Another beautiful day at sea
Well today was our second full day at sea, and the weather is holding up well. Most of the day the sea was still pretty calm, and we have only really started noticing that the ship is actually moving (well, rolling a bit) this evening as we received a bit more swell from a hurricane far out in the Atlantic.As you know, I am a travel agent, at an agency that specialises in family travel, and I am one of our Disney Specialists. As a travel professional, along with a number of others that are aboard this special sailing - I never really did mention that, but 11 nights is by no means normal for Disney - I was invited to a presentation of some of the new things that are coming up for the Disney company, both on sea and on land. I'm not going to go into details here - there isn't space, and I don't have time - but I will be writing these things up on to our agency website soon after I get back. The "Year of a Million Dreams" at all the Disney theme parks around the world looks particularly exciting... and I was interested to hear more about Disney's newest vacation idea "Adventures by Disney"...
While I was learning, the rest of my family were playing. This was the morning of their official "character breakfast". The visits and photographs were coming thick and fast as 5 Disney favourites did the rounds at the breakfast tables. I think the kids did eat something...They both spent some time in the kids programs this morning, and neither one of them wanted to leave to come to lunch. This is completely normal for the excellent, numerous kids club staff, who had lunch covered - the 3-4s in the main Oceaneers Club itself, while the 5-7s went back to Animator's Palette, much to Gabriella's delight.
After lunch I left my wife to organise the kids - who swam for hours and got nicely tired out - while I caught up the blog. I also did not take so many pictures today, and correspondingly was able to relax a bit more (see, I am learning!). While I and the girls had a nap - a whole hour and a half I think, whoo-hoo - Maritala hit the gym. Yes, the gym. Like she does every day at home - NOT!
TONIGHT IS FORMAL NIGHT - and yes, I did take my tux and my wife has a couple of proper evening dresses and high heels. And we were totally not over-dressed, which was a relief. We also had secreted away in our luggage a Cinderella dress for Kiara and a Belle dress for Gabriella, just for the occasion of the formal night. Tip: buying such costumes at home, at Walmart, or Zellars (they carry official Disney stuff) or even at the Disney store in your home city, can save you significant amounts of money over buying the same thing on the ship, though, in fairness, they ship offers lots of things that I have never seen at home...The girls were very happy with being real princesses this evening and loved the extra attention.
The main show tonight was awesome. The Golden Mickeys was an "awards" show looking back over some of the best musical moments in Disney history. Truly broadway-style shows that you do not expect to find on any other cruise line, the superior entertainment is really a big part of "The Disney Difference".Our meal tonight was followed by some family dancing at the Golden Mickeys after-show party, and then we finished up the night with a much bigger party - the balloon drop in the main atrium. Lots of dancing and music.
We have an early start tomorrow, as we are going to be stopping at our first island, St. Thomas. This is a historic occasion for my wife and I, as our first date was on St. Thomas (no I didn't fly her there for the date... we were both working on a cruise ship at the time...). It was nearly 10 years ago now, and this is first time we have been back to the island since leaving the cruising business. Should be nice...
P.S. I am hoping that at least someone is reading these posts - it would be nice to see some comments if you are there.... anyone?... anyone?...
Anyone can post now as I have switched off the need for you to be a registered member - I didn't realise that I had checked that option. Sorry. Now you can remain anonymous if you prefer...
On to... St Thomas - US Virgin Islands
[Back to... September 18th 2006 - A Special Day at Sea]
posted by Alex at "Let's Take the Kids Travel Agency" | 9:43 PM
9 Comments:
Finally we can reply to your wonderful reporting. What fun it is sailing along with you all. We really feel "THERE" . I have been trying to reply but no luck. Now let's see if this works.
Everyone looks like they are having a fantastic time. You were so smart to take "dress up clothes". Have the children made friends? Do you sit with other families at meals or are you on your own?
This is great fun. I'm fascinated by the Disney Cruise concept anyway, if for no other reason than other popular cruise lines do not seem to be as "family friendly" as Disney (go figure). When we take a family vacation, we take a FAMILY vacation, not a "you-do-your-thing, I'll-do-mine-and-we'll-meet-later" vacation, although we'd want our son to have time in the kids' activities section; that's part of the cruise.
My son is 8 - do the older children seem to have as much fun as the younger ones who still "believe?"
Good on you Mate, Alex!
We here at Baycrest Drive are enjoying your "blogs" immensely. Keep it up. You are great at what you are doing!!!!!
Lots oflove to all of you!
Ruthie
never imangedDisney could be so wonderful both for the children and adults even grand parents.I can sense the whole spirit.
This is wonderful - enjoying following you trip along. Can't wait for my cruise in February.
I am really enjoying your reports about the cruise, they are putting me in the Disney state of mind but I must say that I am soooo jealous. I might have to think about a cruise. Keep the reports coming.
Kristin
Fear not there are people out there reading your posts! We cruise in Feb and are very interested in your experiences. Can we ask what category room you have that has so much storage space and which deck you are on?
Wow! So many comments - how nice! As everyone comes up as anonymous, unless you sign, I'd love to know who you are. Some, I know, thank you, others I may recognise with a couple more hints ...
As a blogging "newbie", I am not sure how to reply to your comments individually, but I'll try to answer the questions posed here in the order in which they appear.
Yes, you really do need some dressed up clothes. That goes for most cruises, but it applies equally to the Disney Cruise. It does make a difference, particularly on "formal" night, and is worth that extra suitcase!
The kids certainly have made some friends in the kids programming, and on-deck in the pools, though we are on a table by ourselves.
Yes, the older kids seem to be having just as much fun. I have limited this blog to the experiences for the younger ones (I just don't have time to report on the whole ship) but the older kids do sports, computers, construction etc as well as specifically Disney stuff. I think there is room for "as a family" time without kids club time detracting from this. I think our experience the first day (where we were determined to do everything as a family, but exhausted ourselves for no reason) show that you can take advantage of both. The last few days, our kids have spent an hour or two in the programs, and the rest of the time with us, and this has worked well.
Thanks Ruthie! We are thinking of you. You should get the postcard we sent you today approximately 2 weeks after we get back!...
Kristin, you would love it. I'll make sure to set some time aside with you to see the pictures when I get back.
We are in a category 9 cabin (the least expensive outside cabin) on the lowest passenger deck (deck 1).
Thank you everyone for your encouragement. I'll be posting every day until the fat lady sings... (in fact I heard her last night in the karaoke bar, but I don't think that counts...
Alex
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