Wednesday, April 24, 2013

Disney Dream Cruise--Day 1, April 7, 2013

When Kory told me that a Disney Cruise had popped up with a great cast member rate, I knew we had to jump on it.  Even though it was a week after we got back from Spring Break.  Luckily my principal is great and had no problem with me taking a couple of days off.

I could NOT wait for the cruise to get here!  Our boarding time was 12:30.  We left here around 11:15 and headed to Port Canaveral.

My home for the next 4 days!


Check-in was relatively painless.  I think the longest wait was for the first picture, but even that way maybe only 5 minutes.  As you walk on board, they announce your name over the loud speaker in the atrium.  That was a little awkward since there were only a few cast members there and no other families.

We couldn't get into our rooms yet so we decided to head up to Cabanas to grab some lunch.  I didn't want to get much because I had 15 minutes before I could run downstairs to try to make dinner reservations at Palo.  My plate looks pretty pitiful but there was TONS of food!  I ate more when I got back but didn't take a picture.



Right at 1:15, I ran downstairs to get Palo reservations.  I was worried that I wouldn't get them since they had been filled up early online.  I think that you can get there before the time they tell you because I saw several people leaving when I got there.  I had about 3 families in front of me and waited about 10 minutes.  They had no problem getting us in for dinner on Thursday night (which was the night I wanted--I wasn't really excited about the idea of Pirate night so I hadn't even brought anything for it).

I went back upstairs and finished lunch.  We ran into Natalie and Rafael, who were randomly on the same cruise as we were.  We had found this out a little earlier and linked our reservations together so we could eat dinner together.  We also found out that the grandma of one of my students was on the ship.  I have her help out all the time in class so it was great to run into her a bunch there!

After lunch, we went to check out our room.  It was nice!  Big bed, couch, and best part--balcony!!  I do have to say that I'm not a big fan of the bathroom situation.  I think it's supposed to be a benefit--there's one small room with a toilet and sink and one small room with shower and sink.  I think the toilet, shower, and sink should be together, then you could have a separate sink for people to get ready with.  Anyways, no biggie.


I had been on one other Disney Cruise so I am a Castaway Club Member.  For being one, I got a blue backpack with Castaway Club emroidered on it, a key chain (which I collect so this was awesome) and two things of Disney goldfish-type thingy (the second one was squished so its not in the picture).


We unpacked just a little bit then decided to head out and look around some.

My Disney Fairytale Wedding was Cinderella theme--mostly carriage and glass sliper theming.  So when I saw this, I had to take a picture.  The carriage is my icon.  I sooo wanted to steal the pillow :)

 


We had the boat safety drill (thank goodness you don't have to wear the life jackets anymore!) Then I had a meet and greet with the fish extender group I'm in.  And I just now realized that I didn't take any picture of our door.  I'm so upset!  I had so many cute magnets made that were all over our door.  We had a dry erase board too and we got so many compliments written on it about how cute our door was!  Boo!  Here's a picture of the fish extender that I took right after I made it


After the meet and greet, there was the Sail Away Deck party.  There was a cute show and everyone lined up around the deck.  There are several bars/restaurants lining Port Canaveral as you leave, and they were all PACKED with people waving to the ship.


After the deck party, we headed downstairs to deliver some of the fish extender gifts.  I had bought some dry-erase boards off etsy that had our cruise name and date on it to give out, along with some red and black mickey head soaps.  Then they younger boys got bubbles, a pirate eye patch, and a telescope and the older boys got 2 packages of candy and a water ball thing.  The younger girls got kiddy lip gloss, a princess tiara, and a wand and the older girls got a manicure set, nail polish, and lip gloss.  And there was a little birthday girl who we got a princess birthday sash for.  It was so fun to come back to the room to see if there were any goodies!

We got dressed and headed out to see the show.  I think my one complaint about Disney cruises is how they do the shows.  Here, if you have the early dinner, you see the show after the dinner while the late seating eats.  And if you have the late dinner, you watch it before the dinner while the early seating eats.  On Carnival (gulp), the late seating watches the show AFTER dinner.  We always picked the later seating because there were fewer kids and then you had more time to relax before dinner.  But here you didn't.  You still had to be ready earlier to go see the show.  And then after dinner, there was only a brief adult show.  So not a lot going on after dinner.

Anyways, the show the first night was called the Golden Mickeys.  It was cute.  I wish we had been allowed to take pictures during it!  But I did get a shot before.



At the end of the show, golden Mickey heads come raining down.  Apparently one got stuck in my hair and it looked like a fun accessory :)  (I didn't know I was getting my picture taken so don't mind the non-smiling face)


Then we headed for dinner. 




Our first restaurant in the rotation was the Royal Palace.  I was sooo excited for this one (yes, I am a wannabe princess at heart).



There were glass slippers and carriages and princesses every where.  I was in heaven!!




























Even the napkin and bread basket were fun!

And of course, I had to take pictures of the menu
 





First up, the appetizers


I got the Double Baked Spinach and Cheese Souffle and Kory got the Pomegranate Glazed Duck Breast.  Mine was okay but it was too eggy.  HOWEVER, on top of it was this cheese crisp.  I fell IN LOVE with these at Flying Fish Cafe at the Boardwalk, so much so that I had them specially ordered for our wedding reception.  We told our amazing servers (Nue and Phillip) this and they brought us out a whole bowl of them each night!  I got Natalie hooked on them too!













Next up, soup and salad


Kory and I both got The Comtesse Du Barry's Soup



Main Course



















I had the Aged Angus Grilled Beef Tenderloin topped with Garlic Shrimp and I'm pretty sure Kory had the Roasted Wild Boar Tenderloin.











Dessert had its own special menu




















I had the Tahitian Vanilla Creme Brulee.  It was sooo good!  Kory had the Sweet Temptations











The cruise was Natalie's birthday present so they brought her out a special dessert and a pin and sang to her.

 












We ran back to the room really quick so I could change because I always get so cold.  We had our first towel animal friend waiting for us-- a frog!


Then we headed back up to Evolution, one of the adult bars to meet up with Natalie and Rafael and see the adult show.  It was Knight Magic.  Pretty good.  After that the bar turned into a dance club, which wasn't really our scene so we headed back to the room for the night.

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