We4mickey

Great start Lorna. Can't wait to see the rest.

Great pics Carol. You got many more than I did.

It is pirate night on the ship. I think there were people who brought suitcases full of costumes for tonight.

I believe it was enchanted garden we were at for dinner tonight.

crab cake

some shrimp couscous thing

conch chowder

jerk chicken salad

macadamia nut mahi mahi

prime rib

fruit cobbler

George couldn't decide so he got both the chocolate rum cake and

the rum raisin sundae

Unfortunately, our last day at sea, I did not feel well. No, I was not sea sick, I think it was just too much rich food. I was in our room most of the day. So that is all I have for pics of our daily goings on. Here are some miscellaneous pics from the cruise.

Scott and Patti

So tomorrow we get off the ship. Sorry no pics of that. We were up at 6am to get our stuff together as we had to be off the ship by 8:30am. We had breakfast with the gang one last time and then it was goodbyes. Most of us were going to WDW, but staying at different resorts. We are off to Port Orleans Riverside.

Castaway Cay, we didn't know if we would make it to this stop. The hurricane the previous week and done some damage and they had to dredge the canal so the ship could get back in. You can see in these pics how the water must have pushed the rocks back away from where they were supposed to be.

You can see how brown everything is from the salt water.

There is a piece missing from the catwalk and they had to use a boat to get out to the end.

We took the tram over to serenity bay, the adult beach area. HEAVEN, that is all I can say!

and who is this? It looks like Scott aka BigDisneyDaddy lounging in the sun!

We also saw this guy both on the island and on the ship.

We had the package for snorkeling, biking and floats. We never got the bikes because it was too hot. We did get the snorkeling stuff, but the area that they have you swim in was so stirred up by everyone swimming you couldn't see anything. I wish we had known that we could take the snorkeling stuff to serenity bay, the water was really clear there.

We saw people going out to parasail all day long.

Before you knew it, it was time to go.

They had a ventriloquist tonight for the show. He was quite amusing.

Today is Nassau day. We did not plan any excursions. We decided we would just walk around a bit and then spend the day on the ship.

You can see the large tented area that was the strawmarket. Now they have pop up canopies all down the waterfront. They have done nothing to clean up the that was damaged by the hurricane. Kind of sad, you saw product just sitting there.

We did see Carol walking to her excursion as we were departing the ship

We didn't stay in Nassau long. It was HOT!!! We walked through the strawmarket area. There was an aisle about 2 feet wide, some spots not even that. I will say it didn't impress me. We walked down to Senor Frogs to buy our boys some t-shirts. They would much better have a t-shirt about drinking than Mickey Mouse, lol.

We did walk into a few shops as well, but really didn't see anything worth buying. So we headed back to the ship.

We put our swimming suits on and headed to deck 10. I have got to say the adult pool area is fantastic. I swear we took pics of this area, but I cannot find them on the camera. The pool consists of a mickey shape, the center being about 5 1/2 feet deep. Each ear is different. One is shallow with just a few inches of water to sit or lay in and the other has benches all the way around it to sit in water about chest deep. There is also a bar in this area and nice cushioned chairs. The hot tub butts up to the glass outside wall, so that one side is all open to look out. There is also a rectangular glass bottom in it. You can see all the way down to the ocean. Yikes! My husband said what do you think would happen if that broke? Can you say, Shark Bait?

They also had some of these panels along the side of the ship so you could look all the way down. Now I swore I wasn't going to ride on the Aquaduck, but once I saw it up close, I decided I would give it a try. I told my husband I would only do it when we weren't moving however. Today was the day!

I have got to say I am glad I did it. It was really fun! We had lunch in Cabanas and watched the crew do lifeboat drills. They took turns driving the boat to where it hooked up to the lifts. It was very interesting to watch. We also watched the people running to the Carnival ship as it was getting ready to leave. That was funny!!! Time to get cleaned up and go to tonights show. Villians, was fantastic. In the future if DH can figure it out, I will post the video of this show. We also have Animators Palate for dinner tonight. I love this restaurant. I think it is my favorite.

Tenderloin

shrimp parmesan pasta

chocolate cheesecake

I can't find the pic of my dessert. I must have eaten it and then thought about the pic, lol. It was a double chocolate cake with ice cream. However, it was our celebration night. Our servers celebrated everything that everyone had going on in one night.

Tomorrow it is Castaway Cay day!

LOL, Scott and I have more!

It was great to meet you guys! We had a blast too! Great trip report. We went back to the fort several times during our stay before and after the cruise. Just can't keep us away!

Well it is time. We can finally go to our room. Now I hate to burst the expectations that have been shown already, but we had just your ordinary verandah room. No large invite all the neighbors over for a party verandah. Just 2 chairs and a table, lol. We did however, love our room. It was on the 6th level, midship. We were close to everything. A short walk to either end, up or down and we were where we wanted to be.

Sorry this first one is kind of dark. It was so bright in the room.

From the verandah looking in

A split bathroom, shower and sink in one and commode and sink in the other.

Off the verandah

Just a quick jump and we are good to go in the lifeboat, lol.

A casino boat in the port area

We had the same basics as everyone else. Two closets, one safe, a desk area and couch that folded down, should we have wanted it. I must say, it is my goal to find out what kind of mattress they had on that bed. It really was a dream!!! It was like sleeping on a pillow. Our room steward came in and made the bed in the morning and brought us ice. He would then come back later in the day, turn the bed down and leave more ice. He also left us towel animals along with the navigator for the next days activities.... and chocolate. A man after my own heart. His name was Nomann or something similar and everything was Miss Lynn and Mr George. He was the nicest guy.

We got all settled in and it was time for the sail away. We all headed to Carol and Ricks Party patio! Here again I must apologize because I was so excited about the whole thing. I didn't take a single picture. I'm sure though you have probably seen enough. I must say we really looked like a bunch of goofs in the video. If you would have been on our side of the camera you would know we were waving at all the people waving at us. Then, we had to wave to the webcam and hope that we were getting on the camera. Then all of a sudden we were coming up to Jetty park and there it was "Bon Voyage Fort Fiends" on a huge sign. How exciting is that!!!

We watched the water and saw fish (go figure) and jelly fish, lots of them. Then it was time to wander and go see the show. Golden Mickeys was the first show and of course we were late. I didn't know if George would sit through it, but he loved it. He took a couple pictures, but the shows the next few nights he took video of. He really enjoyed them. He isn't normally a show kind of guy.

We walked around a bit and hit the shops. I must say I was dissappointed in the merchandise. I thought they would have some I have got to have that cruiseline stuff. I actually had a hard time finding something for my grandsons. By this time you could feel the boat rolling around a bit. The castmember in the store said it is always that way the first and last night. Something about a current that we have to cross. After the show it was time to get ready for dinner. We once again did not take pics of the food. Too much going on but, I'm sure someone else will have them. I know I had a spinach souffle, and a salad with many types of greens. The main course for me was Salmon, George had Boar. He said it was delicious. Unfortunately for me by this time the boat was rolling a bit too much. I went back to the room to lay down and George enjoyed my salmon. It did taste very good, but just wasn't working for me that night. I was upset because I really wanted to see the match you mate show and it was the only night they had it. Tomorrow we hit Nassau....

Funny you should talk about this. The day we were at Nassau George and I sat in Cabanas watching the people run to the Carnival boat. I must say it was quite amusing!

Well, we have finally arrived and walked onto the ship. So much to take in. We cannot get into our rooms yet, so I guess wandering around the ship and lunch are in order.

These are in the center of the ship looking down from deck 3 or 4.

Deck 4 shuffle board and running and lounging.

Looks comfy, doesn't it?

Lots of things to look at.

Cabanas for lunch.This is the back of the ship, deck 10. I guess I was just overwhelmed with everything. I totally forgot to take pics of the food and there was a lot of it!

Checked out the nightlife areas with nobody there. We never made it when there were actually people in them, lol.

Woot, woot! A sports bar, yeah, I can watch the Green Bay Packer game on Sunday! Guess who forgot there was a game on?

Photobucket is giving me issues. More to follow....

We stayed at the Sheraton Four Points for the night at the port. I must say, this was a very different set up for a hotel. More than half of the building was the Cocoa Beach surf shop, with a small restaurant/bar and a Starbucks in it. We got checked in and had to do the double check of our baggage to make sure everything we needed to board the Dream was ready. These pics were from the parking structure where we left our car for the cruise.

We headed down to the lobby to wait for Carol and Rick and their friends. We are taking the shuttle over to the cruiseline terminal together. Oh the anticipation is building, everyone is so excited. Our shuttle arrives and we are off to the port.

Oviously, Carol, Rick, David and Buff were sitting across from us in the shuttle. They are going to be common denomonators in a lot of these pics, lol. Our first looks at the ship we will call home for the next four nights.

The terminal, where we have to do all of our checking in.

We are here and it is finally time to get our stuff together and move it to the ship.

Carol and her gang getting their pic taken.

In the terminal they have a mock up of the ship and it's many floors.

We are getting closer now. We get to walk through the ears!

Just a few people ahead of us, lol. It really took just a few minutes to get through here. The end of this line is where they take your pic and then it is onto the ship!

As we walk between the terminal and the ship.

Up next: We are actually on the ship!

After we were stuffed full, we continued on with our resort tour.

I can't tell you how many of these pics we have. We take the same pics every time we walk through. We did go to the Grand Floridian as well, but no pics from there. This is usually a tour we take the first night we are at the fort. Ride the monorail to all the resorts and check out the shops and usually find some kind of dessert to have at one of the restaurants.

We head back to the Fort to relax and check out the shops. We have a big night ahead of us. We are meeting new fiends.

Always have to take the time to sit in the rocking chairs and people watch. We then decided it was time to head over to Lisa's. We walked over through the 100 loop and find GrumpyandGrandma's RV. I knocked on the door and they were home! Super people who we would be seeing a lot over the next few days as they were also going on the cruise. We visited for a while and then headed over to Lisa's. I have to apologize in advance because we met a lot of new fiends on this particular evening. I did not take one single picture. I was too busy chatting with Donnie and Angie and their girls. I do know there was plenty of food and everyone was having a great time. We live in Wisconsin and had to drive all the way to Florida to meet fellow fiends from Michigan, Minnesota and Ohio, go figure! We had to leave early as we still had to make the drive over to the port for the night. Tomorrow we get onto the DREAM!

Well here we go. As I stated earlier we stayed at All Star Sports on Friday night. It was quiet early in the evening, but as the night progressed all the soccer teams were coming back. These rooms are not very soundproof. Over night is okay, but I wouldn't stay longer. I am used to the quiet of the Fort. When we got up in the morning we had the day to run around before meeting up with fiends at the Fort. We went to the fort and dropped off our contribution for the evening meet with Lisa and Bruce and then went exploring for the day.

Then headed over to the Poly for some lunch.

Sorry no pics, I thought we had taken some of our lunch, but I can't seem to find them. We had the bacon cheeseburger and the pulled pork sandwich. I liked the pulled pork, George didn't. Of course, we had Dole whips for dessert.

Everytime I see a new picture of Anna my heart melts again. That little girl has blossomed into a beautiful rose. She is thriving with a family that is surely loving her with all they have got. Her face shows every bit of it!

Tomorrow is the big day!!! Can't wait!!!

Sorry, but this first part is no pics. George had hurt his leg and we got a little earlier start than what we planned. I didn't know how the drive was gonna go, but the pain pills have helped a lot and he is doing better already.

We left Wisconsin around 10 am on Thursday. I have some observations from our trip down.

1.I hate to drive through Chicago. Usually when we drive down we have the trailer and take a different route that is a little longer, but much less stressful. Did I say I hate Chicago traffic?

2. It is totally okay to cut people off. It makes no difference if they are driving carefully as to not get in an accident. By all means take your chances, you might get there a car or two ahead of me.

3. The state of Indiana is very dry. We saw many water areas that were way down. Indiana if also a very boring state. It has been a while since we have gone this way.

4. I love Kentucky,all the horse farms. Beautiful country, especially after boring Indiana.

5.Usually like to see the mountains through Tennessee, but it was dark when we went through. Just in case you weren't aware, they sell fireworks. The signs are hard to see, but they are there.

6.Georgia has a lot of cops! We went through an area that had them everywhere. On the ramps, overpasses and pulled off with people going in both directions. (No, we were not one of them!)

7.The Florida welcome center always puts a smile on my face. It doesn't matter when we go through. We have to stop and have an orange juice. We know we are almost home.

8.Just so everyone knows, the speed limit signs are there just for decoration. It is totally fine to weave in and out of traffic doing 100 mph. Everyone will happily get out of your way!

We stayed overnight in southern Tennessee and hit the road at 4am again Friday. We arrived at the world just before 2. We didn't really know when we would get here so didn't have ressies anywhere for tonight. We have ended up at All Star Sports. It will do for an overnight. There are a lot of kids here. I guess there is some soccer thing going on. We went to downtown disney tonight for dinner. Stopped at Wolfgang pucks to eat. Sorry no pics, but George had the roasted chicken and I had the meatloaf. Both were very good! Did a little shopping and George was worn out. He has taken his pill and is out for the night. Can't wait for tomorrow to meet some new fiends!

We don't have purple shirts. So we are at Carols or Melissa's?

Well, this is just great. George just came home from work. He pulled or tore a tendon in his leg. This is gonna put a damper on things. Looks like I will be doing most of the driving and packing.

On the other hand, great news that we will be able to go to Castaway Cay.

You can count us in too. I haven't even had a chance to print off the stuff for our door yet. Time is flying by now and too many last minute things coming up.

Holy S**t Lou, you are right I just looked. They must of had a lot of people cancel with the storms. The boat had been full. Hey Jen, maybe you will get upgraded yet if they have all these rooms available now.

OMG Lou are you kidding me? I want a refund. Seriously, when we booked this there was nothing as far as discounts for CM's. Book it Lou, you know you want to....

Crossing fingers! I was looking forward to Castaway Cay more than Nassau.

What will you be doing a week from today? I can't wait!!!!!

Happy to hear you made it okay. Now sit back and enjoy the Fort while the rest of us wait until it's our turn to go.

The Dream went to Nassau today, but they are not going to Castaway Cay tomorrow. Hoping we will be able to go there.