The Disneymooners...My Fantasy-tastic Disney Honeymoon!

Well friends, it's been about a month since my new wife and I disembarked from our 8 day honeymoon adventure to WDW and on the DCL Fantasy so I figured it was a perfect time to re-live it all for your reading enjoyment! With 500 pictures, three bags full of goodies, and countless memories, my wife and I had the time of our lives. I must say that this was the greatest way to kick off our lives together and I encourage everyone to try it...

Here are a few photos from our big day, September 14th... A lot of your wedding planning involved a Disney theme. Our showers, our wedding rehersal night as well as the wedding itself.

The wedding was fantastic and I couldn't have had a better experience if I tried. I married the love of my life and she shares the same passion for many of my interests and the biggest is an obvious one, Disney!

The planning for our wedding and honeymoon had a great assist from our(WDWMagic) fearless WDW/DCL guru, Tammy. She was instrumental in helping us plan for the honeymoon, but also helping our guests, friends and family contribute to our honeymoon, and for that Heather and I are greatly appreciative... Take a bow!!

After the wedding, we had to wait a long week for our honeymoon to begin. We counted the hours, minutes, and seconds to the day we were leaving, September 21st...We decided to wait a week after to get things in order for our time away and not have to leave the day after. It also allowed us to book our trip on the Fantasy and begin our "cruise career"(thanks sweetpee and hubs ) on the newest ship.

Many people encouraged us to fly down a night prior to the cruise in case of any misshaps and things, so we booked a night at All-Star Sports, where we stayed on our first WDW trip together, and then begin our cruise adventure the next day, Sept 22...

Sept 21st-4am was the "get up time" we decided on to get us to the airport for our 7am flight. Packing was finished the night before, so it was just a quick shower and jump in the car for the 45 minute ride to Midway Airport. We actually live 15 minutes from Chicago O'hare but Southwest flies there to Orlando and the fares were great for this time of year and no bag fees! We brought an extra garment bag for our suits and dresses so not paying an extra fee for the 3rd bag was good. Heather's dad got us there in no time(lead foot!). Check in and security was a breeze however the gate was at the other end of the terminal so we had to hoof it, thank God for moving walk ways...Got a bite to eat from our vacation staple food source, McDonalds and bought some water for the plane ride. He had about 25 minutes before boarding so we grabbed a seat and
relaxed...

Boarding was quick and painless buuuuut the departure was not! Details next!

 

[Billy6]

Finally something other than water to look at! I enjoyed our days at sea but it was time for a little land under our feet...

Heather and I headed up to Cabanas for breakfast once again and got our fill of energy for the long day.
As I said we had to meet in the Buena Vista theatre by 8:30 so we went back to the room to grab our gear, tickets and cameras and headed down to Deck 5. The CMs were setting up water stations for purchase so I grabbed a few bottles for the tour of the Island. The adventure teams were checking guests into their respective groups and we were given stickers to identify each different tour or adventure. We got Chip n Dale..You'll see them on some pictures of me and Heather...After about 15 minutes waiting, we were led down to Deck 1 and out and off of the ship. The security team is there to swipe your Keys to the World...

 

[Billy6]

Around 9am the tour guides came down the pier and escorted us to the buses. There were around 200 in our group so they needed quite a few buses for all of the guests. The adventure would take us around the island and give the history of both sides of the island. The Dutch side was first....

 

[sweetpee_1993]

Ooooooh...lovin' it! I'm so wishing we were there with y'all for your first port day..... **sigh** More more! I need to see mooooore!

 

[Billy6]

Ooooooh...lovin' it! I'm so wishing we were there with y'all for your first port day..... **sigh** More more! I need to see mooooore!

St Maarten was really fun, especially the SNUBA. We saw the Princess Juliana Airport from the bus tour but couldnt see Maho Beach and no planes landing

 

[Billy6]

The bus headed out of of the port area and into "downtown" Philipsburg where there were numerous shops and activities. Our tour guide started off with a history lesson of the area we were in. The area was a salt flat and this statue commemorated the slaves in the 1700's that cultivated the salt and exported it.

These "commemorative" statues were very previlent around the island. When the roads converged, each traffic roundabout had a statue to salute teachers, musicians, etc...

Subway! It was funny when we passed this Subway, the gasps from the group were odd..like they had never seen a Subway outside of the US...

 

[Billy6]

Harley Davidson...had to take this picture for the old man!

 

[Billy6]

We passed numerous schools on the entire island, but she made a point to tell us how important school was to the islanders.

 

[Billy6]

The first stop we made was at International Lookout Point. If I recall correctly, this is an industrial/residental area, which is home to many different nationalities and international businesses. The lady with the hat was very hungover, according to her husband and annoyed the crap out of the bus many times by her moaning and groaning and having to be the first one off of the bus, even though they sat in the way back... To the right of the peak is Simpson Bay and Simpson Bay Lagoon, the famous Maho Beach and Princess Juliana Int Airport is just the other side of it. Maho Beach is famous for the runway being yards from the sand and there are many videos on YouTube where the "idiots" as the tour guide put it, stand and watch the low flying commercial planes and get blown around by the jet wash...Crazy stuff! We never saw any planes take off or land while on the bus.
The tour guide told us that tourism is a major part of the economy and this area is where most of the hotels and resorts are on the Dutch side. The casinos are there too.. She told us that the government regulates how many times a citizen can play in the casino..6 times is all they are aloud to be in one a month...Don't think I go in to the casinos around here 6 times a year..but they must go alot of they are regulating that...

The first border monument going from the Dutch side in to the French side...Bienvenue en Partie Francaise(Welcome to the French side)!

 

[Billy6]

About 20 minutes after crossing the border, we entered the capital of the French side, Marigot..

This was the Posh shopping mall with the marble bathrooms...They cost one Euro...At the top of the hill is Fort St Louis, built for King Louis the 16th (married to Marie Antoinette).

 

[Billy6]

We had about 45 minutes to walk around the area and the tour guide pointed out some places to eat and shop..There were a lot of street vendors and food vendors around the port...We found a french pastry shop and had a few tarts and a brownie...Very good! Heather checked out the goods at the vendors area and I took some video of the capital...

The last two photos are of the nude beach/nudist colony..in case you were wondering

Back on the Dutch side....The tour was about 3 hours and it was very informative and scenic..We also went through some slum areas, but all and all the island was very beautiful...

 

[Disneyfalcon]

Wishes was about 3 high school friends that were about to graduate and they reminisce about their friendships that were built on trips to Disneyland. They are then emersed in the attractions and shows that they enjoyed together. I am not going to give spoilers on the rest of the show, you'll just have to call Tammy and book a cruise and see it yourself! Heather and I thought it was very good and enjoyed very much.

Best. Plug. Ever.
I'm so behind!
I am glad the Sea Bands helped! I have heard they are great.
I'm so glad you didn't miss the second night at Animators!! It's amazing!! I can't wait to hear what you thought.
Love the pictures from St. Martin too! Can't wait to hear about the snuba!

 

[Billy6]

Best. Plug. Ever.
I'm so behind!
I am glad the Sea Bands helped! I have heard they are great.
I'm so glad you didn't miss the second night at Animators!! It's amazing!! I can't wait to hear what you thought.
Love the pictures from St. Martin too! Can't wait to hear about the snuba!

I like plugging!
Sea bands saved me! I probably would have gotten used to it, but it's my head that was messy...
I'm glad too, I didn't want to miss it, and Palo was very understanding too and found us a great time!
SNUBA was awesome...I need to get the pics from the underwater camera loaded up..I am not sure if we got a CD.

I have been super busy since before thanksgiving and went to Ohio to see my sister...I haven't had a chance to update but I will soon!

 

[Billy6]

Alright..sorry for the delay all. It's been busy here for work and the Thanksgivng holiday. I went to Ohio for three days to visit my sister for Thanksgiving and then had a busy end of the month at work...so without further delay...

Our tour was great and we enjoyed it very much. They asked everyone if they would like to be dropped off at the main area in Philipsburg for the shopping and things, but we declined and stayed on while a good portion of the bus did. We had only about 2 hours to get back to the ship and eat and then get ready for our SNUBA adventure. At the bus/port dock there were a few shops and Heather and I went browsing for a few minutes. She was interested in some diamond earrings but I was interested in all you can eat shrimp at Cabanas , so I hurried her along more than she would have liked, but she didn't see anything she was interested in anyways....We picked up some St Maarten gifts and trinkets though and headed back to the Fantasy...

Back aboard the ship we headed back to the stateroom to change and organize our things for SNUBA. We were to meet at D-Lounge at 1:30 to group up so we got everything together, headed up to Cabanas for lunch, and then down to D-Lounge...We got there a bit early and they weren't checking anyone in at the time as other groups for different adventures were still assembling. After about 15 minutes, they announced our group. There were 11 people total for the adventure, which in retrospect should have been more because the experience was awesome..
At the dock, we met our tour guides where they collected our tickets and waivers. Gotta have those insurance policies in..

They guided us to the bus stop and we took a short van ride over to downtown Philipsburg. The dive shop was just the other side of the parking lot. The dive guides fitted us with gear and took our weights so they could build our dive belts. Fins and mask in tow and Heather and I headed to the pier and our boat..Our boat eerily reminded me of the Orca from Jaws but....nevermind...There was another adventure group on the boat but it was the advanced SCUBA tour. It looked like it was mainly cast members from the ship however with a few guests...

So for our adventure, Heather and I bought a underwater camera(a throwaway) and when we got them developed they didnt give Heather a CD or anything to get them digitally, so I improvised with my IPad....

 

[Billy6]

The Orca...err..I mean, boat headed out to Little Bay, which was just opposite the ship and around a small cove..Trevor, our dive instructor gave us the 411 on how our adventure would go and when we got to our dive spot, he gave us the crash course in SNUBA. SNUBA is the marriage of snorkeling and scuba. There is a float at the surface of the water with two O2 tanks and 4 hoses. Trevor gave us instructions on how to relieve the ear pressure and get water from our masks as well as the universal scuba diving signals. He also told us about some of the wildlife we would see and if we saw some certain ones to swim the other way..He mentioned that there were Lion Fish in the area that are not native to the waters. Also, the Sea Urchins would be something to avoid...One dad asked if the "fish with the big teeth" would be in the waters to which he was reassured that sharks were not in the area... Darn!!! I love sharks!!!!

Because there were only 4 hoses to use at a time, he asked for volunteers to go first while the rest of us went out in the area and snorkeled. The other divers were getting their gear ready as they were in full SCUBA gear so Heather and I got our snorkel gear and headed to the back of the boat. Now, I can swim but Michael Phelps I am not, so I grabbed a floatie because they didnt provide a snorkel vest, no biggie and we headed over to the area they wanted us to stay in.

The water was pretty murkey but we were able to see some great things from the surface...We swam around for about 30 minutes while we saw the first group try the SNUBA. The divers were in the area too so it was really cool watching everyone enjoying the experience of St Maarten! The sea urchins were really abundant at the bottom and we spotted the Lion Fish as well. They were all at the bottom so we wouldnt come into contact at all with them...

 

[Billy6]

We headed back to the boat to wash our mouths out with fresh water and some rum punch and don our SNUBA gear! The weight belts were ready for us and the harness also had the business end of the O2 hoses on them. We decided to group up with another couple to avoid being with any of the kids that may have gotten scared and wanted to go back up. They were game for it too and soon enough we had jumped in and hooked up to the float. Trevor was in the water with us and had us test our gear before we headed down. All four of us had never done anything like this so he made sure we were comfortable in our breathing under the surface before we went. I was cool and Heather was too and we both lowered ourselves further under. The hoses also doubled as our life line so we didnt drop to the bottom. We gradually made our way downward on the hoses as we got more confident. Then a final check and we were off! Trevor made sure he was in sight of us at all times and regularly checked to make sure things were good. The futher under you got the more pressure builds so we had to relieve it periodically and clear our masks...

Once we got going it was wonderfull..I cannot recommend this adventure enough...We saw way more wildlife during SNUBA and got closer to the bottom and saw the shipwreck and two giant industrial gear wheels. Again, the water was murkey and we found out why when we got back to the Fantasy. I checked on Heather throughout the swim as it was easy to lose track of where you were while concentrating on your breathing and comfort. She was having a blast snapping pictures and pointing out fish she saw. Trevor came across some few spider shrimp(i think thats what he said). They looked like shrimp but had 4 huge legs that made it look like a spider, but he caught one and had us hold it if we wanted..I did...not a huge deal... He said we had about 10 minutes left so he helped us get some group photos before we went back up..

 

[Billy6]

We have some more pictures but they were really blurry and wouldnt have been worth putting up...

Well our SNUBA adventure had come to an end and it was awesome! For one who hasnt scuba dived and wants a "starter" course this is it...I have been wanting to scuba dive for as long as I can remember and this definately fueled the fire to learn how and do some better dives. I would do this again in a heartbeat! We waited about 30 minutes as there was 1 more group to go. We could have gone back in and snorkeled but I was done and tired and so was Heather...Some more rum punch and water to rehydrate and we pulled up anchor and went back to the ship...

That was part 2 of our great day in St Maarten and we still had Palo and Pirate night to go! Back at the room I snapped a couple shots from our verandah while getting ready for dinner...

 

[Billy6]

Beautiful sunset in Sint Maarten...and my beautiful wife!!

 

[Billy6]

While part 3 of our wonderful day in St Maarten was getting ready to begin, Heather called down to room service and ordered the All Hands on Deck cheese and cracker platter to tide us over until dinner at Palo(another Tammy tip!) Ressies were at 7:00 so after a bite we finished getting dolled up and headed to Deck 12 around 6:30 and had a drink at Meridian..

I had a nice refreshing pint of Stella Artois and the lady had a Pomegranate Cosmo. We had checked in a bit early but that was ok and the sun was about to set for the night so the view of the island was awesome while we enjoyed our drinks...

Heather and I were really looking forward to dinner at Palo. We had rearranged the reservation which I mentioned earlier so we didnt have to wait til the last sea day to enjoy it. About 5 after, our host came into the bar and summoned us for what would be a fantastic experience. She led us to most forward section of Palo and I was hoping for a seat next to the window but instead we were sat at the "most romantic" seat at Palo. It was a smaller U-shaped booth perfect for a honeymoon dinner...

Our server, Michael, from the Philippines(see the pattern now) quickly greeted us and offered a drink refresher and our choice of water. Faucet water sounded nice tonight and we both had another drink, but Heather had a Reisling instead of another Cosmo..He offered the menus and excused himself to get our drinks...

 

[Billy6]

The ship had started to move out of the dock area and soon it was slowly leaving St Maarten but we had a perfect view of the passing lights from the island was we made our way to St Thomas..
Michael returned with our drinks and some excellent breads for us to begin with and previewed the menu with his recommendations. He explained that while we looked at those he would be back with our antipasti and take our orders...
The antipasti cart was wheeled up and Michael fixed two plates with Prosciutto, Bresaola, Parmesan-Reggiano Cheese, Marinated Olives, and Sun-Dried Tomatoes. I especially enjoyed the cheese as it reminded me of eating the blocks of parmesan cheese on spaghetti nights at my granparent's house. Heather ate all of the olives because I am not a fan... The antipasti was fantastic and was a great precurser to what else was to come....
We both ordered an starter, I had the Sicilian Pesto Marinated Grilled Shrimp with a spicy tomato paste and Heather had the Calamari, which happened to be the best I had ever eaten..No Olive Garden squid here, jack!!

Michael took our entree order at this time and constantly checked on us while eating our appetizers...We really wanted to try a pasta dish at Palo so I asked for the Lobster and Marscarpone Cheese Ravioli and Heather tried the Gnochhi with Asparagus...Phenomenal!

I am sorry I wish I had snapped some pictures of these dishes but my camera was the last thing I was thinking about..Guess you'll just have to book a cruise!!

But we did snap some between pasta and entrees....Thanks to Michael..

 

[Billy6]

Sorry gang..It's been a while since my last update..The holidays were very busy and eventful and I had little time for an update..But I do now! Thanks to everyone that has been reading and if you havent I hope to get you back on!

So, to make a long story short and get on with things..Palo was the best dining experience I have had in my life. The food, the service, the atmosphere...Everything was phenomenal. We both had The Filet Palo and I had tiramisu and Heather had the Chocolate souffle...Excellent! After our desserts, Michael brought out a nice keepsake for us..

We were very appreciative of Michael and his service and we definitely let him know, on the final bill. A few days later we received a nice thank you card from him at our stateroom.

With bellies full, we headed down to the room to change for the pirate night festivities.. He was hanging out waiting for us to return...