WannaBeImagineer 98 Posted June 8, 2015 Report Share Posted June 8, 2015 Yup we did it! After wanting to for years we finally went on our first Disney Cruise. I know there are a ton of good trip reports I need to get caught up on but I wanted to get this one started while it's still fresh in my mind. We’ve been on other cruise lines and loved them so we weren’t sure if DCL would live up to the hype. For those of you that don’t know, there’s me aka WBI, my wife, aka CP (camping princess), and our son, W, who is now 18 months old. We’ve never cruised with W before and honestly he is the main reason we chose to spend the extra money for DCL. After tracking rates for months, we finally booked a VGT category, that’s a last minute balcony guarantee cabin, on the Disney Fantasy for 7 nights with a Western Caribbean itinerary. This is a good time to point out that this is the first time I ever bought travel insurance, lol. With the amount of money this cruise cost, and the fact that VGT requires it to be paid in full at booking I just felt safer buying insurance this time. I did use a third party insurance provider though to save some money. Here’s our itinerary: Since we booked VGT we didn’t get to pick our cabin but I’ll show you how that worked out for us shortly. For future VGT shoppers the cruise popped up as a VGT 65 days before the sail date and that rate ended up being available for a couple weeks I think. Then it disappeared and then reappeared at half the cost for the Military rate. Let’s get to the trip report. Since we are traveling with our 18 month old son, we decided to drive over instead of fly, because W is getting to that age where he’s harder to fly with. We left on Thursday after work around 6pm and took turns driving through the night. It was rough, I didn’t really sleep when it was my turn so I was tired we tried to pull over and sleep a couple times but when we stopped W woke up, so no luck. We made it to Gainesville around 6am and had breakfast at the Waffle House. We hadn’t been to one in over 5 years but we used to be fans. Not so much anymore. Next we hit Publix to buy a Sunpass then we headed over to our friend’s house to visit some friends and see the new baby. After a good visit we hit the road. Initially we had planned to stop at Disney World but since we were worn out we headed straight to Cape Canaveral. Along the way I realized that E-pass won’t work with the Sunpass until 24hrs after you purchase the Sunpass, so I guess I’ll be getting something in the mail from E-pass telling me I didn’t pay tolls, whoops. Anyway we got to Port Canaveral around 11am and headed straight to lunch somewhere on the water. We ended up at Rusty’s Seafood. I had a grouper sandwich which was really good, they had a special Cole slaw that was great on top. Here's W at lunch, he loved eating outside watching everything and running around. That's the Dream in the background. After lunch we headed to our hotel for the night, the Radisson. I booked this the day before and got a great rate, I think $117 for the night. The hotel looks older but its improved in some places and was a good deal for pre-cruise. Other must agree with that because I think it was 100% cruise people there. Our room: We quickly got changed and hit the pool where I got to try out the new waterproof camera.I went with the Nikon Coolpix S33 and it worked great throughout the cruise, I highly recommend it. I got it for $129 and it came with a free floating strap, from Crutchfield.com (amazon was out of stock). W and CP like to play and point saying you you you so if you see him pointing at the camera that's what's going on, it makes him laugh every time. Posing: Pool entrance: A travel agent lady volunteered to take our picture: W loved the waterfall. This was W's first time with the life jacket, he's still too small for it really but he had a blast in it. After swimming for a while, we got ready for dinner and headed to Fishlips so we could watch the cruise ships head out. We ordered a few apps and drinks and soon enough the Dream came by. After dinner, we tried to cruise down to Cocoa Beach but traffic was bad so we didn’t go far, we did stop at beach store and looked at all the junk but didn’t buy anything. Then we hit up McDonalds for an ice cream and to let W run around, hoping he would get tired. At this point I was dead tired but he wasn’t, lol. We got back to the room around 6pm and I was passed out shortly after, evidently W and CP stayed up for a while and even went and heard live music by the pool. All I remember is a little boy crawling over me every once in a while. Next up embarkation day. WBI BradyBzLyn...Mo 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
dblr....Rennie 224 Posted June 8, 2015 Report Share Posted June 8, 2015 WOW I'm in and first!!!!! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Grumpy and Grandma 739 Posted June 8, 2015 Report Share Posted June 8, 2015 I'm here, wasn't it fun, fun, fun and more fun? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Littleolwoman.aka.Kristie 119 Posted June 8, 2015 Report Share Posted June 8, 2015 Hey third not bad! Sail on. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Katman1356...Jason 1,140 Posted June 8, 2015 Report Share Posted June 8, 2015 Count me in too. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
momof3kids-Yvonne 594 Posted June 8, 2015 Report Share Posted June 8, 2015 I'm in! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
CCIntrigue...aka Gwen 547 Posted June 8, 2015 Report Share Posted June 8, 2015 I'm in. What a great pre-cruise day! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
mouseketab.....Carol 1,261 Posted June 8, 2015 Report Share Posted June 8, 2015 Ooooh, cruise report :) I'm in :) Quote Link to post Share on other sites
BradyBzLyn...Mo 2,023 Posted June 8, 2015 Report Share Posted June 8, 2015 Off to a great start and W looks rarin' for a good time! :) Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Family of Bears 98 Posted June 8, 2015 Report Share Posted June 8, 2015 Gosh. I'm exhausted just reading about it. And that says a lot. I haven't slept in about 10 months. Good work CP letting you crash and taking care of W. That's teamwork at its finest. Can't wait to hear about the cruise. With a baby. You guys are rock stars. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Tri-Circle-D 2,059 Posted June 8, 2015 Report Share Posted June 8, 2015 In! Awesome start. Can't wait to hear the rest. You have already visited some of my favorite places like the Waffle House in Gainesville and the McDonalds by the port. TCD Quote Link to post Share on other sites
DaveInTN 3,247 Posted June 8, 2015 Report Share Posted June 8, 2015 Looking forward to reading this, in particular what you did on Grand Cayman. Our DCL cruise in December is stopping there. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Memphis 105 Posted June 8, 2015 Report Share Posted June 8, 2015 I'm in. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
dvccamper 32 Posted June 9, 2015 Report Share Posted June 9, 2015 W is sooooo cute!! Cant wait to read about how your cruise went with an eighteen month old! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Beckers 1,136 Posted June 9, 2015 Report Share Posted June 9, 2015 I'm in!!! Looking forward to your report!Puddle jumpers are fantastic life jackets but not until they are about 2.5. My son used his until he got to heavy for it. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Seals 111 Posted June 9, 2015 Report Share Posted June 9, 2015 Looking forward to your report. 18 months is such a fun age. I bet you had a blast. That looks like a good itinerary and one I'd want to do for Western Carribean. I've been on the Wonder and the Dream so looking forward to comparing to the Fantasy. The only time I've bought trip insurance was for a cruise. To me it was worth it for not worrying that everything was going to prevent us from going. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
caveat lector 181 Posted June 9, 2015 Report Share Posted June 9, 2015 The pic of your boy at the restaurant, with all the big ships in the background is a keeper. Just a very cool perspective! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
twiceblessed....nacole 433 Posted June 9, 2015 Report Share Posted June 9, 2015 I'm in! I am determined to NEVER get on a cruise ship HOWEVER.... IF I ever do, it will be a Disney ship :) Looking forward to hearing about your trip! Looks like a great start thus far :) Quote Link to post Share on other sites
brittthomas 1 Posted June 9, 2015 Report Share Posted June 9, 2015 In for details. The wife and I have really been kicking around the idea of going on a Disney cruise with the kids. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
jmaul 65 Posted June 9, 2015 Report Share Posted June 9, 2015 Last on Page 1. W's getting big. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
BeckersDadJohn 44 Posted June 9, 2015 Report Share Posted June 9, 2015 In. First on page 2. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
WannaBeImagineer 98 Posted June 9, 2015 Author Report Share Posted June 9, 2015 Time for another update, but first the comments. WOW I'm in and first!!!!! Congrats on the FPBR! Thanks for reading along. I'm here, wasn't it fun, fun, fun and more fun? Thanks for joining! Yes it was tons of fun, different than our past cruises but lots of fun! Hey third not bad! Sail on. Not bad at all! Count me in too. Got ya! I'm in! Sweet! I'm in. What a great pre-cruise day! It was a pretty good day! Ooooh, cruise report :) I'm in :) Thanks for reading! Off to a great start and W looks rarin' for a good time! :) Thanks and yes W was ready for some fun! Gosh. I'm exhausted just reading about it. And that says a lot. I haven't slept in about 10 months. Good work CP letting you crash and taking care of W. That's teamwork at its finest.Can't wait to hear about the cruise. With a baby. You guys are rock stars. haha the drive was very exhausting, not as bad as 10 months of no sleep though! We are very good about team work with W, we like to let each other do things we enjoy and the cruise was perfect for that! I don't know about rock stars, the cruise with W was easy, except for meals those are a lot of work and not too relaxing. In! Awesome start. Can't wait to hear the rest.You have already visited some of my favorite places like the Waffle House in Gainesville and the McDonalds by the port.TCD Thanks TCD, I've got more coming! haha those are some good favorite places! WBI Quote Link to post Share on other sites
WannaBeImagineer 98 Posted June 9, 2015 Author Report Share Posted June 9, 2015 Ok one more batch of comments and then an update. Looking forward to reading this, in particular what you did on Grand Cayman. Our DCL cruise in December is stopping there. Thanks Dave, but we aren't going to be much help in Grand Cayman, spoiler alert, it rained there, like monsoon type rain, plus with W we couldn't do much. But based on a previous trip I recommened the sting ray city & snorkel excursion. I'm in. Great! W is sooooo cute!! Cant wait to read about how your cruise went with an eighteen month old! Thank you! I'll tell you all about it, the good and the not so much. I'm in!!! Looking forward to your report!Puddle jumpers are fantastic life jackets but not until they are about 2.5. My son used his until he got to heavy for it. Thanks for reading! Yeah the Puddle Jumpers is for 30lbs and up so really W is 5lbs too light, but we only use it while playing with him not as a real life jacket yet. Looking forward to your report. 18 months is such a fun age. I bet you had a blast. That looks like a good itinerary and one I'd want to do for Western Carribean. I've been on the Wonder and the Dream so looking forward to comparing to the Fantasy. The only time I've bought trip insurance was for a cruise. To me it was worth it for not worrying that everything was going to prevent us from going. Thanks! We did have a blast and so did W! I have to be honest the Eastern Carribean appeals to me more, but maybe its because this was our second Western. I'll show you tons of pics of the Fantasy. I'm curious about the Wonder now, its going to be in Galveston this winter so we might try it out but we are worried since it hasn't been updated yet like the Magic has. I agree on the Travel Insurance, this was my first time but it gave me ease of mind. The pic of your boy at the restaurant, with all the big ships in the background is a keeper. Just a very cool perspective! Thanks! It is a pretty good cell phone pic! I'm in! I am determined to NEVER get on a cruise ship HOWEVER.... IF I ever do, it will be a Disney ship :) Looking forward to hearing about your trip! Looks like a great start thus far :) haha I can't believe that, we are huge cruise fans and would go more if we could. In for details. The wife and I have really been kicking around the idea of going on a Disney cruise with the kids. Great, I'll tell you all my thoughts on it! Last on Page 1. W's getting big. Welcome! Yes he is. In. First on page 2. Welcome! WBI Quote Link to post Share on other sites
twiceblessed....nacole 433 Posted June 9, 2015 Report Share Posted June 9, 2015 Ummm.... next update?? How am I suppose to fall in-love with a Disney cruise, if you don't give me any information!? :waiting2-smiley: :) Quote Link to post Share on other sites
CCIntrigue...aka Gwen 547 Posted June 9, 2015 Report Share Posted June 9, 2015 Looking forward to an update! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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