Dreaming Away plus Kennedy - the Lurker returns

[DaveInTN 3,247]

I love it! :rofl2:

[Nicki aka Rebelstand 272]

The big challenge for Danielle is, again, that GF is not modest. She'll change clothes in her room whether Danielle was in there or not. It is, of course, GF's stateroom. However, to a 16 year old, seeing your grandmother strip down and change into a bathing suit can be a scarring experience. Again, though, they rarely were awake in the room at the same time, so thankfully everyone survived the experience.

trust me there are worse things.... but yeah, it can be scarring for life.

[lklasing 16]

After assuring our servers that everything really was fine, service was fine, food was fine, Ray, Tiger and I did what we had been looking forward to and hit the District. We started out at 687 while Tiger was with us as he cared about some baseball game that we didn’t care at all about, but it was a fun spot.

Tiger bailed around that time, so Ray and I bar hopped over to Pink and then Skyline. We loved them both, but especially loved Pink:

.

That night, we figured out one of the things that we enjoyed most about the whole trip – making friends and spending time with the various crew members in the spots we liked to hang out in. Our bartender in Pink was one of our favorites – Lanuta from Romania. She was so sweet. We also enjoyed chatting it up with the crew in Skyline.

Finally, after an exceptionally fun night of bar hopping (something we absolutely never do at home), we headed back to the stateroom. We were participating in a Fish Extender swap, which was loads of fun. I spent some time that night delivering around all my gifts so I wouldn’t have to worry about it later. Here’s our Fish Extender:

We did several things for the kids in the Fish Extender swap, but these are the two main things we did for the grownups - coasters and deck cheat-sheets:

(Sorry - I can't get some of those to rotate!)

After a little room service with a cheese tray for me and a burger for Ray (eek!), we hit the hay. First, though, Ray had to check out Jody’s bed:

I had never expected to just go to bed with Jody still out and about, but it became clear that that’s how we were going to handle this trip. We were completely comfortable with that and she made it home each night just fine.

Next up – Nassau and more fun on the ship!

[DaveInTN 3,247]

Those are some nice looking drinks!

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

Grandmother Fabulous is really that - fabulous. She loves her family to pieces. She loves to take her grandkids shopping, which of course they love too. But she also lets everyone do their own thing while she does hers. She's great to travel with for that exact reason - you get to see her but you never are pressured by her to do anything or go anywhere, as she's likely in the exercise room or spa on her own. She's a Southerner to the bone, with her wonderful accent that sometimes befuddles others not from the South. (You should have heard her trying to order a lime with her drink in France one time. Every time the waiter asked what she was asking for again, her accent got stronger - liime, liiiime, liiiiiime. It was ridiculous.)

The big challenge for Danielle is, again, that GF is not modest. She'll change clothes in her room whether Danielle was in there or not. It is, of course, GF's stateroom. However, to a 16 year old, seeing your grandmother strip down and change into a bathing suit can be a scarring experience. Again, though, they rarely were awake in the room at the same time, so thankfully everyone survived the experience.

I know. TMI. But, you all have TCD to thank for this newfound awareness about Grandmother Fabulous.

I assume that when you say France, you mean France the country, and not France in Epcot.

You are right about the TMI, I'm sorry I asked.

But, from now on, I am going to call Grandmother Fabulous G-Fab instead of GF.

Good job on the bar hopping photos! We also loved Pink and the Skyline Lounge. Please tell me Ray got one of those glowing pink drinks in there.

TCD

[fortpartyof4 108]

Grandmother Fabulous is really that - fabulous. She loves her family to pieces. She loves to take her grandkids shopping, which of course they love too. But she also lets everyone do their own thing while she does hers. She's great to travel with for that exact reason - you get to see her but you never are pressured by her to do anything or go anywhere, as she's likely in the exercise room or spa on her own. She's a Southerner to the bone, with her wonderful accent that sometimes befuddles others not from the South. (You should have heard her trying to order a lime with her drink in France one time. Every time the waiter asked what she was asking for again, her accent got stronger - liime, liiiime, liiiiiime. It was ridiculous.)

The big challenge for Danielle is, again, that GF is not modest. She'll change clothes in her room whether Danielle was in there or not. It is, of course, GF's stateroom. However, to a 16 year old, seeing your grandmother strip down and change into a bathing suit can be a scarring experience. Again, though, they rarely were awake in the room at the same time, so thankfully everyone survived the experience.

I know. TMI. But, you all have TCD to thank for this newfound awareness about Grandmother Fabulous.

She sounds wonderful! And she is very beautiful.

I'm envious. My in-laws are BIG cruisers. They took the whole family on one not long after my husband and I first got married in the 90's (at that point, it was their 3 sons + spouses and 3 grand-kids). It was an older ship called "The Big Red Boat", that I think might have been an old Disney vessel. Not the best shape, and not the best food. Our SR flooded every time we showered, and my husband and I got twin beds that couldn't be moved together. We were the only ones traveling without kids, and the other siblings got the double beds. huh? Anyway, the in-laws wanted everyone to do everything together, direct when we ate, what we ate, what shows we saw…everything. One day everyone kind of scattered when we were at one of the ports of call - shopping, snorkeling, beach, whatever. My FIL hit the roof and scolded all of us at dinner that night. Even our wait staff was shocked. I guess he felt like because he paid for everyone, he was in charge of every detail. He also got angry one night when we all went to the casino. They had already turned in, they don't gamble or drink. Therefore, on his trip, none of the rest of us were to do any of that, either. It was awful, I couldn't get back to FL soon enough.

We've been invited many times to go again and declined every time - fortunately it's almost always because of schedules so we don't have to explain. When their 50th anniversary was coming up, my MIL started hinting around 3 years prior that they were expecting their sons to plan a big trip. One of the brothers kept trying for a cruise. Everyone else resisted, remembering the Big Red trip. We ended up on land.

So between the not-so-nice ship and hard feelings, it was a disaster. Looking at your photos and seeing how well your family gets along is heartwarming. The dimples don't hurt, either :) And Grandmother Fabulous is awesome in my book!

FP4

[Nicki aka Rebelstand 272]

But, from now on, I am going to call Grandmother Fabulous G-Fab instead of GF.

G-Fab is perfect.. from the looks and sounds of it.

[lklasing 16]

G-Fab. Love it! She is awesome, if for no other reason than she is exactly what she tries to be - no wondering what she's up to or thinking of.

Fortpartyof4, your story makes me even more appreciative of G-Fab. So sorry for that rough trip. Glad you are able to turn down such "invitations".

Dave, yes, those were awesome drinks - $20 each for pink champagne. But they sure were good!

Finally, TCD, yes it was actual France as opposed to Epcot France, where G-Fab had her accent problem. Just like the mom in Two and a Half Men "doesn't go to Anaheim", G-Fab doesn't do Epcot.

Hopefully will have another installment up tonight. If not tonight, it will likely be Sunday - I'm a driver/chaperone for a lot of 13-18 year olds at a church retreat this weekend and won't have any wi-fi. :bugeyes:

[CKCK 45]

Woo hoo! Dimples galore.

[stefa70 205]

Enjoying the report!

I love the G Fab isn't modest. If ya got it, flaunt it! :)

[Southern Blessings 4]

Cool! The fish extenders sound like fun!

[lklasing 16]

Sorry for the lapse in reporting - I don't even have another installment ready for tonight. I was at a youth group retreat as a chaperone for the weekend with absolutely no internet access and tonight the girls have finished their first day of school which of course brings homework, drama, open houses, etc. I'm working on the next installment and will get it up in a day or so. So, try to hang in there with me! Thanks!

[momof3kids-Yvonne 594]

Love the report. I love how your girls interact with their younger cousins. You can tell by the smiles on their faces and the sparkle in their eyes how much they all love each other.

[DaveInTN 3,247]

I'm waiting patiently, Leslie. Real life trumps our selfish trip report needs.

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

I'm waiting patiently, Leslie. Real life trumps our selfish trip report needs.

Me too.

Take your time. This is a great report, and there is no need to rush it.

TCD

[lklasing 16]

Thanks, guys, for hanging in there with me! I'm working on the next real installment and should have it up by tomorrow night. In the meantime, I thought I’d share a tiny clip of G-Fab with y’all. Background: The girls and I love the “Wolfs Dance” videos on youtube. They’re just so fun. In case you don’t know what I’m talking about, check this out:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vLOJ9HMkgAE

So, of course, the girls decided that we had to do something like that on this trip too. They chose the song Pay Phone:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S8vDyqJx3ik

As you watch, note the second line the girl sings – “Where have the times gone”. This is the one and only line that they ever captured for our home video. Happily, they had G-Fab do it, even though G-Fab had absolutely no idea why in the world she was doing this:

Just like Maroon 5, right?

Again, this is the only portion of our family music video that made it onto film, but I still think it’s awesome. :dance:

Real update tomorrow - I promise!

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

Too bad y'all didn't get that video done!

G-Fab would have been a YouTube sensation for sure!

TCD

[stefa70 205]

I had never seen the Wolfs Dance video! What a great idea! I've done videos with pics and music, but never the singing added. (Frankly, that''s the only way anyone would want to hear me sing)

Thanks for sharing that. Wish you guys would have done one too!

[lklasing 16]

Hey guys - hope y'all are still hanging in there with me. If so, thanks! If not, then you're not reading this, so....

Thursday, August 2 – Nassau Day

This morning, I woke up early for vacation, but still pretty good for me - 8:00. I left a note for Ray that I was going out to explore. I first went to the guest relations desk and dropped off pillow cases that I had gotten made for each of the kids in a baggie with sharpies and chocolate to have them signed by characters, then checked out the view of Nassau from Goofy’s sports deck.

This is a picture of a bird attacking a man trying to eat his breakfast in peace at Cabanas. He finally got up and left:

Next, I gathered Ray and went to breakfast at Royal Palace. Wow – this was so much better than last night’s dinner at the Enchanted Garden. At EG, we were at a long table behind the back of someone else’s booth. At RP, the tables weren’t nearly so close together. It also had a much more laid back atmosphere at breakfast without a time table than they had at dinner where we were pushed to order all food before having a real chance to check out the menu. :banghead:

After breakfast, walked around a while, checking out various fun quiet places to hang. Here’s me with the Donald statue (in exercise clothes even though I didn’t end up exercising until much later in the day):

Finally, we hooked up with Jody who had just gotten up and ready and was hungry. We took her to Luigi’s, where she found several things she was interested in. After a little bit, Danielle woke up and called on the wave phone and joined us. Finally, Ray and I gave in and grabbed some lunch there as well. We had planned to head into Nassau all together but just as we got to the gangplank, the bottom dropped out. Biblical rain. Danielle wanted to go in the rain, but Ray and I knew it couldn’t last so we killed some time on Deck4.

Jody is either trying to look like a movie star in those sunglasses or completely embarrassed to be hanging with the parental units while waiting for a friend to walk by. Finally, she hooked up with friends and looked much more sophisticated:

Danielle and I killed some time together, chatting with a lovely Romanian at the Vista Café (who had also waited on Ray and me the night before at Pink), then grabbed Ray and headed into Nassau.

I didn’t take but one picture in Nassau. Honestly, there wasn’t anything to take pictures of. We didn’t go to Atlantis, which I am sure is beautiful and fun but I just couldn’t part with that much money for a day ashore when I could be spending my time on such a wonderful ship. We went to the straw market, which was exactly what you would think it would be – pushy but fun shopping. Ray eventually couldn’t take the oppressive heat any more and bailed, but not before roughing up this guy:

The only problem with Ray leaving is that I was suddenly out of cash after fronting Danielle money for her souveniers. That meant no more straw market for Danielle as cash is all they take, but she made do and found her final gifts at real stores that took AmEx.

We headed back to our beautiful ship. It was like heaven to be back on board. Back in the room I found Ray who was relaxing but looked like he needed to exercise, so I dragged him back onto Deck 4 for a run. Ray and I ran together for 2miles and then he bailed. Amazingly, I was having a great run and kept at it for a total of 6 miles. :jumpforjoy It was by far the best run I’ve had in a long time. We even had to take a detour through the elevator bank at 4 Aft since guys were working on one of the life boats each lap. I think the forced walk plus air conditioner helped with my staying power for the run.

After that most fun run, I cleaned up and caught up with Ray back at the Cove Café by the adult pool for a pre-dinner drink. Then, we went to where we had been looking forward to ever since I stayed up until 11:00 one night to make reservations – Palo! We hung out at the bar at Meridian for a little bit, waiting on Tiger to join us, and made close friends with another wonderful Romanian – Alexandra the bartender. She took us outside just to take a picture of us:

(I know, I know – awesome hair I’m having. Try not to be too jealous.)

Dinner at Palo was an absolutely amazing thing. So much fun. They started us with a complimentary antipasti platter, which almost could have been my dinner. Of course, we didn’t stop there and proceeded to have appetizers, dinner and dessert. Our waiter was Nicholai from Serbia. He was yet another crew member that we wound up feeling like we were old friends with.

We had such a good time (and had had such a not-quite-so-good-time-the-night-before-at-the-rotational-dinner) that we decided to try to get into Palo again while on the ship. The restaurant was only about one-third full that night and happily we had no problem getting a reservation for the next night too.

After dinner, we split with Tiger, who wanted to go check on his kids. G-Fab had been taking care of them and they all had had a great evening together. Since it was just us again, Ray and I decided to do what had worked well the night before and bar hopped again. We went back to Pink first and hung out with Lanuta again (the same girl as last night who also served Danielle and I coffee at the Vista Café earlier that day). She remembered what we wanted to drink and even asked about Danielle and how she was enjoying the cruise. I’m telling y’all – the level of service on this ship was amazing. We topped the evening off with a trip back to Skyline.

Back in the room, we once again ordered room service for a late night “snack”. Danielle even joined us after having been in the Vibe, which was fun. Finally, after a really awesome day, we sacked out, looking forward to a day at sea tomorrow!

(PS – just in case I don’t remember to tell y’all in a wrap-up at the end of this report, if you ever go to Nassau on a DCL trip, don’t even bother getting off the ship unless you make reservations for a shore excursion. The straw market was so very so-so at best, and the ship is so wonderful, that the best plan in my opinion is to stay put and have a great day onboard the ship.) Thus ends the Public Service Announcement

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

Great update, Leslie.

I love the photo of Ray fighting the pirate!

I can't argue with you about Nassau. But I say if anyone has never been, he or she must still get off the boat and walk through the marketplace and past the hair braiders and taxi drivers and at least walk around for a little while. Then you can see you have been to Nassau, and never feel bad about choosing not to get off the ship on your next visit.

I think it's interesting that you and Ray chose to go to Palo twice. For some reason, it is hard to get reservations before a cruise, and yet you report that the dining room was only 1/3 full, and you had no problems going twice. I wonder if people cancel, or if DCL deliberately holds back on the reservations?

I am impressed by your six mile run! Wow! Good for you! That fact now has me wondering if you did the Castaway Cay 5K. I guess we will find out soon enough.

TCD

[lklasing 16]

Sorry this report is dragging on! To TCD and anyone else still there, thanks for hanging in there with me. Here we go with the next day:

Friday, August 3

I managed to sleep a little later today, which was fun. G-Fab and I went for a walk on Deck 4 for a while, then I hooked up with Ray for breakfast at Royal Palace again. It was a perfect breakfast – there were kids, but not too many people. We got to order and eat at own rate instead of the servers trying to have everyone move through on their time line. Very nice.

Ray and I sat outside for a while, and then went to movie trivia in 687. Out of 200 points, we got about 65. Ugh. But our claim to fame is that I was sitting next to this cat that actually knew almost all of the answers. His score – 170. He won by a landslide. He must have been a movie trivia phenom as a kid. Either that or he has little to no life outside of watching movies.

After trivia, Ray and I decided to go to the DVC presentation. We have batted the idea of DVC around for some time. I had really hoped that the presentation would make it clear that DVC was not for us. To the contrary, though, it really confirmed what we had been thinking for a while – that we think we want to buy in. I just wish that we had done it at the beginning of what has turned into annual trips to WDW for so many years.

We sat out on the deck toward the front of the ship for a while discussing the various DVC options.

Finally, after another meeting with the DVC guy and running into G-Fab on deck (who was having a great time relaxing too), it was time to get ready for dinner. We really understood now how to have fun at night on the ship, so we did it all over again – drinks at Meridian with Alexandra from Romania, then dinner at Palo with Nicholai from Serbia. Both were just perfect – again. For dinner this time, we had the antipasti tray again, plus appetizers and a pasta dish to split. It was just the right amount of food and we had a ball.

After dinner, we decided it was time to try out the AquaDuck. The pirate party was going on so the line was very short – 5 minutes or less. The little girl in line behind us was talking about how she waited 1 ½ hours earlier in the cruise to ride. It was lots of fun! We rode twice, then headed to the adult pool and hot tub.

At the pool, there was some fun people watching as some girls and guys in their 20’s were enjoying the bar and each other. It was fun, especially the part where we were placing bets on whether anyone would get lucky for the evening. :hugsmiley:

Finally, we cleaned up and returned to Pink where Lanuta took care of us (and Tiger, who happened by while we were there) again.

(Any time you end up taking elevator pictures just because it seems like the right thing to do, you know you’re probably having too much fun for the night.)

We eventually made our way back up to Meridian where we watched the fireworks show. There were other ships out there in the distance watching with us. I think it’s pretty cool that Disney somehow manages to do this every cruise.

You may have noticed that I haven’t said anything about the girls today – it’s because we didn’t see them on Friday. At all. Every morning when I would wake up, I would check Jody’s bed to make sure she made it home the night before. Grandmother was doing the same thing with Danielle. I never in a million years thought I would be willing to let them stay out so late but once I got on the ship and checked out the Vibe, I pretty much decided that I was comfortable with giving them just almost complete freedom. And that’s the way it went – they went wherever they wanted with their friends and just checked in periodically on the wave phones provided by the ship. The girls had an incredible time and Ray and I really enjoyed being with each other one on one so much more than we usually get a chance to.

I do have evidence of them from this day, though:

These are a couple of their CMs from the Vibe:

Finally, does anyone recognize the guy with Jody in this picture? She says that it is someone from one of the Disney movies – Step Up maybe? Either she’s right or it’s some random guy. Either way, she still has this picture as the background on her cell, so she obviously was having fun.

After (another) late night snack from room service, we were off to bed.

Next up – Castaway Cay! Hoping for good weather!

[CCIntrigue...aka Gwen 547]

Love the update!

I can't argue with you about Nassau. But I say if anyone has never been, he or she must still get off the boat and walk through the marketplace and past the hair braiders and taxi drivers and at least walk around for a little while. Then you can see you have been to Nassau, and never feel bad about choosing not to get off the ship on your next visit.

TCD

I agree! Everyone should visit there once ... see the Queen's Staircase and the fort ... go over to Atlantis and see the unreal glass sculptures and the part of the Dig that is free ... experience the straw market (it used to be so much nicer when it was in a building) ... and the Cloisters.

Like Jamaica. So many cruise passengers hate it. But it is a beautiful country with so much to experience. You just have to be careful about where you go and who you go with. The coffee fields are incredible. Climbing Dunns River Falls with my BFF who is disabled was a once-in-a-lifetime experience for both of us.

Part of the cruising experience is getting out of your comfort zone and experiencing things you would never get the chance for at home.

[Gots2pitt.. Jeff 64]

I don't mind the dragging, atleast it's not over yet. :)

[PureTcrazy...rita 380]

Whew, Just catching up! Love the Wolfs Dance and could see your family doing that! You and Ray look so happy, it's could to have time with each other and I'm glad that you were able to do that on a Disney cruise! G Fab sounds fabulous! :)

[DaveInTN 3,247]

I'm still enjoying and reading! Will be interested to hear about your CC day....and about your second Palo dinner!