Who: Dh, Me, Ds 14 and Dd 11 - Plus assorted other family members and friends – 5 cabins total!
Where: Eastern Cruise with Tortola
When: May 23-30th
This was my 4th Disney Cruise. Third in the last 9 months actually:lookaroun, so I’d like that pattern to keep up! This was the second with tons of family and friends. It’s a great vacation for a big group. Everyone can do their own thing and still meet up for dinner and other activities.
We had a great rate with a military discount. We had enough active duty military, retired military and reserve members to get everyone the discount. Yay!!:sohappy:
I'm making my way through about 1400 pictures right now so this report will have to come in segments!
Day 1 – Friday – May 22nd - Travel Day
The departure day was finally here. We booked this cruise about a year and a half ago, so I couldn’t believe it was finally time!
The kids are in school here until June 25th. Luckily their teachers were all very cooperative and this was Memorial Day week so they only missed 4 ½ days of school. I woke up crazy excited. I had been packed for a month or so, but there were little things left to do this morning. I finished just in time to pick up the kids from school at 11:00. We ran home and ate lunch. I finished up my last recorded DVR show during lunch, so it was nice to be caught up on shows before I left! It was also a great week to go TV-wise because so many shows ended in the two weeks before we left. Coming home from a vacation with tons to do, and 20 TV shows to watch is not easy!!:lol:
Dh came home for lunch to take us to the airport. He had to back out of the trip several weeks ago because we didn’t think he’d be able to get away. Luckily, he got the okay and we added him back in, but at this point our plane tickets had gone up and he wouldn’t be flying with us. It worked out well for him though, we were on United with a layover in DC and left 4 hours before him, and he was on a direct flight on Southwest which was scheduled to arrive 10 minutes after us!
We actually arrived in DC about 20 minutes early and were not looking forward to a now 4 hour layover. Blech. We decided to try the United customer service counter to see if we could catch an earlier flight. United said yes! :sohappy: There was 1 hour and 45 minutes before that flight and there was plenty of time to switch our bags. Well supposedly! We called my parents and asked them to stay at MCO and wait for us so we could ride with them to Port Canaveral. We boarded and woohoo – Orlando bound!!
Well of course our bags didn’t make it.
They were coming on our original flight which had been delayed 3 hours! I was irritated, but relieved I wasn’t on that flight.
My parents and I decided to all go to Downtown Disney to kill some time. I love DD. It’s a great way to start a cruise. Dad and Mom ate at Earl of Sandwich and we shopped a little. After Dh arrived at MCO, Dad and Mom dropped me off at the airport to wait for my bags with him. They took the kids with them so they could get a somewhat decent night’s sleep.
United offered to bring the bags to Port Canaveral the next day, but I was terrified they wouldn’t get there before the cruise left. I could not wear a Mickey Mouse tee shirt to formal night!!!:lol:
Dh and I waited for my bags which arrived at 12:32. We got in the rental car and drove to Port Canaveral where we stayed at the Radisson at the Port. It’s a nice hotel but we didn’t get to enjoy it much. We finally got to bed around 2 am.
Next up Day 2!
Where: Eastern Cruise with Tortola
When: May 23-30th
This was my 4th Disney Cruise. Third in the last 9 months actually:lookaroun, so I’d like that pattern to keep up! This was the second with tons of family and friends. It’s a great vacation for a big group. Everyone can do their own thing and still meet up for dinner and other activities.
We had a great rate with a military discount. We had enough active duty military, retired military and reserve members to get everyone the discount. Yay!!:sohappy:
I'm making my way through about 1400 pictures right now so this report will have to come in segments!
Day 1 – Friday – May 22nd - Travel Day
The departure day was finally here. We booked this cruise about a year and a half ago, so I couldn’t believe it was finally time!
The kids are in school here until June 25th. Luckily their teachers were all very cooperative and this was Memorial Day week so they only missed 4 ½ days of school. I woke up crazy excited. I had been packed for a month or so, but there were little things left to do this morning. I finished just in time to pick up the kids from school at 11:00. We ran home and ate lunch. I finished up my last recorded DVR show during lunch, so it was nice to be caught up on shows before I left! It was also a great week to go TV-wise because so many shows ended in the two weeks before we left. Coming home from a vacation with tons to do, and 20 TV shows to watch is not easy!!:lol:
Dh came home for lunch to take us to the airport. He had to back out of the trip several weeks ago because we didn’t think he’d be able to get away. Luckily, he got the okay and we added him back in, but at this point our plane tickets had gone up and he wouldn’t be flying with us. It worked out well for him though, we were on United with a layover in DC and left 4 hours before him, and he was on a direct flight on Southwest which was scheduled to arrive 10 minutes after us!
We actually arrived in DC about 20 minutes early and were not looking forward to a now 4 hour layover. Blech. We decided to try the United customer service counter to see if we could catch an earlier flight. United said yes! :sohappy: There was 1 hour and 45 minutes before that flight and there was plenty of time to switch our bags. Well supposedly! We called my parents and asked them to stay at MCO and wait for us so we could ride with them to Port Canaveral. We boarded and woohoo – Orlando bound!!
Well of course our bags didn’t make it.
They were coming on our original flight which had been delayed 3 hours! I was irritated, but relieved I wasn’t on that flight. My parents and I decided to all go to Downtown Disney to kill some time. I love DD. It’s a great way to start a cruise. Dad and Mom ate at Earl of Sandwich and we shopped a little. After Dh arrived at MCO, Dad and Mom dropped me off at the airport to wait for my bags with him. They took the kids with them so they could get a somewhat decent night’s sleep.
United offered to bring the bags to Port Canaveral the next day, but I was terrified they wouldn’t get there before the cruise left. I could not wear a Mickey Mouse tee shirt to formal night!!!
:lol:Dh and I waited for my bags which arrived at 12:32. We got in the rental car and drove to Port Canaveral where we stayed at the Radisson at the Port. It’s a nice hotel but we didn’t get to enjoy it much. We finally got to bed around 2 am.
Next up Day 2!
