now, the teacher was very clear that the ground chocolate was not going to taste like regular chocolate, but DD went ahead and tried it. She was definitely NOT impressed.

After adding vanilla and some milk, we molded the chocolate to be chilled and wrapped to take back to the ship.

Now it was on to pinatas!

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The kids worked on a large pinata that would be donated to a local elementary school.

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Then we started covering our individual sized pinatas. We started by covering the main section in confetti. Then we added streamers to the "arms."

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Here are our finished projects.

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Pretty cute!

After all of our hard work, the kids got to break a large pinata themselves. It was very fun.

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We then returned to the classroom for some chocolate treats.

Photo Limit Reached. Continued in next post.
 
Day 3 Part 3

So, we had made chocolate and pinatas as well as broken the big pinata. One thing I forgot to say in the previous post is that the pinata was STURDY! None of the kids could get it all the way down, so they had the parents try. DD made sure I got a turn and, while I got a few really good smacks in, I definitely felt it in my arms.

We headed back to the classroom for our chocolate treats.

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Both the drinking chocolate and the chocolate cake were delicious. Sweet and chocolately but not overwhelming.

There was also a gift shop. I purchased some of their chocolate and some vanilla. I thought the prices were very reasonable.

After eating our snack and shopping, we had the option of staying and enjoying the beach or heading back to the port area. We opted to head back as DD was getting hangry.

The place was beautiful though.

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In a short, 7-minute drive later, we were in the port mall area. We decided to stop at Starbucks to see about wifi. I grabbed an iced coffee and DD got a cookie. I didn't realize that, to get the wifi, you had to use the code on your receipt. Ooops. So pro tip, don't throw away your receipt if you want to use the wifi somewhere.

At this point, we had to decide if we wanted to go to the Mega for Kinder Eggs. I know DD would have been so excited to get one, but honestly, I was hot and tired, and I wanted to get back on the ship. So, we all went back. To get back to the ship from the mall, you go up an escalator and across a bridge over a busy road. The walkway is very windy. As we approached port security, I pulled out our KTTW cards. And then came a gust of wind and my card literally blew right out of my hand! I watched it soar through the air and land on the road below.

Those port guys were on top of it though and they yelled to each other to grab the card before it got run over or blown further away and, when we came down the stairs on the other side, they were holding it for me. Wow. Talk about heart stopping!

After that I was definitely ready to get back on the ship and RELAX.

We were back on board at 12:00. At that point we headed to our rooms and changed into our swimsuits. The pools weren't crowded and the AquaDuck line was very short. DD and I rode it 3 times in a row and then she swam for a while. We ate lunch poolside while watching Wreck It Ralph. After that, we headed back to the room again for nap time.

It was a great port day and a really good first experience with an excursion. Up next, Pirate Night!
 

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