The TCD Gang Sails Again!: A Four Night Disney Dream Trip Report

[GaDawgFan.....Kelly 799]

It would actually be our 2nd cruise. Jason hated the first one. We were on Carnival, and it was Deaf Cruise 2006. We were one of few hearing couples on the boat. The night life was dead, and Jason found it too scheduled. I blame that and the Navy for it taking me this long to get him to do another one.

[Beckers 1,136]

It would actually be our 2nd cruise. Jason hated the first one. We were on Carnival, and it was Deaf Cruise 2006. We were one of few hearing couples on the boat. The night life was dead, and Jason found it too scheduled. I blame that and the Navy for it taking me this long to get him to do another one.

That could really put a damper on it.

[BradyBzLyn...Mo 2,023]

Great job on the Aqua Duck photos and checking off the first items on the LOF!

[Heidi-meetsTCD@TSM 5]

Loving this trip report and it has got me back to thinking about going on a cruise!!! My plan was to wait to read this after I got home from our Disney trip........but I couldn't wait!! My family is sound asleep and I am laying in bed, here at the All Star Music reading away!!! That Aquaduck sure looks like a lot of fun!!!

Heidi

[LONE-STAR 370]

I need to cruise.

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

I don't like the sound of that!  Hoping nothing terrible happened!

 

Not at all.

 

I guess that was bad wording.  I was just trying to say that the fun had just begun.

 

Spoiler Alert:  We had a great cruise.  Maybe the best ever.  But, I've probably said that after every cruise.

 

Good job getting on the screen and playing along for the crowd.

 

 

Is that Undercover Yuri with the camera in the middle of that photo?

 

No way that 70s stache is real, unless that guy is Dominican.

 

Good catch.

 

I didn't notice that guy in the bad disguise at all.  Looks like a wild and crazy guy.  Look how he's checking out those two hot blondes in the wifebeaters.

 

 

You're the captain.  LOL

 

Looking forward to so much more.

 

Yeah.  You know how Hugh Hefner sports a captain's hat with his bathrobe and pipe?  There is something to it, apparently.  I could tell a lot of the ladies were checking me out.  It's a good thing I didn't have a bathrobe or pipe.

 

More like Thurston Howell III.

 

I accept that as a compliment.  You could have said the Skipper.  Thurston was a cool customer.  The only issue I would have living his live would be Lovey.  I'm not sure how much of that I could handle.

 

And if you run out when you get to the next port your can restock, no problem.

 

True.

 

But another bonus of a shorter cruise is that it's easier to plan what to bring.

 

Fourth page bragging rights (the new and improved FPBR).

 

I've got to stop letting my life get in the way of FF Net time.

 

Maybe a cruise is in the future for us soon. I'm enjoying this TR and you haven't even left port yet!

 

Congrats on the FPBR.

 

Thanks for reading and commenting.  We will leave the port in the next update.

 

It would actually be our 2nd cruise. Jason hated the first one. We were on Carnival, and it was Deaf Cruise 2006. We were one of few hearing couples on the boat. The night life was dead, and Jason found it too scheduled. I blame that and the Navy for it taking me this long to get him to do another one.

 

Deaf Cruise?  How did y'all end up on a Deaf Cruise?  We sailed Carnival a few times.  It's fun.  But not Disney fun.  Not even close.

 

Great job on the Aqua Duck photos and checking off the first items on the LOF!

 

Yes, I started strong on the LOF.

 

For a few crazy moments, I thought I could get most of it done on that first day.  But, then I got busy with other stuff.

 

Loving this trip report and it has got me back to thinking about going on a cruise!!! My plan was to wait to read this after I got home from our Disney trip........but I couldn't wait!! My family is sound asleep and I am laying in bed, here at the All Star Music reading away!!! That Aquaduck sure looks like a lot of fun!!!

Heidi

 

Thanks for reading!  But get off the computer and go have fun.  You're at WDW!

 

 

 

I need to cruise.

 

It's getting to be about the right time for your family.

 

From what I've seen DVC folks get treated like royalty on the ships.

 

Did you notice the Member hats some folks were wearing at the sail away?  They have special receptions for DVC members on the cruise, including one on the very first afternoon.  They pass out swag.  And who knows what else goes on?

 

TCD

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

Wow.

 

Here we are on page 5, and the ship had just sailed!

 

For every cruise we've ever been on, we always go to the highest deck on the ship to watch us leave land.

 

That means Deck 13 on the Dream.

 

Up we went.

 

All the way to the front of the ship.

 

I was surprised by how far we had traveled in just the short time it took us to get from Deck 11 to 13.  There's the DCL terminal back there.  Note the seagull flying overhead and the shimmering water of the canal.  The Royal Caribbean ship that was docked next to the Dream had left without fanfare sometime before us.  The empty dock you see closer to us is where that ship had been:

 

 

This shot was taken from the same place, but I'm turned a bit so you can see how few people bother to walk up to this area of the ship to watch the actual sail away.  People are like sheep.  They're all crowded in a little space mid-ship on Deck 12.  Dummies:

 

 

There is something new being built at Port Canaveral.  If construction had started when we were here last July, I hadn't noticed it.  Check it out:

 

 

We had all notice that tower thing when we drove into town.  At the time, I had no idea what it was.  Since returning, I did a little research, and now I know that is a new observation tower that is being built to attract cruise guests to visit before or after their cruises.  Supposedly, it will allow guests to see over the ships when they are docked, and enjoy views of the surrounding areas.  I kind of like it.

 

I am a blessed man:

 

 

Another look at the tower.  According to what I've found on line, construction was supposed to be complete in July.  They are running over a bit.  Also note the restaurant along the water.  We passed several of these, and guests wave and shout out to the ship. Surprisingly, you can hear the guests shouting:

 

 

There are a couple of nice parks located along the canal. This is the first one that we passed, and there are more people waving to us as we cruised by there:

 

 

 

One more look at the tower.  I really like what the architect did here:

 

 

More people waving:

 

 

Looking down the channel, I could see that there was a ship docked.  I wasn't sure what that was all about.  I've never seen a ship docked along the channel like that before.  Out in the Atlantic, just past the crane you see in the foreground, you can see another cruise ship sailing out- that's the Royal Caribbean ship that left just before we did.  And,  if you look along the horizon to the left of that ship in the channel, about half-way, you can see a small white dot.  That's the Carnival ship that had been docked on the other side of us.  We were the last to leave port today:

 

 

I could tell as we approached the ship docked on the side of the channel that it was a Royal Caribbean ship.  I could tell because it has a big circular room with windows around the rear smoke stack.  That's a signature feature on Royal Caribbean ships- the Viking Crown Lounge.  There has been one on every RCCL ship I've sailed on.  It is a great feature.  It gives you an enclosed place to view the ocean from the highest point on the ship.  Disney should steal this idea:

 

 

But what RCCL ship is it, and why is it here?

 

Soon enough, we passed it and I could see that it was the Grandeur of the Seas:

 

 

Look at that weird geodesic dome terminal there.  There is a parking lot beyond it, but very few cars in it.  What is that ship doing here?

 

We could see as we went by that there were a few guests scattered around the verandahs and upper decks:

 

 

 

But, the ship seemed very empty.

 

I had to wait until my return to find out what this was all about.  It turns out that The Grandeur of the Seas is currently sailing out of Baltimore, and one of its itineraries takes guests to Port Canaveral as one of the ports of call.  This ship was docked here for its guests to enjoy Port Canaveral.  If any are so inclined, there are excursions offered including trips to WDW, air boat rides, kayaking, etc.  You can read more about it here:  http://www.royalcaribbean.com/findacruise/destinations/shoreExcursions/subGateWayByPort/search.do?LocationCode=PCN

 

Another point of interest is that the Grandeur of the Seas just recently, like a couple of weeks ago, began to sail again after an on-board fire grounded the ship in May.  I don't remember hearing about this at all. The story of the Carnival ship that lost power in the Gulf eclipsed this story apparently.

 

According to what I've been able to find, the work on the ship was not complete when it resumed sailing in July, and there are construction workers still doing work on it.  Not my idea of a fun cruise.

 

As we continued on our way out of the channel, the last thing we passed was Jetty Park. There's a campground here, so I'm always interested in seeing what I can see.  Here we can see that there is a bus and a group of tents.  I can read the side of the bus if I enlarge my photo, and I can read that this bus belongs to a Boy Scout troop from Pittsburgh:

 

 

 

Imagine that.   A group of young men and their leaders drove all the way from Pennsylvania on that bus and set up camp in that field.  What memories those boys will have!

 

You can see the RV loop behind the field.  It looks like they have a lot of vacancies.

 

There were people waving to us from here too:

 

 

Another look at the RV spaces- it looks almost empty.  I guess folks don't want to camp in this sunny spot in August? :

 

 

There is a new playground there in the middle of the park.  It looks pretty nice:

 

 

The campground is smack-dab next to the beach.  That's a huge plus.  Also, if you look to the right of the paved road in this photo, you can see that they have a few cabins here now:

 

 

Here's something funny.  As I mentioned earlier, we took Twin #1 to Gainesville and moved her into her dorm this past Saturday.  On the way back, heading south on 75, there are several billboards advertising Port Canaveral as a place to visit.  One of the billboards showed these cabins.  I checked out the Jetty Park website, and it looks like these rent for $85 a night.  There is only a half bath and no kitchen in them, but they have AC.  And they are as close to the beach as you can get.  Could be a fun way to spend a night or two before or after a cruise.

 

I assume that this is the jetty from which Jetty Park derives its name:

 

 

You can see those other two cruise ships I mentioned out there in the Atlantic.  We will be there soon.

 

Here are a bunch of folks enjoying a late Sunday afternoon at the beach:

 

 

And, with that, we left the channel and sailed out in to the Atlantic:

 

 

The seas were the smoothest we've ever seen them at a sailaway. 

 

From here, we headed down to our cabins.

 

We had second seating for dinner, which means that we would not be reporting to our assigned dining room until 8:15.  The big show tonight would be the Golden Mickeys, and would be performed at 6:15 for guests with the second dinner seating.

 

The girls wanted to see the show.  Mrs. TCD and I wanted to get everything squared away in our cabin and take it easy.

 

So, the girls got ready and went, and we chilled.

 

A last glimpse of Florida from our porthole:

 

 

After a while, Mrs. TCD wanted to shower and get ready for dinner.

 

I wanted to go back up to the top deck and see what was going on.

 

So, while she showered, I hit the adult pool.

 

I was the only one there.

 

I don't recall ever sitting in the adult hot tub before, so I checked it out.  They have the hot tubs over to the side, with an acrylic wall on the side facing the water, and a window at the bottom.  That is a cool idea on paper, but with the bubbly water, you really can't see out of the side or bottom.  But, I had my underwater camera, so here's a few photos to show you want I saw.

 

The hot tub:

 

 

My foot at the bottom:

 

 

Looking down through the bottom panel.  The foam you see down there is the ocean passing by and that yellow thing is the top of one of the life boats hanging on the side of the ship:

 

 

A look out the side:

 

I thought about getting myself a mojito and sitting in the pool to drink it, but the bar was empty and no one was around.  I imagine there was a bartender somewhere, but it didn't seem like it would be much fun to sit there alone with my drink:

 

 

Mrs. TCD and I had discussed hitting one of the bars at the back of the ship before dinner, so I decided to wait until then for my drink.

 

Next up, we get dressed for dinner, and head out for our first evening on board.

 

TCD

[Grumpy and Grandma 739]

 

 

I am a blessed man:   Yes you are

 

 

 

 

You can see the RV loop behind the field.  It looks like they have a lot of vacancies.  

 

There were people waving to us from here too:  We have ressies for there next March after we leave the FORT, so take another cruise and we'll wave to you too.   :wave1: 

 

 

 

Another look at the RV spaces- it looks almost empty.  I guess folks don't want to camp in this sunny spot in August? :

 

 

There is a new playground there in the middle of the park.  It looks pretty nice:

 

 

The campground is smack-dab next to the beach.  That's a huge plus.  Also, if you look to the right of the paved road in this photo, you can see that they have a few cabins here now:

 

 

 

TCD

[Laura 17]

This shot was taken from the same place, but I'm turned a bit so you can see how few people bother to walk up to this area of the ship to watch the actual sail away.  People are like sheep.  They're all crowded in a little space mid-ship on Deck 12.  Dummies:

 

 

I am still laughing at that comment! I LOVE your trip reports, and it is a uplifting distraction during a hard week for me. THANKS! 

Laura

[alexwyattmommy 181]

Love the photos.  It is the best second hand cruise ever.

 

All your girls are lovely.  You are indeed a lucky man.

[DaveInTN 3,247]

I am a blessed man:

 

 

 

 

You have finally said something we can all agree on.  Beautiful family, Andrew! 

 

I also forgot to mention that we watched your sail away on the webcam that Sunday.  I never should have done that, though, as it made my girls very interested in another cruise.  I quickly changed the subject.  Squirrel! 

[Hotmamac aka Misty 11]

Well, I'm late and have zero bragging rights, but I'm loving the report!! I'm making our plans for a cruise next year. Gotta get it in before my son turns 13 so he can go to the cool kids clubs. 

 

Have to say, you look adorable in your captain's hat! 

[AC in A2......Aaron 693]

815 dinner? I would definitely need more room service before that.

You are indeed blessed.

I feel a neon ice cube drink coming before dinner.

[Momof6....aka Marty 769]

Thank you for sharing your trip with us.  I am hoping the TCD girls do very well in school, yet still find time to go on trips with you in the coming months and years, so we can continue to have great TCD reports!

[GaDawgFan.....Kelly 799]

Don't you love underwater cameras. They're very handy. Loving the trip so far. Looks like you'll own the LOF. I'm showing Jason your pics. :)

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

 

 

  We have ressies for there next March after we leave the FORT, so take another cruise and we'll wave to you too.   :wave1: 

 

 

Cool!  I never thought I would like to stay there- it looks like there isn't enough shade.  But, March sounds really nice.  And, I'll bet the sea breeze makes it comfortable.

 

 

 

I am still laughing at that comment! I LOVE your trip reports, and it is a uplifting distraction during a hard week for me. THANKS! 

Laura

 

 

Thanks.  I truly appreciate comments like that.

 

Love the photos.  It is the best second hand cruise ever.

 

All your girls are lovely.  You are indeed a lucky man.

 

Thanks.  Keep reading. We are just getting started.  Literally.

 

You have finally said something we can all agree on.  Beautiful family, Andrew! 

 

I also forgot to mention that we watched your sail away on the webcam that Sunday.  I never should have done that, though, as it made my girls very interested in another cruise.  I quickly changed the subject.  Squirrel! 

 

Thank you, Dave.

 

As fathers of only daughters, we share some kind of special bond.  I'm not sure exactly what, but we do.

 

If you had looked, you would have seen us up there on Deck 13 on the webcam.

 

I hope that somehow, someway, there will be another cruise for your family.

 

 

Well, I'm late and have zero bragging rights, but I'm loving the report!! I'm making our plans for a cruise next year. Gotta get it in before my son turns 13 so he can go to the cool kids clubs. 

 

Have to say, you look adorable in your captain's hat! 

 

What do you mean, zero?

 

You get Fifth Page Bragging Rights (FPBR)!  When you abbreviate it, it looks just like First Page Bragging Rights.

 

See what I mean about that captain's hat? The chicks dig it.  That is the secret to how that old mummy got those girls next door.

 

815 dinner? I would definitely need more room service before that.

You are indeed blessed.

I feel a neon ice cube drink coming before dinner.

 

That's the beauty of the late seating.  Those 4 pm chicken wings and the Mickey Bar held me over, but I could have had some more room service if necessary.

 

You are right on about that neon ice cube.  Very good. Stand by.

 

Thank you for sharing your trip with us.  I am hoping the TCD girls do very well in school, yet still find time to go on trips with you in the coming months and years, so we can continue to have great TCD reports!

 

Well, I'm trying.

 

There will be some football weekends.

 

And, I am hoping for a trip of some nature centered around my birthday in late September.

 

And, at least the twins are in the state.  Their passes are still active.  You never know when we might squeeze in a day trip.

 

There could be one really soon, if the stars align properly.

 

Really soon.

 

Don't you love underwater cameras. They're very handy. Loving the trip so far. Looks like you'll own the LOF. I'm showing Jason your pics. :)

 

I'm not sure if anyone will remember, but my underwater camera broke on Castaway Cay last year, and I missed a bunch of photos I intended to take.

 

I bought a new one for this trip- a cheap Kodak one since I've had such bad luck with these cameras.  It got the job done.

 

There are some cool snorkeling photos coming up.  Does Jason have any interest in that?

 

TCD

[DaveInTN 3,247]

 

If you had looked, you would have seen us up there on Deck 13 on the webcam.

 

 

That was my problem.  I was trying to spot you guys in the mass of humanity that was deck 12....and never thought about looking at the quiet areas.  Should have known. 

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

That was my problem.  I was trying to spot you guys in the mass of humanity that was deck 12....and never thought about looking at the quiet areas.  Should have known. 

 

Next time I'll get a giant DIT head on a stick or something and wave it at the camera!

 

TCD

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

I'll just come out and say it that there is a bit of a fail on the Sunday night photos.

 

This update will be a little on the light side.

 

I'll explain why as we go along.

 

We left off with Mrs. TCD and I planning to hit one of the bars in the adult area before dinner.  Our oldest DD decided to tag along.  She's 22, so she can drink too.  Thankfully, she hardly drinks at all.  That's comforting since she lives out of state now. 

 

We walked past the atrium on our way to the back of the ship.  They had a live duo booked on this cruise to provide music in the atrium before dinner. They also performed up by the adult pool one afternoon, and probably in some of the bars, too.  I don't recall there being live music like this on our last cruise, so that was a nice touch.  Here we see the lady of the singing duo leading the crowd in a conga line:

 

 

Also worth noting in that photo is the grown woman wearing the Snow White dress.  Why?  If you are an adult, and it's not Halloween, do not wear your Snow White dress out in public.  Thank you.  On second thought, even if it's Halloween, don't wear that dress out in public.

 

Here we are in the Skyline lounge- a place we enjoyed very much on our last cruise.  I can't resist getting a light-up drink here, but I made the mistake of getting one with a pink ice cube last time.  I chose my drink carefully based on the ice cube color, and ended up with a nice, manly, blue drink:

 

 

While the adults were boozing it up, the twins were roaming the ship.  They went up top to watch the sunset, and these are Twin #1's photos:

 

 

 

 

 

 

I like this one a lot.  You can see the water flowing through the Aqua Duck, and see that they have the lights turned on for the night:

 

 

We all met up at the Enchanted Garden restaurant for dinner.

 

And we got a little surprise.

 

We had tablemates.

 

That was a first for us.

 

On our previous DCL cruises, we had ended up with our own table.

 

For this cruise, we had a table for 8, and a family of 3 joined us.   It was a mom and two teens.  A girl, who we found out was about to enter her senior year of high school, and a boy who was attending University.  Disney did a good job of trying to match the kids.  But, it was still a little awkward.  Our table was a rectangle, so I sat near the three table mates, and the rest of the TCD gang sat at the other end of the table.  With the noise in the dining room, we really couldn't converse as a table, so that was kind of awkward too.  But, it all ended up being fine.  They were from Toronto.  Eh.  Canadians.  They pretended to be impressed that we were from Dunedin, Florida, which is where the Toronto Blue Jays come for spring training, but none of them were baseball fans, and only the mom knew that.  We were able to discuss the differences between Canadian and US schools and colleges.  And, this was their first Disney Cruise.  Although, they had traveled extensively to other places.

 

Having table mates cramped my style a bit.  They didn't have a camera, so I felt weird taking mine out to take photos of all my food.

 

Luckily, Twin #1 was at the other end of the table and got the job done.  She got a couple of shots of the appetizers, at least.

 

This is the lobster ravioli:

 

 

And this is some mushrooms in a puff pastry (it had a fancy name) :

 

 

Sorry, but that is all I have for food photos from the first night.

 

There will be more later, though, so don't loose hope if food photos are important to you.

 

On the way out, I posed behind the fancy gate.  I thought this would be a funny photo.  Remember, I had several beers and a blue drink, so my judgment was a bit impaired:

 

 

It was a bit after 10 by the time we finished dinner.

 

Time to rush back to the room and up to the Aqua Duck, which is what we did.

 

Here's our towel animal and Navigator for the night:

 

 

I believe that's a frog.

 

We received our chocolate too:

 

 

We made it up to the Aqua Duck at about 10:45.  Perfect.  An hour and 15 minutes until it closed at midnight.

 

WRONG!

 

We were shocked to learn that the AD now closes at 11.

 

What a gyp!

 

Last year it was midnight.

 

The pool closed at midnight still, but the AD now closes at 11.

 

So, we each got one ride.

 

Boo!

 

We got to enjoy the pool

 

And, they were playing Tarzan on the Funnel Vision.  Which is a pretty good movie, actually.

 

Then it was back to the cabins.

 

And time for room service.

 

I got a steak sandwich.

 

Which is served with steak fries.

 

For free.

 

And that is the end of our first day.

 

The good news is that there are three more to go.

 

And, two of them are very full days.

 

So sorry about the lack of photos from night one, but I'll make it up to you.

 

TCD

[shoreline99 137]

Wow, what a trip so far. Some day we're going to try one of these cruises - they sail out of NYC sometimes and I'd love to experience it.

[h2odivers...Ray 952]

Great first day. Or half of your first day. I'm looking into a Disney cruise for thanksgiving or Christmas. Thanks. This TR might cost me a small fortune.

[h2odivers...Ray 952]

I wrote my last comment last night but didn't hit post. Oops!!

Im really enjoying the pix. Thanks for taking us along n

[AC in A2......Aaron 693]

Steak sandwich and steak fries......now youre talking my language!!!

Nice job getting a blue neon cube this time.

Are those things re-usable. I think i may have asked you that before but i forgot the answer if so.

Nice sunset pics by the twins.

As always, looking forward to more sir!

[Hotmamac aka Misty 11]

Your towel animal that night looks like a butt. 

 

(I am giggling myself silly right now...I guess I know where my kids' love of potty humor comes from)

[GaDawgFan.....Kelly 799]

I've had good luck with the Canon underwater camera. Z dropped mine several times, but they are shock proof and nothing happened to it. I liked it so much that after several years of having it, I recently bought the new model. Z is trying to be on good behavior and earn my old one. He loves taking pictures.

 

Jason does like snorkeling, so I'll make sure I show him those pictures when they come!

 

Looks like a great first night!