Love your pics of Lumieres! I wish I had gotten some inside the restaurant. I'm not sure why I didn't. D'oh!! You guys all look awesome in your fancy duds lol! I was kind of disappointed in the roaming photographers on our cruise. For our dress-up night, they came kind of close to our table but never to ours. I would have liked to have some pics from that night but I wasn't going to chase them down in the restaurant. Same thing happened at our Palo dinner. Did we look that unapproachable? :shrug: I thought we looked pretty good those nights? We probably should have gotten some pics done in the lobby, but I had figured they would come around at dinner. Next time I guess.
I definitely want to hear your opinion of the non-Disney cruises that you take. I might consider one of the other lines in the future, but I am afraid that I have been spoiled by Disney! A friend of mine has sailed a few times on Norwegian and has always had a good time.
We noticed that there weren't near as many photographers roaming the restaurants or the ship in general vs. last September on the Dream. In the evenings when they had all the picture spots set up it was pretty hectic trying to make the rounds (once we realized we weren't going to have any pics to even consider the CD purchase). I was a bit disappointed in this. We mentioned it to maybe our head server or something and were told that they'd had complaints about the roaming photogs at least in the restaurants. When I saw the pics of people in Palo at dinner AND brunch I was pretty miffed. We didn't see any photographer. I would've really liked to have a pic from that! The character lines were pretty insane, too. I missed several because they would only be out for 15 minutes and the lines were like half an hour long. If there's that much demand, why not add more time or additional meets????? I realize there's only so many entertainment cast members but if this is what people are after, bring on MORE!
I was thinking just yesterday about how to go about reporting on our non-Disney cruises when we do those. The TR section here is getting big enough that maybe it'd be good to start splitting things off. Like right now there's only this section for all reports. Maybe DL reports should have a spot on the DL forum. Cruise reports get a spot on the cruise section. I don't know if I should post to the "Other Places" section or the "Chit Chat" section. Maybe I'll post it over at Cruise Critic and send links to those interested. But then how would anyone know to ask for the link if I didn't somehow let you know of it's existance? I'm just not sure. I like the way one person on another fan site handled it. She did a compare/contrast between their RCI Allure to their trip on the Dream. It's totally an Allure cruise report but it's written so it's Shrek vs. Mickey. Creative!
KELLY. I'm absolutely loving this TR. It makes me sad that our cruise isn't for over a year away. I want to go on it nooooow. WAAAH.
You have got yourself some handsome boys! You're gonna have to keep a close eye on them and the ladies that are gonna be swimming around 'em.
The picture of the 4 of you in front of the cruise ship background? Gorgeous. Frame it please.
And the food? Oh it's going to be so hard to keep myself at my wedding weight on our girls cruise. I'm going to have to work out in some form every day - the cruise will be one month before the wedding. Eeek. Maybe I'll lose extra weight before the cruise so that I can really live it up on the Dream.
Tracey & I both said after this cruise that we cannot eat like we did on any future cruises. Seriously. It's like this crazy addiction. You can't stop yourself. You feel so bloated up and miserable. In my case, my stomach totally tried to fight back. I think next time I'll limit myself to 1 item from each course and maybe ask the waiter to only bring me half-portions or one-third portions of everything I order. I just want a few bites. If it's not on the plate, I can't gorge. Also, there's the lighter options on all the menus. I should've been good and only ordered from those sections. I just couldn't help myself. The wasabi mashed potatoes were on the "bad" section and I was NOT going to miss those. That was night #1. Once you turn to the dark side, it's near impossible to go back to good! :goodnevil :lol: Definitely we will have to drag each other to the gym or to the running deck! This is a MUST! I'll be way more compelled to be good so I'm helping you be good for your wedding. If it's just me & Tracey I tend to throw it all out the window. He doesn't care if I'm 150 or 550 lbs. He loves me just the same. I don't care if I have to roll him off the ship, love him the same. If I'm trying to not out-swell other chicks and keep one from outgrowing her wedding gown, it's enough pressure to behave! LOL!
Your portraits came out so nice!!! Ours, sadly, did not.
We had planned on going to the animation drawing thing, but never made it. Heavy sigh. (I admit, I completely forgot about it.)
Your dessert is the Grand Marnier Souffle, which is to.die.for! They serve it on the Dream as well, I believe in Royal Palace.
The portraits were okay. I wasn't the most thrilled with them. The animation thing wasn't what I thought it'd be. I liked Brad just fine but was a bit disappointed he was willing to speed thru things and start early when nobody else arrived. It's like --> :hammer: of course nobody else was there. It wasn't time to start! We were done with Goofy by like 5 minutes after the scheduled start. A man came meandering in and was disappointed to hear we were done. I felt bad for him. That wasn't right. Ya know?
I wrote down Grand Marnier Souffle and bread pudding something for those 2 desserts but I couldn't remember which was which. The 2nd one didn't look very bread pudding-ey to me. It threw me. The Grand Marnier Souffle was really good. Not sure how you're supposed to do that with the sauce. I hollowed out a spot in the middle and dumped the entire cruet-full inside. Talk about ooey-gooey goodness!!! Mmmmmm!
Just caught up on your trip report. I'm loving it!!! You looked great in both your bathing suit and your cream dress...doesn't look like you EVER were pregnant with any children!!! I'm totally jealous...time to go eat a brownie and sulk (HA)!
I loved the pics you took on your plane ride. They are so beautiful!
I enjoyed the TL pics as we have never gone and maybe will consider it on our next trip.
Also, you have a beautiful family! Love those red heads! Neither my hubby nor I are a red head but we have a beautiful red haired daughter. She gets compliments on her hair ALL THE TIME! Your family pics are beautiful!
Lastly, I wanted to say that in general I do like reading trip reports but have to say that when I see one of yours, I get excited! You tell a great story with your reports that make them so enjoyable to read. Can't wait for your next update!!
Oh my! Thanks so much for the compliments on the swimsuit and the cream dress. Believe me, I sooooo carried 2 very big babies (8lbs. 15oz. & 9lbs. 13 oz.) and gained waaaaay more weight than those babies alone during those times (50lbs. & 75lbs.). I've gotten pretty good at hiding the scary belly skin. I need a tummy tuck in the worst way but look at the $13k price tag and think, "That's 3 very nice family vaca's! No way!" Seriously. The way people's skin is after like gastric bypass where they lose crazy amounts of weight then have that loose, extra skin is what my lower tummy looks like. I had stretch marks so huge at the creases by my legs that they split and were open sores for a little while. When I was pregnant I was pregnant all over....like a sumo wrestler!!!! All these young ladies who have yet to have babies, learn from me! Being pregnant is not your free ticket to eat anything and everything no matter how bad you think you need it. A whole box of cereal for breakfast is not a good thing. :lookaroun
You're too sweet about my reports! Oh my! I think those are the best compliments or comments to get. I'd rather be a good storyteller than a fashion model any day. Beauty on the outside goes away with time. A storyteller's spirit will stay with you forever! Right?
You look gorgeous in those pictures! I love that dress! Did you buy the CD? You've got some great pictures there, so you should have!:lol:
The busted story cracked me up! :lol:
We love the animation classes. So fun!
There are snacks in Diversions in the evenings and afternoons sometimes too. It's a fun atmosphere during a big sporting event.
We DID buy the CD! :lol: There's a story there! Tracey saw the signs for the CD on embarkation day and he was like "We're buying that." Me being typical me was like, "Well, we'll see how many good pictures turn out. It may be cheaper just to buy 8x10s of the best ones then scan 'em at home." So on the last night of the cruise we went to Shutters and gathered up every picture that was out of us. Then we sorted into keepers. THEN we went to the little computer kiosk thing to see what was connected to our room keys that didn't show up in print and vice versa. After we counted every print we would've purchased at $20 a pop we had like almost 20. THAT's when I relented and let him purchase the cd. Last night. I'm methodical with this stuff. He's impulsive!
Agreed. That dress NEEDS to come on the girls cruise next September.
Awwwww! The September cruise is only 4 nights and 1 will be pirates! We'll see if the cream dress makes the cut. That was 1 of 2 dresses that were quite literally last-minute purchases. Originally I found a killer BCBG cocktail dress on eBay for like $29 that I was certain was my dress-up dress. But then Tracey pointed out that it was a little too dressy for him even if he wore his navy sports coat & tie ((which we brought sport coasts & ties for all the guys but we also failed to pack Chandler's white dress shirt with his pants so they never wore 'em)). I was like a mad woman 3 days before we were set to leave running to every stinkin' store in the Beaumont area looking for THE dress. I tried on dozens and that was at Dillards alone! I had all 3 guys with me when I tried the cream dress. They all loved it. I wasn't as convinced but they were adamant. So I bought it. They even made me say it! "Are you saying yes to the dress???" "Yes! I'm saying yes to THIS dress!" Then we went downstairs to the shoe department and I tried on like a dozen different shoes to find the the right pair. Got home, put it all on to see it together.....and there was a flaw in the dress right under the b00b so it had to go back. They didn't have anymore in my size. They located me an identical one in my size at a Dillards in Houston. I paid via phone and had my MiL pick it up for me. Such craziness over a stinkin dress! AND, the other dress that made it last minute from Victoria's Secret I never even wore! I like it better than the cream dress, actually. That's why I'm keeping it and can't wait to wear it for something! Ugh! Crazy tales of dress stress, huh???? :hammer:
