Bring Your Swim Trunks and Your Flippie-Floppies. It’s a Fantasy Cruise Report!

Well, I’ve been home now from my cruise for about two weeks so I suppose it’s time to get started on my trip report!

The Details:

Who: Me (Ashley) and my husband (Wes)

When: May 11-18, 2013

Where: 7 Night Western Caribbean Cruise

Side Note: I got a new camera for Christmas that I was super excited to use on this trip. It’s a Canon Rebel T4i. On Day 6 of our trip, while eating a fabulous dinner at Palo, I turned on my camera and saw the worst message… “Cannot read memory card”. At this point in the trip, I had already taken over 900 pictures and my immediate reaction was “Oh my God…did I just lose all of my pictures?!” I brought another memory card with me on the trip so I knew that I could take more pictures but I was so sad thinking that I had lost all of the pictures from our trip so far.

I am happy to report that I was able to save almost all of my pictures once I got home. Luckily, only some of the first and second day pictures were affected and the rest of the pictures were still intact! Thanks again to the wonderful people who replied to my post about different programs that I could use to try to save my pictures! You may notice that some of my pictures from Day 1 and 2 are cropped a little weird and the reason is that the picture was corrupted so I cut off the bad portion to salvage the picture.

Now, enough of that drama…on with the trip report!

Saturday May 11th – “Come Sail Away! Come Sail Away!”

We were up early after a horrible night’s sleep. Our neighbors decided to blast their car radio at 3am so that was fun. I was up at 4:55 and my Dad came to pick us up around 5:20. My parents were watching the dog, so she came with us for a ride in the car to the airport. We got to the airport, said goodbye to the dog and my Dad, checked our bags, went through security and were sitting at our gate by 5:57am. Not too shabby. I love RDU!

Our flight took off at 6:45am and it was uneventful. Wes and I both took a much-needed nap for a good portion of the flight. We landed at MCO early and made our way to the DME counter. We got there at 8:26 but the cruise podiums didn’t open until 9am so we had some time to kill.

Instagram LOVE

After killing some time on social media, the check in podium opened up and we were the third people to check in. I had our camera bag and a small carryon bag and Wes had his backpack. We decided to drop off my carry on bag to be delivered to our room so I wouldn’t have to carry it until our room was ready. So we transferred a few items to Wes’ backpack and then dropped it off to be delivered to our room.

There she is!

So close!

The bus ride to Port Canaveral seemed very short. We arrived at the Port a few minutes after 10am and made our way inside the Port terminal. We walked inside and were the second couple in the terminal that morning! Woo hoo! Last time we cruised, we didn’t arrive to the terminal until around 1:30 so boarding had already started by the time we got there. I was excited to get to explore the terminal while it was so empty.

Empty terminal

After this, a lovely Cast Member offered to take our picture in the empty terminal. Unfortunately, this was one of the pictures that was lost. Oh well. We were now Castaway Club members so we got to check-in in the special line. We felt so special. Check in was a breeze and we then went to explore the terminal. Again, most of my pictures from the empty terminal were destroyed but here are a few that were saved.

Boarding Group 3! Whoop whoop!

They started boarding the ship around 11:30. We were on the ship a little before noon and went straight to Cabanas to grab some lunch. Of course, I first had to take a couple pictures of that beautiful chandelier!

 

[disnerd]

Great trip report! I love the pics!

 

[rani8600]

ok, so you have offically sold me on the mixology class We are cruising on the dream in sept, my sis and i were toying with the idea but hadnt decided yet...i just texted her and told her to move it to the must list!

 

[tiaragirl]

Okay, Ashley, this is great and everything but I have few comments (let's call them "constructive criticisms"):
1) Where are the pictures of you and Wes? You are so adorable and I am pretty bummed there's no formal night lovely couple photos.
2) Never drink anything with brains - never take pictures of things that look like brains. It's alarming.
3) MUST YOU MAKE ME THIS HUNGRY!?

 

[Ariel484]

Flippy floppies! That's what we call them too!

Love the report so far, Ashley. Congrats on the new camera, but I am SO sorry that you lost some of your pictures. I'm glad you got most of them back though. Mixology sounds fun!...and I have to confess, I think the brain hemorrhage drinks looked like of cool!

 

[sweetpee_1993]

OMG! Parallel trips! We did mixology our first at-sea day before formal night, too! We also had Julian from Jamaica and I'm pretty sure we had all the same drinks! LOL! I know the name of the first drink that you forgot. It's one of the only ones I wrote down before I gave up my notes during class. Tracey & Jerry poured the brain hemorages for our group and did a bang-up job. They didn't look much like the ones you pictured. LOL! I'm not usually a shot person either. I think I enjoyed the Tennessee guys we met during class and all the laughs more than the drinks. I coulda chucked the obnoxious loud "Go VOLS!" chick in our group over the rail. Her volume was broken. Drove me insane. Grrrrr!!!! I know I'm moody when I'm sick but when you add alcohol I think it gets worse. LOL!

Kiss!!!! Love it! Did all the birthday singing get a little a little old after the first 3 or 4 nights for you? Again, I think I must've been extremely moody. No, wait. I couldn't stand the cruise director because I thought he talked too much. When I'm sick, more than 3 words at a whack is too much. I definitely was moody.

Love love lovin' it! Keep it rollin! Can't wait for you to read my parallel report once I get it going. Need to get more pics/video from Jerry and dig out a couple old snaps of the kids to add to our mix for full effect then I'll be ready to start laying it down. Until then, reading your report is GREAT fun!

 

[joanna71985]

Thanks Joanna! Oh no! That stinks. The program I used was for recovery off of a memory card. I am not sure about how to recover files from your computer. The program I used was called CardRescue. I would post something in the Photography section, if you haven't already, because there are so many people on here that have had similar problems. Hopefully, someone can recommend a program for you.

Thanks! I'll give that a try

 

[farrellbarrel]

I'm so sorry about your pictures, that is such a bummer I cannot wait to read the rest!

 

[HouCuseChickie]

I'm soooooo sorry that some of your pics were destroyed. Glad you were able salvage some from that point + lots of other great pics! Your food pics have me SO hungry! Seriously- it's making me realize how we have nothing good at home right now. The mixology class looks awesome too. It's funny...I used to love drinking the Brain Hemorrhage in college, but I don't think I've ever seen one in a proper glass to actually see the visual effect. Very cool! And looooove the Mickey Premium Bar...nice call! Can't wait to read more.

 

[WishIWasAtWDW]

Great trip report! I love the pics!

Thanks!

ok, so you have offically sold me on the mixology class We are cruising on the dream in sept, my sis and i were toying with the idea but hadnt decided yet...i just texted her and told her to move it to the must list!

The mixology class was so much fun! I think this has turned into a must-do for us on all future cruises.

Okay, Ashley, this is great and everything but I have few comments (let's call them "constructive criticisms"):
1) Where are the pictures of you and Wes? You are so adorable and I am pretty bummed there's no formal night lovely couple photos.
2) Never drink anything with brains - never take pictures of things that look like brains. It's alarming.
3) MUST YOU MAKE ME THIS HUNGRY!?

Hahaha Thanks, Kenzie! In response to your "constructive criticisms"
1) I know!! My memory card had a meltdown and we lost a bunch of pictures from Day 1 and 2. What really stinks is that almost all of the pictures of us were the ones that were lost.
2) It was a pretty gross looking shot. It also didn't taste very good. I will follow your suggestion from now on.
3) Sorry.

Flippy floppies! That's what we call them too!

Love the report so far, Ashley. Congrats on the new camera, but I am SO sorry that you lost some of your pictures. I'm glad you got most of them back though. Mixology sounds fun!...and I have to confess, I think the brain hemorrhage drinks looked like of cool!

Thanks Shannon! I was so excited to use the new camera and then so upset when it failed me. Mixology was really fun! The brain hemorrhage shot was so creepy looking in person. It looked like brains and then you drank it. It kind of felt wrong. Hahaha

OMG! Parallel trips! We did mixology our first at-sea day before formal night, too! We also had Julian from Jamaica and I'm pretty sure we had all the same drinks! LOL! I know the name of the first drink that you forgot. It's one of the only ones I wrote down before I gave up my notes during class. Tracey & Jerry poured the brain hemorages for our group and did a bang-up job. They didn't look much like the ones you pictured. LOL! I'm not usually a shot person either. I think I enjoyed the Tennessee guys we met during class and all the laughs more than the drinks. I coulda chucked the obnoxious loud "Go VOLS!" chick in our group over the rail. Her volume was broken. Drove me insane. Grrrrr!!!! I know I'm moody when I'm sick but when you add alcohol I think it gets worse. LOL!

Kiss!!!! Love it! Did all the birthday singing get a little a little old after the first 3 or 4 nights for you? Again, I think I must've been extremely moody. No, wait. I couldn't stand the cruise director because I thought he talked too much. When I'm sick, more than 3 words at a whack is too much. I definitely was moody.

Love love lovin' it! Keep it rollin! Can't wait for you to read my parallel report once I get it going. Need to get more pics/video from Jerry and dig out a couple old snaps of the kids to add to our mix for full effect then I'll be ready to start laying it down. Until then, reading your report is GREAT fun!

Wasn't Julian fun?! I loved how he said "muddle". We had some loud people in our group too. That tends to happen when the alcohol is flowing.

There wasn't much birthday singing at our dinners. We only heard it a couple times. I know because we only got to say "Kiss" a few more times. You didn't like the cruise director, Brent Davies?! I loved him! I really loved his Aussie accent. I loved the way he would say "Be-a-utiful" or "A-mazing". He did talk a lot but his accent helped.

I can't wait to read your report! It will be funny to see all the parallels between them. More report coming soon!

I'm so sorry about your pictures, that is such a bummer I cannot wait to read the rest!

Thank you. It was a big bummer but it could have been worse.

I'm soooooo sorry that some of your pics were destroyed. Glad you were able salvage some from that point + lots of other great pics! Your food pics have me SO hungry! Seriously- it's making me realize how we have nothing good at home right now. The mixology class looks awesome too. It's funny...I used to love drinking the Brain Hemorrhage in college, but I don't think I've ever seen one in a proper glass to actually see the visual effect. Very cool! And looooove the Mickey Premium Bar...nice call! Can't wait to read more.

Thanks. Me too! I can't believe you drank those shots in college. That's too funny. I had never heard of that shot before and I don't think I would have it again.

 

[WishIWasAtWDW]

Monday May 13th – Turtle! Turtle! Turtle! on Grand Cayman Island

Today was our first destination; Grand Cayman! It was also the first day where all of my pictures survived the damaged memory card! Woooo hoooo! We were really excited to go on our first port adventure. On our last cruise, we didn’t do any excursions so I was looking forward to getting off the ship this time. I woke up around 7:20 without the help of an alarm clock since it felt like 8:20 due to the time change. Wes was still sleeping so I decided to sit out on the verandah and read for a little while.

It was a gorgeous day!

Wes was up around 8 and we decided to try breakfast at the Enchanted Garden.

I love this ceiling

We were seated at table 115, which was close to a porthole. On our last cruise, we never ate breakfast anywhere other than Cabanas or ordering room service so it was nice to switch things up.

Mmmm…I love carbs. And bacon!

We had a very nice breakfast. We weren’t in any rush since we didn’t meet for our excursion until 10:15 so it was nice to take our time. On the way out, I decided to take some pictures of a relatively empty restaurant.

I want this booth.

Such a cute fountain.

I wanted to go check out BBB and made Wes pose for the camera.

I decided not to go in BBB and take any pictures so I just looked in through the windows. I didn’t want to be disruptive to the little princesses. One more picture of the chandelier and then it was back to the room to get ready for our excursion.

 

[WishIWasAtWDW]

We were meeting in the Tube for our Grand Cayman Island Tour.

We’re almost there!

Getting ready to start check in

We were in group Goofy

Once everyone was checked in, we made our way down to the tender boats.

We got on the tender boat and I decided to put my big lens on the camera. Once we started going, I realized that I probably shouldn’t have used the big lens because it zoomed in just too close. I have a lot to learn about these DSLRs!

When we got to shore, I switched lenses again. This DSLR sure is a lot more involved than my old point and shoot. We lined up to wait for everyone to disembark from the tender boats and had a spectacular view of the ship.

Our Goofy group made our way to the buses to start our island tour. We split up into groups of about 18 and were put on buses. Our driver/tour guide was Tom. He was very soft-spoken and not very entertaining. Not good qualities of a tour guide. Hahaha

And we’re off on our first excursion!

We were seated a few rows back from the driver, right in front of a family of 5 that would not stop talking. I don’t know what they were saying, since they weren’t speaking English, but they kept talking while the driver was telling us about the different sights. It was very annoying. Someone in front of us kept shushing them but they were completely oblivious.

Here are some of the sights we saw. I can’t tell you much about them since I really couldn’t hear.

Some kind of government house

 

[WishIWasAtWDW]

One of the oldest homes on the island…I think.

Next we drove by the seven mile beach.

I spy the Fantasy!

Beautiful water! Too bad I was on the wrong side of the bus for taking pictures.

Our first official stop was the turtle farm! I was really looking forward to this.

These iguanas were everywhere!

I used my big lens again to get some close up shots of the turtles. It was amazing how close I could get to the turtles with that lens.

You can see the water coming out of its nose when it breathes.

We think these turtles were goin at it. Hahaha It was a breeding farm after all! They were pretty far away so all you would see is a lot of splashing and turtles on top of turtles. Wes and I just kept looking at each other going, “Are they doing what I think they’re doing?!” Hahaha

There they go…

Next up was some smaller displays where we had a closer view of the turtles.

This guy was getting really close to where I was standing. I think he wanted food. They have food that you can throw to them so they must be really used to people now and expect food.

This guy’s face cracks me up.

Next up were the babies! They were year old turtles and they were so cute. These were the ones that we were allowed to pick up. Our tour guide Tom let us know that when we picked up the turtles we had to hold them over the water. Kids would get freaked out when they picked up the turtles and they started moving and would accidentally drop them on the concrete and the turtles died. That was really sad to think about. I made sure that we were extra careful. I couldn’t live with myself if I killed a turtle.

It was kind of hard to pick up the turtles. You had to wait until they came over to the side and then grab it. They were pretty fast. They also had a couple sections that you could go into and stand in there with the turtles. We saw a lot of people doing that but I was fine standing on the side.

 

[WishIWasAtWDW]

After we picked up the turtles, we stood around for a little bit and tried to find some shade. I noticed our tour guide Tom started walking back to the front, so Wes and I decided that we better follow him so we didn’t get left at the turtle farm. We saw him go into the gift shop but by the time we got there, we didn’t see him anywhere. We figured he couldn’t have left all of us, so we decided to sit by the entrance to the gift shop for a little bit to see when he would come back. We noticed another couple from our group was also looking for Tom and was worried that he had left us. The bus was still parked out front, so we knew he was somewhere but we weren’t sure where.

So Wes and I just kept wandering around the air-conditioned gift shop while we waited to find out when we could leave. It was at this time that we realized we didn’t bring any cash or credit cards with us. Oops! We were so used to being on the ship and using our room key that we didn’t even think about bringing real money.

I thought that Tom had said that we had a full hour at the turtle farm but I thought he misspoke since our tour was supposed to be over by that time. We noticed other members of our group starting to show up by the entrance of the building, so we went to sit out front and wait. We finally saw Tom sitting over in a corner chatting with the turtle farm employees. We also saw a bunch of our group standing around waiting to board the bus. After what seemed like a really long time sitting in the sun, we were finally able to board the bus. When we got on the bus, we noticed that we were missing a lady and her daughter. The family of 5, who had been talking the entire ride, said that they saw the lady and her daughter get on another bus that already left. What?! Oh man. Tom kept asking them if they were sure and they said they definitely saw them get on another bus that left. So after a few more minutes of waiting for them, Tom decided to leave the turtle farm for our next stop. I hoped that the people really did get on another bus and we didn’t just leave them stranded here.

Our next stop was Hell. I had heard that this was cool so I thought it would be neat. Boy was I wrong. I felt that this stop wasn’t even worth the trip. In addition to the rock formations, there were three little shops there, a Post Office and a guy selling coconuts but we didn’t have any money so it was pretty boring. I guess if you had money and wanted to buy souvenirs that had “clever” Hell slogans or send a postcard from Hell, it might be fun.

We were given 20 minutes to look around and were told that we could sit in the bus whenever we were ready to go. Wes and I walked around for about 5 minutes and were ready for the air conditioning. The rest of our group was not far behind.

When we left Hell, our tour guide Tom let us know that we would be going back to the turtle farm to see if the lady and her daughter were still there. I was glad that Tom decided to do this because I could only imagine if you were stranded in a foreign country with no way of getting back to the ship. They could have called a cab, but if they were like us and didn’t have any money, they would be pretty screwed.

We went back to the turtle farm and Tom asked some of the employees if they had seen anyone wondering where our bus went. They weren’t there so we made our way back to the ship.

The ocean was so beautiful here.

There she is!

I saw this grocery store on our way to the turtle farm and thought it was super creepy. I’m not sure who picked this logo but it’s kind of disturbing.

See what I mean? Creepy hobo clown.

And we’re back!

Our first excursion was over and I was slightly disappointed. It was okay but I wouldn’t do it again. The best part of the tour was the turtles. I liked the turtles.

They’re always working on the ship to keep it pretty!

We got back on the ship a little before 2. We were supposed to be back around 1. I’m not sure what kept us so long, besides going back to find our missing group members, but all I did know was that I was starving! As soon as we got back on the ship, we made our way to Cabanas.
Cabanas closed at 2:15 so we had just made it before they closed. One side was closed already so we made sure we went through and got all the food we could possibly want now. I had quite the random assortment of food.

I told you I was starving.

I got my standard of chicken fingers, fries and Mac and cheese. I also got a salad, some sushi and broccoli cheddar soup. The soup wasn’t very good but everything else was delicious!

Love the view from Cabanas.

 

[WishIWasAtWDW]

Wes went to get some desserts right before they shut everything down.

After our lunch, it was back to the room to change into our swimsuits and then hit up Satellite Falls. First order of business was to get some drinks!

Piña colada for me please!

After I was done with my drink, I decided to get up and take some pictures.

This area makes me wish I was still a teen. It looks so cute!

It was a little before 5 and we decided to buy the drink of the day. It was a Yellow Bird. I’m not sure what was in it, but it was tasty. I asked Wes to take a picture of me with my drink and he said that the camera wasn’t working. Say what now?! He kept trying to take a picture but the button wouldn’t work. At this point I started freaking out. I literally had nightmares about this exact thing happening in the months leading up to the trip. It was actually quite freaky that my dreams were coming true. We kept playing around with the camera but nothing was working. I decided that I wanted to go back to the room because I really didn’t want to break down on the deck.

When we got back to the room, I continued to try to get the camera to work and I finally figured out what was wrong. The focus lens was stuck. I turned it and could hear it unstick. Thank goodness. Crisis was averted. Wes thought that the constant change in temperatures between going inside and outside was what caused it to stick. I just hoped that it wouldn’t happen again.

After that scare, I needed some food to calm me down. So we ordered room service and drank the rest of our Yellow Bird drinks.

We watched The Hunchback of Notre Dame while we ate our food. Tonight there was a magic show but we decided to skip it. We aren’t huge magic fans. Mostly it’s because I can’t stand not knowing how they do all of their tricks. So instead of seeing the show, we decided to take a nap.

Dinner tonight was in Animator’s Palate. We woke up and got ready to go to dinner.

I LOVE this painting. Russell is such a cutie.

No surprise, we were the last ones to dinner again. It was the middle seats once again.

LOVE these butte knifes.

 

[WishIWasAtWDW]

For appetizers, I ordered the baked potato soup. I had it on our last cruise so I knew it was good. When I went to take a picture of my soup, the camera stopped working again. Ugh…this made me really worried that it would be a constant struggle for the rest of the trip. I finally got the lens working again and took my picture.

I don’t remember what Wes got for an appetizer since I don’t have a picture. I wasn’t very hungry tonight and it was probably because we ate room service at 5:30. I was also feeling a little off. I think it was a combination of seasickness and dealing with all the drama with the camera.

For entrees, I ordered the chicken and Wes got the beef. I only ate a few bites of my entrée. I just wasn’t hungry. Wes said his beef entrée was really good. I should have ordered that instead of the chicken.

I decided to skip dessert and just get ice cream later. I don’t remember what Wes ordered but I think he liked it.

We left dinner and I took some more pictures of the restaurant.

We went back to the room and found this cute guy.

It’s a turtle!

Oz: The Great and Powerful was playing in Buena Vista Theater at 10:30 so we went up to get some soda for the movie. We also stopped to get some ice cream.

My ice cream looks like cartoon poop. Hahaha

You can’t go up on deck without some pictures of the funnel.

The movie was over at around 12:40 and we were back to our room and asleep around 1am.

Up next: Fun times in Costa Maya and lots more trivia

 

[englanddg]

I am so hungry now.

 

[foreverbelle]

OK that water in those pics looks gorgeous, and sooo inviting!!! I was like hello, sign me up LIKE RIGHT NOW!

And yes, I find that store, and the logo to be very very creepy. Umm yeah no thank you I do believe I will be skipping that one.

Poor you and the camera scares!!! Seriously. I think I would have had a heart attack in deed.

And isn't it funny how you see things, and it makes you wish to be that age (aka teenagers again) sigh....good times.

 

[sweetpee_1993]

Grand Cayman is the port we want to revisit the most! The water there was gorgeous...snorkeling was incredible! So jealous y'all logged some time at Satellite Falls. We never got around to it...which bugs me to death. It was such a big to-do on my list. The Vibe outside deck area looks so cool. I know. Brian said he got in those hot tubs and met one of his friends (a girl) when she did a cannonball. LOL! The older teens amoung us, Chandler & my 16 yro niece, weren't so impressed with any part of Vibe. They avoided the place like the plague. The beef dish at Animator's is one of my favorites. The beef is usually pretty good but the big star for me is the potatoes. Wasabi mashed potatoes. They're creamy and tasty then you get this little hint of bite at the end from the wasabi. Soooo amazing! I love the bok choy, too. Just so yummy!

Can't wait to see what y'all did for your next port days!!!!

 

[Billy6]

Awesome report thus far, Ashley...Brings back tons of memories from our Fantasy cruise! Our dining seat number was 115(same when you ate at Enchanted Gardens). The Pina coladas and strawberry daquiris were flowing for me and Heather all day every day!!!

Keep it going!!

 

[disneyfan1995]

Sorry to hear your excursion wasn't the best. The turtles looked really cute though!