A Dream Is A Wish Your Heart Makes: A March 2011 Disney Wedding/Honeymoon Trip Report

Teachr4Disney · Jun 7, 2011

HollyBelle said:
The boarding process is in flux right now, if I understand correctly. They’ve been trying a couple of different approaches to keeping the terminal from being overcrowded. When we boarded it was first come/first served. Now, they’re having cruisers pick a “port arrival time” and reports seem to be mixed. I’ve heard that your port arrival time is tied to your boarding pass number so if you have a late port arrival time, showing up early won’t help you in getting on the ship any earlier. But then I’ve also heard that they aren’t enforcing this. So, who knows?!

I can completely understand why it’s difficult for your family to find the value in Disney when they aren’t Disney fans. You can usually take comparable cruises (in terms of length/itinerary) for a third the price of Disney. That’s no small thing. We’re crazy fans of Disney, but I’m sure we’ll continue to book on other lines, too.

Ranking the other cruise lines is pretty easy for me: Princess (by a landslide), Carnival, Royal Caribbean, Norwegian. But it’s not fair to rank them without a little description. The ships, length of cruise, and ports of call definitely factor into my opinions.

We took a 7 day eastern cruise on the Emerald Princess last May and I was completely blown away by the ship. Overall, Princess did everything right. I can’t remember the exact numbers now, but there were 4 or 5 decent sized pools on the ship and something like 6-7 hot tubs. It’s the only cruise I’ve been on where I was able to get even remotely close to the pools throughout the week. And the décor of the ship was understated in comparison to the over-the-top gaudiness of some of the other lines. In fact, I even commented in my cruise report that the attention to detail reminded me of Disney.

My experience with Carnival was on the Liberty, another decent sized ship, and another 7 day cruise, this time the western route. Of all the lines, I think Carnival had the best food and may have even had the best entertainment (still a far cry from Disney). Bear in mind, we don’t usually attend the shows on the ships. The ship décor was garish and hard on the eyes… but easy to overlook because it was incredibly well maintained and clean. Plus, the staff was amazing. And even though I don’t have kids, I hear really great things about their kids’ clubs.

RCI and NCL were at a disadvantage to begin with because these were shorter cruises (5 day and 3 day, respectively) and they were on some of the oldest ships in each of their fleets. Plus, in both cases it was just Bahamian ports. My opinion may or may not differ greatly if we’d cruised different ships/itineraries. One thing that I don’t think would change is the food quality. I wasn’t real impressed with the food on either of these lines. Although, NCL offers the “freestyle” dining which is pretty nice if you’re not as interested in getting dressed up and going to dinner.

I’d recommend Princess without hesitation and in fact, they’re easily at the top of our list. When we choose cruises in the future, if itineraries and price are similar among a couple of lines, there would be no question that we would go with Princess. It felt much classier than all the others. I’ve written reports for all of our cruises and they’re linked in the first post of this thread. If you check out the Princess one, I do some comparing/contrasting throughout the whole review. In fact, I did this in all of the reviews, and true to form there are a bazillion pictures to go along with the reporting. We always book inside staterooms and there are pictures of those in each of the reviews.

If you check it out, and have any specific questions about lines, please let me know.

Thanks so much for the info. Love the info on the other cruises! Of course, I'm totally trying my very best to talk my family into a Disney cruise. I might have other questions after we book a cruise. Thanks, too, for offering to help with that.

Now, on to read more about the best cruise ever....

erstwo · Jun 7, 2011

Dearest Holly,

Please write more.

Sincerely,
Me & Your adoring public
(All 50,000+

pageviews of us

)

diddy_mouse · Jun 7, 2011

At the rate this week is going, the weekend will be here before you know it! (Wishful thinking perhaps?)

I have been trying to keep my report updated as well but it's proving to be a challenge drawing on details that happened almost 6 years ago. :hammer: Hopefully I'll have it done by sometime next week.

I'll check back in this weekend!

PeoplemoverTTA · Jun 8, 2011

I always seem to catch up on TRs when I'm home sick from work :lol:

I must say that your wedding was absolutely breathtaking - you and Brett look adorable, and your family is simply glowing.

I've never taken a cruise before, but I'm strongly considering it for one of my next Disney trips (after a return to DL), so thanks for sharing - can't wait for the rest! :sohappy:

Disneyfalcon · Jun 8, 2011

Woo hoo!! You're at the cruise part!! I am loving it!!

I'm sorry, you didn't feel well the first night! I've had some cruises where that first night was rough, and some where it was smooth as silk. It always gets better though!

I am so excited you got such awesome spots for the Sailaway!! Love those pictures!! They are perfect!!

FYI, for anyone who sails with kids, you do not have to register in the terminal. If the line is long - and it does get long quickly - just wait until you get on board and do it in the kids clubs anytime that first afternoon. Much better!

Keep it coming!!

Spingal · Jun 8, 2011

joanna71985 said:
No problem. I'll be waiting patiently (....yeah right! ) until the next update

ME TOO!!!! :animwink:

erstwo · Jun 8, 2011

Disneyfalcon said:
Woo hoo!! You're at the cruise part!! I am loving it!!

I'm sorry, you didn't feel well the first night! I've had some cruises where that first night was rough, and some where it was smooth as silk. It always gets better though!

I am so excited you got such awesome spots for the Sailaway!! Love those pictures!! They are perfect!!

FYI, for anyone who sails with kids, you do not have to register in the terminal. If the line is long - and it does get long quickly - just wait until you get on board and do it in the kids clubs anytime that first afternoon. Much better!

Keep it coming!!

WOW! You probably just saved me about an hour of my life. Thank you Tammy!

Disneyfalcon · Jun 9, 2011

erstwo said:
WOW! You probably just saved me about an hour of my life. Thank you Tammy!

You are very welcome.

HollyBelle · Jun 10, 2011

plaz10 said:
This is probably the only time I will EVER say this...but I'm glad your update won't be until the weekend

I just started a new job today and Bill started his medical rotations today...so crazy busy day in our house. This is also why I have not posted a TR yet...I have started the text but it's nowhere near complete. But yes, I do have something to report on... my way of letting you know...without giving you the detail and making you wait!!muwahaha!

But seriously I was almost late for my first day of work today because I was reading up on the cruise portion while eating breakfast. Yikes. Don't think they'd understand I was late due to a Hollybelle TR update - unless they read them because then they'd TOTALLY understand!

Love the hula time art! So perfect for you guys. Hope it was a purchase.

The TR is phenomenal by the way - keep up the good work. Sorry to hear about the seasickness on the first night...definitely not the way to spend first night on cruise w/new hubby. (wink wink, nudge nudge...family site so clearly I mean snuggling) I've never cruised before but I'm trying to talk Bill into it....but when we only get one vacation a year, I'd rather it be Disney World than a cruise. So jury is still out on that one.

Have fun at the conference!!!

Congrats on the new job for you and medical rotations for Bill. So adult! Can I just say, I’m totally looking forward to this trip report you keep teasing me with. I can’t wait to hear all about it.

Just send your boss a link if he/she has any questions!! :lookaroun

We’re now dealing with less vacation time ourselves, so I understand how the jury can be out with regards to trying something new when you only get so many days of the year to go and play.

sweetpee_1993 said:
Me, too. Glad we're waiting for the weekend for the next installment. I'm in Pensacola currently sitting at the DMV waiting for Chandler to take his written test for his permit. We'll be at Gramma's house this week being entertained with family. The only internet we get is at Starbucks or my iPhone. I hate reading reports on the iPhone. It just doesn't do your gorgeous pictures justice. Happy Conferencing! We'll "see" ya this weekend!

Wow! Lookit me and my patient little self! I deserve a cookie!!! Nom Nom Nom Nom!!!

Oh, Kelly, you make me so proud. You do deserve a cookie! In fact, you may have even earned TWO cookies! :slurp:

So, will Chandler be at the wheel for the next road trip?!

I know what you mean about trying to read reports with the iPhone, I was trying to catch up with the forum (on my iPod touch) while I was conferencing this week... ugh, so tiny. But lemme tell you, some of those sessions were such a snoozefest I couldn’t help myself.

joanna71985 said:
No problem. I'll be waiting patiently (....yeah right! ) until the next update

Spingal said:
ME TOO!!!!

Goofygirl07 said:
I can't wait!

Good thing it’s not too far off now, update coming shortly.

Teachr4Disney said:
Thanks so much for the info. Love the info on the other cruises! Of course, I'm totally trying my very best to talk my family into a Disney cruise. I might have other questions after we book a cruise. Thanks, too, for offering to help with that.

Now, on to read more about the best cruise ever....

No problem!

erstwo said:
Dearest Holly,

Please write more.

Sincerely,
Me & Your adoring public
(All 50,000+ pageviews of us )

More coming right up! Thanks, Erin.

diddy_mouse said:
At the rate this week is going, the weekend will be here before you know it! (Wishful thinking perhaps?)

I have been trying to keep my report updated as well but it's proving to be a challenge drawing on details that happened almost 6 years ago. Hopefully I'll have it done by sometime next week.

I'll check back in this weekend!

Hey look at that... you were right, the weekend is here now! (ALMOST)

I can only imagine how hard it is to draw on a report from six years ago. We were always staying at the value resorts back then and I can hardly keep straight where we stayed during those first few trips. And I didn’t take enough pictures back then to use as a guide in figuring out where we went and in what order we did it. The photos make for the best journal. They leave a nice trail of crumbs to follow later.

PeoplemoverTTA said:
I always seem to catch up on TRs when I'm home sick from work

I must say that your wedding was absolutely breathtaking - you and Brett look adorable, and your family is simply glowing.

I've never taken a cruise before, but I'm strongly considering it for one of my next Disney trips (after a return to DL), so thanks for sharing - can't wait for the rest!

Ughhh... being home sick is the worst; I hope you’re feeling better, especially now that the weekend is here.

Thank you for the compliments on our wedding, I couldn’t have asked for a more perfect day.

All good Disney fans should at least consider a Disney cruise, so I’m happy to hear it’s a possibility!

Disneyfalcon said:
Woo hoo!! You're at the cruise part!! I am loving it!!

I'm sorry, you didn't feel well the first night! I've had some cruises where that first night was rough, and some where it was smooth as silk. It always gets better though!

I am so excited you got such awesome spots for the Sailaway!! Love those pictures!! They are perfect!!

FYI, for anyone who sails with kids, you do not have to register in the terminal. If the line is long - and it does get long quickly - just wait until you get on board and do it in the kids clubs anytime that first afternoon. Much better!

Keep it coming!!

Thanks, Tammy. This was easily the worst night I’ve had on a cruise, but nothing I couldn’t handle! The seas the rest of the cruise were calm as could be.

Aha... we were wondering if all those folks were standing in a line that could be avoided by getting on the ship.

erstwo said:
WOW! You probably just saved me about an hour of my life. Thank you Tammy!

I think we need to create an “Ask Tammy” thread for all things cruise related. We do it anyway, why not make it official?!

HollyBelle · Jun 10, 2011

Monday, March 21: Nassau, Bahamas

Ahhh... nothing beats seasickness like sleeping for hours on end in a comfy bed in a pitch black inside stateroom. I swear I always get the best sleep of my life on cruises. And despite the aforementioned queasiness and headaches, I love the lull of the sea... you know, when it’s gently rocking. I woke up feeling incredibly refreshed.

We woke up around 7:15am and decided to head on up to Deck 11 to find some breakfast and wave to Nassau as we cruised into the dock. The weather was overcast and the seas were still a little rough. It was actually very windy and a bit cold.

That last shot was taken through the window in Cabanas, where we were enjoying our breakfast. A small sampling of what they offer on the buffet:

We went back to our stateroom to get ready and watched through the virtual porthole as the Dream pulled into port. Look, it’s the straw market and Senor Frogs. Yep, we’re definitely in Nassau:

Wave hello to the Carnival ship (and to me)!

Backing right up...

Hey wait, there's a dancing hippo in my shot!!

HollyBelle · Jun 10, 2011

We’ve been to Nassau a couple of times already and didn’t have any desire to book a shore excursion or plan out the day in the city. In fact, when we booked the cruise, we figured Nassau would provide the best chance of riding the Aquaduck without much of a wait. And now, with the cool weather, we weren’t quite sure what to do with ourselves. We saw that the princesses were scheduled to do meet and greets in the atrium at 9am so we wandered down that way.

On our way we checked out Shutters. Whoever came up with the idea to put everyone’s pictures into folders and set it up like a library is an absolute genius. It’s so much easier than trying to hunt down your photos. That being said, the best part about hunting down photos is laughing at some of the other ones we come across. :lookaroun :lol: So it did take a bit of the fun away. Still though, brilliant idea. Not only is it useful, but the area looks really classy, which I’m all for because I don’t really like the looks of the great photo hunt hallway on most ships.

I love how the characters are inlaid all around the atrium.

HollyBelle · Jun 10, 2011

Time for princesses - Snow White was rockin’ some seriously high shine gloss on those lips of hers:

I’d never felt more underdressed in my life! :lol: Awkward.

After the awkward meeting of the princesses we went back to the Vista Gallery to purchase “Hula Time.” Unfortunately though, it was gone. You’ve got to be kidding me, I couldn’t believe that someone actually bought our painting. Didn’t they know it was mine?!

:animwink: It had only been a little over 12 hours since we’d been in there. I was really upset about it and Brett kept saying we could probably still get it, either at the Art of Disney or by ordering it. But I had really wanted to walk off the ship with the piece of art that we’d picked out as our wedding gift to one another.

HollyBelle · Jun 10, 2011

To ease the pain we grabbed some adult beverages and found some loungers to relax in. It was probably about 11am when we decided to brave the cold and hop on the Aquaduck. Yay! There wasn’t much of a line. Of course, a cool morning in port is probably a good time to ride.

After taking that last shot, my camera was giving me some kind of error message about the seals, so I thought it might be best to leave it behind, unfortunately. We only had to wait about 8-10 minutes. The Aquaduck, to borrow a phrase from Andy Dwyer, was made of Awesome Sauce. The second half of it is just so leisurely. And if it weren’t for the fact that the water was so flippin’ cold, I would’ve ridden it over and over again.

We couldn’t get to the hot tub soon enough after getting off the Aquaduck. It was heavenly!

Check out the view below:

Yes, those last two pictures were taken from inside the hot tub.

And yes, that is Brett’s foot at the top of the second one. :lookaroun

Eventually we grabbed some pizza from Flo’s and headed back to our stateroom to watch the “show.” That’s what we began calling the virtual porthole. After some time in the room we came to the conclusion that a character would appear every 30 minutes. Guessing who would pop up next became quite fun. In fact, we became obsessed with the virtual porthole throughout the cruise. Ingenious, it was.

Hey, look, it’s Kevin! He was one of my favorites from the "show":

HollyBelle · Jun 10, 2011

We ventured out into Nassau, if only briefly.

With no real agenda in mind, we made our way over to Senor Frogs. Now, my last trip to Senor Frogs was fraught with margaritas in yard glasses, dirty old men, dancing, frog kissing, and other such shenanigans. Granted, we (my mom and I) were on a three day booze cruise out of Miami and there were seven ships in Nassau’s port that day.

Needless to say, it was much more low key this time around. :lol:

We did find a pretty impressive Donald Duck on some kids head:

HollyBelle · Jun 10, 2011

The frozen margaritas at Senor Frogs take the number 3 spot on my classic margarit-o-meter! A very scientific rating scale based on a number of factors, mind you.

Curious who they’re up ceded by? La Cantina de San Angel and/or the margarita stands in Epcot’s Mexico take second billing. But of course, at the top of the list is none other than Margaritaville. And if we’re splitting hairs, of the six Margaritaville establishments I’ve graced with my presence, Grand Turk reigns supreme. :sohappy:

You don’t have to take my word for it though, just ask Panchito Beakman, my margarita-drinkin’, cruise-lovin’, French fry nommin’ parrot with an uncanny ability to stow himself away in the smallest of places, who also fancies himself to be quite the pirate:

He’s a regular stowaway on all our cruises, and although he doesn’t normally join us on our Disney World trips, he did manage to make one a few years back. In fact, he even made a cameo appearance in “Once Upon a Dream: A Pre-Trip Report!” and you’ll definitely be seeing him again before this cruise returns to Port Canaveral.

Anyhoo... back to the report. After tipping back a couple margaritas we decided to head back to the ship. It’s customary (for my mom and I anyway) to kiss the frog as we leave. It just didn’t seem quite right without her though:

Hello, Aquaduck!

HollyBelle · Jun 10, 2011

Back on board the Dream we made our way upstairs to Cabanas for a quick bite to eat. Speaking of stairs, I don’t think I’ve said this yet, but we have a rule on cruises: no elevators. Normally, it doesn’t bother me much, but I curse this rule (and my parents who we adopted it from) anytime we return from port. :lol: Mostly because it means we have to go from Deck 1 all the way up to Deck 10. Nothing like a set of stairs to remind you how out of shape you are.

I made a quick pit stop in the restroom outside of Cabanas to wash my hands... the cutest restroom EVER made for a fun mirror shot:

After lunch we hung around the Mickey pool for a bit, listening to the Poolside Movie Challenge take place. Team Cobra Bubbles would’ve rocked that trivia, if we’d have gotten there in time to play. :lookaroun

The character radar started pinging and I looked up to find Lilo crossing Deck 12.

High five for Lilo!

And a shaka for good measure!

HollyBelle · Jun 10, 2011

We picked up our badge and casebook from the stateroom and then went in search of more enchanted art. We had puppies to find! After honing in on our villain we returned to the Midship Detective Agency Desk on Deck 4 and picked up the necessary papers to take on the Case of the Stolen Paintings.

While we were there we noticed a gathering of characters in the atrium. Of course, what brought it to our attention was when we heard an announcement for everyone’s faaaaaaaaaaavorite party animal!

Again, Chip and Dale were on point! In between meets they kept messing with Donald.

I think Dale was fake apologizing here. Because quickly after the hug he started messing with Donald again.

We noticed that the set up for meet and greets during the day was akin to how they do it at the Character Spot. However, in the evenings they have characters switching out with one another throughout the lobby and individual lines are set up for them.

HollyBelle · Jun 10, 2011

Back on Deck 11 we found some loungers and made ourselves comfortable. We didn’t sit still for long before the Aquaduck started calling out to us. I’d figured out what was going on with my water camera, so she was good to go this time.

OMG! The water was still FREEEEZING!

Hello, Atlantis!

HollyBelle · Jun 10, 2011

After soaking up some of the sun that had finally come out, we grabbed another snack from Flo’s and headed back to the stateroom. My turkey panini was the perfect pre-dinner snack!

Yzma and Kronk dropped in for a visit. FAVORITE.

Brett was starting to not feel well... we didn't want to say the word "flu" out loud but the symptoms were there: sore throat, head congestion, fatigue. Oh no! So he took a nap while I showered and got ready for the evening festivities. Seriously, I’ve got to get my hands on one of those throws.

Kaa slithered by once the room got dark...

Something of note about our stateroom... every once in a while we would hear an incredibly loud noise. It sounded almost as if it was coming from above us, but after a while we decided that it may be coming from behind us. Whatever it was, it sounded like Colonel Hathi's march was taken place all around us. It wasn't consistent, but I would say that it happened at least a couple times a day. Probably more, but we weren't in the stateroom much to notice how often it happened. It didn't keep us up at night or wake us, so I would probably book this stateroom again if it's what was available, but I can definitely see where this would be a deterrent for booking this specific location for some people.

We left the stateroom around 5:15pm, only to find Minnie Mouse decked out in her finest in the atrium:

HollyBelle · Jun 10, 2011

We were incredibly excited for Villains Tonight, mostly because we were so blown away by the Golden Mickeys the previous evening. This was definitely different than our usual cruise experience, which has never included making it to the theatre early enough (if at all) to get a good seat. Feeling better than the previous night, I remembered to grab a fast lens for the show so I was able to get some decent shots.

Pain and Panic!

Hades, Ruler of the Underworld:

So, the whole idea behind Villains Tonight is that the Underworld isn’t evil enough so Hades has to call on all his evilest friends, cue Disney villains, to join him for the evilest party of all time. Honestly, it pains me to say this, but we weren’t feeling it, like, not at all. From the very beginning when Hades came out it just felt off. The pop culture references were just too much for me, and for the most part we didn’t find any of them to be that funny. There were many moments when Hades would crack some joke, likely about Lindsey Lohan or some other such celebrity, the crowd would laugh hysterically, and then Brett and I would glance at one another with a painful eye roll. I’ll be the first to admit though that I’m not a fan of this style. I much prefer my Disney stories and characters to remain intact and true. Seeing Maleficent and the Evil Queen battle it out over their facebook profiles doesn’t work for me on any level. I think the hardest part to swallow though, was the way Hades was written and portrayed. This was definitely Brett’s biggest issue with Villains Tonight. The things Hades was saying and doing, Hades wouldn’t say and do. Simple as could be. It was a full-on character assassination, and because of that, the whole thing rang false and rather disingenuous.

Having said all of that, some of the individual numbers were good and the sets and costuming continued to wow me.

A Dream Is A Wish Your Heart Makes: A March 2011 Disney Wedding/Honeymoon Trip Report

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