kiddodiddo: January 2011

Gary aboard the Disney Wonder, near the lifeboats for maximum safety.

NOTE: I started this blog post back in December. I wanted to do it justice, which requires thousands of words, and hopefully you’re reading this while it’s still freezing outside. Enjoy!

We had a most excellent journey in December 2010. I can't say everything about it but hopefully this will give you a good summary of our vacation including some photos and advice.

In summary, we took a train to Florida and went on a four-night Disney cruise in the Bahamas. We had a wonderful time with no major complications. The worst we had was a few vomiting episodes, which is typical for our kids, but somehow they all happened in Tracy's room so I'd have to defer to her (sorry cutie!).

FIRST: THE BAD AND THE UGLY

First things first. If you want to go on a cruise or arrange any kind of travel, I cannot stress enough how important it is to avoid using the travel agency we used. I hate to call them out by name (since they have my credit card number) but I'll just say they briefly had their own mom-and-pop airline and the folks back home will know who I'm talking about. (If you're not sure whether you're "back home," you're probably not, so you're not in much danger of encountering this outfit.) Contact me if you need a better clue. For now, let's call them Agency M.

This was an extended family cruise, and my parents decided to go with Agency M based on what they learned at a travel expo. Tracy and I had never used a travel agency, but since the decision had been made for us, we decided what the hey, let's party like it's 1972 and go through a travel agency.

I was going to post a long list of complaints about Agency M, but you don't want specifics. I'm surprised you made it this far. So it's enough to say that the benefits promised--best possible rate, rooms adjacent to extended family, and same dining schedule as extended family--were easily available through the Disney Cruise Line (DCL) website with a little coordination. Agency M and our agent failed to communicate adequately with us and were frequently unavailable to help us over the phone. No, it didn't cost us any extra money to use Agency M, and no, our actual cruise was not eventually affected. But there were no apparent benefits and several inconveniences. If all travel agencies are like this, no wonder their whole industry is slowly going out of business.

One wee complaint about the cruise itself. Our first afternoon on the ship was a bit overwhelming, and for lunch we went to the first restaurant we could find: the Beach Blanket Buffet. They let us in and let us get food, but only then did we find out that the restaurant was actually full and we would have to eat outside. With five kids under age 10 (including baby in stroller), six trays of food, and 55 degrees and 30+ mph wind gusts outside, it wasn't a pleasant exodus outside or first meal aboard the Wonder. After lunch we were wondering what we had gotten ourselves into.

We also had a real train wreck, which I will detail later. Also, Kennedy Space Center is way too expensive. Also, the kids’ vomiting, of which I was blissfully unaware thanks to Tracy.

Well, that's all the bad and the ugly! Sorry to put the negatives first, but the negatives came first. Now I can spend the rest of this post on good stuff!

THE GOOD STUFF

Friday, December 10: Awesome Mode Enabled!

We started the day going early to the kids' school to see James sing in a "season" concert with the school choir. The singing and dancing was wonderful. What a great bunch of kids. They sang lots of winter and secular Christmas songs, as well as token Hanukkah and Kwanzaa songs for the .0001% of elementary school students who do not celebrate Christmas.

After the concert, we took James and Amelia out of school early so we could finish packing before leaving:

You will know Jonathan is trying to show you his missing teeth when he smiles like this.

We bundled up and packed to leave. After quick stops at Sheetz for food for the drive and Walmart for supplies, we drove our van to Lorton, Virginia, where the Amtrak Auto Train has its northern terminus. Those who know us and our conservative/libertarian leanings may be surprised that we trusted a crucial part of this once-in-a-lifetime vacation to the federal government. The fact is that according to lots of reviews on reputable websites, the Auto Train is probably the best line that Amtrak runs. It helps that they only have two stations and everyone on board is required to bring a vehicle.

Arriving at the station, an attendant at a booth put a giant magnet on my door to identify our van. We pulled up to the loading area, retrieved the kids and items we would need overnight on the train, and said goodbye to the van, which was scanned for explosives and videotaped for damage and then driven onto the train by friendly Amtrak staff. Then we walked into the station.

We had to get there extra early because of our oversized vehicle (most minivans are oversized), so we had lots of time to explore the station:

Simon has a ticket to ride!

In fact, the wait was extremely long:

Finally we were able to board around 2:30 PM. At about 3:45, the train departed Lorton. The whole ride was quiet and smooth, including the train wreck on the return trip (I'll bet you think I'm kidding). There were some slowdowns and stops for train traffic ahead, but it was all very smooth and pleasant. It had advantages over air travel because there's plenty of room, you can walk around whenever you want, there are plenty of lavatories (including a changing room), and did I mention it is as *quiet* as can be? To be fair, air travel takes two hours and the train takes 17, but those were 17 hours to chat with our family, watch movies on our DVD player, enjoy a better-than-expected dinner and breakfast that were included in the fare, enjoy actually a decent night of sleep, and take a picture or two:

Jonathan, James, Simon, and Amelia enjoying a movie on the train. Before 10 PM and after 6 AM, you can use audio without headphones at a reasonable volume. Leg rests not pictured in Awesome Mode.

The chairs feature adjustable leg rests. They effectively extend your seat several inches and help you sleep or relax. On airliners, I have only seen anything similar in business class or better. The "federal" part of the leg rests is what my kids dubbed Awesome Mode (I called it Expert Mode and was immediately corrected), in which the leg rests are placed not just horizontally but vertically, pointing up. The kids thought it was really fun. I still don't know why it was useful, but I grin when I imagine the federal subcommittee that must have decided that feature was necessary. (I failed to photograph Awesome Mode. I took few photos inside the train to avoid creeping out other passengers.)

One great thing about the Auto Train was the ability to use a row of empty seats for Rachel's stroller. She slept soundly with the stroller pointing sideways, brakes on, in front of two empty seats. We were fortunate that there were empty seats to do this. I'm not sure what we would have done if the train had been full. Holding her all night would have been tricky. Fitting a car seat in the foot space would be tight, and putting a car seat on a train seat would not be safe in my opinion because there are no seat belts. But as long as you're not going at the busiest times of year, you should have space to use a stroller. Remember, a train has lots of momentum and cannot stop or turn on a dime. During our train wreck, we barely noticed anything unusual let alone dangerous (you don't believe me, do you?). I think it would take a derailment for a stroller to be unsafe, and there's no safe place for a baby during a derailment anyway.

All the passengers and staff we met were extremely nice. They seemed to put all the families with small children into the same part of the same car, which I thought was a very nice touch for us and for passengers without kids.

Dinner and breakfast were served in the dining car. Soon after breakfast on...

Saturday, December 11: Freezy Florida

...the train arrived in Sanford, Florida ahead of schedule. It took 15-20 minutes to take apart the train, car by car (the Auto Train is the longest passenger train in the world), and then we stepped down into an unusually cool and foggy Florida morning. Tracy and I decided that the beach was out and we would have to think of something. We quickly decided that the Kennedy Space Center (KSC), in Cape Canaveral where our hotel and the cruise terminal were located, would be a good poor-weather option. We waited in the train station a while for our van, which emerged and then we were on our way to the Cape.

Arriving at the Kennedy Space Center, the kids were disappointed about missing the beach, but Amelia was very excited because she had a friend who had been there and had met real astronauts and had seen the Space Shuttle launch. We toned down her expectations, but she was still excited. Imagine our disappointment when we saw the admission prices: $41 for adults and $31 for kids, and everyone pays except Rachel. I was hoping for more like $15 or maybe $20 apiece. Game-time decision: Tracy and I went frugal and forever became KSC Liars. We got back in the van, Amelia in tears, Dad feeling stupid and apologizing profusely but not wanting to drop more than $200 for a few hours on a spur-of-the-moment museum.

We got some fast food lunch, during which the fog and clouds lifted and a sunny, lukewarm Florida day emerged. So we went to the beach in Cape Canaveral after all:

Tracy, Rachel, Jonathan, Amelia, and James enjoying the water. Where’s Simon?

Simon enjoyed the sand a lot more than he enjoyed the water.

Rachel sampled the seashells and told us which ones had the finest taste.

The beach we chose was at Cherie Down Park, where we have been before during warmer weather, and which is beautiful and very family-friendly. The water was just barely warm enough to be enjoyable. But the weather was not cold, and there was very little wind. For a beach trip in the mainland U.S. in December, I think it was about as good as one could hope for. All of us except Rachel enjoyed being in the water, though Simon was nervous. The big kids loved to get soaked. Jonny even got trampled by a wave!

After a very pleasant afternoon at the beach, we took a drive over to the cruise terminal to check it out. The Disney Magic was there, getting ready to sail that afternoon on a seven-night Caribbean cruise. We also saw a big Norwegian Cruise Line (NCL) ship. We were even more excited for the next day!

We drove to our hotel, Country Inn and Suites in Cape Canaveral, to unpack a few things for the night and next morning. We were disappointed that they did not have interconnecting rooms for us, as they had said they did over the phone. That was inconvenient. Other than that, it was a very nice hotel and had everything we needed.

We went to Cocoa Beach Pier for dinner at Marlins. It was decent food and not busy at all this time of year. James had his second big cheeseburger of the day, which had sad consequences during the night. Simon slept through most of the meal, but we ordered him some chicken because we knew he would be sad and hungry when he woke up.

After dinner we were all ready for an early bedtime. We split into our two rooms and went to bed to prepare for the first day of the cruise.

Sunday, December 12: Anchors Aweigh

I always feel bad about vacationing on Sunday, but we made it a little better by attending church Sunday morning. After a nice buffet breakfast at the hotel, we drove to Titusville. Many thanks to the Cocoa Ward for welcoming us to their sacrament meeting. It was the right way to start Sunday.

We drove back to the hotel, arriving a little after 11:00 and changing out of our church clothes, which would become formalwear on the cruise. We checked out and got the rest of the bags we would need for the cruise out of the van. Then a shuttle took us to the cruise terminal. Many Cape Canaveral hotels have a “park and cruise” deal where if you stay one night, they give you free parking and cruise shuttle for free or cheap. It’s free at the Country Inn, and it worked out exactly as advertised.

As we pulled up to the shuttle stop at the port, I noticed that the rest of our relatives were right there. What a great coincidence! So the family reunion started a little sooner than I expected. We had lots of greetings and hugs. It was great to see everyone. They all flew to Florida for the cruise and had just arrived via shuttle from their hotels in Orlando.

We had not yet placed our luggage tags on our checked bags. This was the place where luggage would be whisked away. With seven of us, we had to be sure we tagged everything. Thankfully, the helpful Disney service started right there on the curb, where the porters weren’t technically Disney employees but were just as helpful and friendly. They helped us sort everything out, and we took our kids and carry-ons and got in line.

Tracy and I had a backpack that held items that must not be lost. Those included the passports, cruise documents, train tickets, and camera. When we arrived at the port, my first check revealed that the passports were gone, and I panicked for a moment. But I’m just clumsy, and the passports were indeed there. So we proceeded to a quick ID check booth, which I think was mainly to make sure you got in line at the right cruise line.

We waited in a line that was a little like an airport security line but in a much more pleasant environment, with windows everywhere to let in that Florida sunshine. At the front, I was overjoyed to see that the checkpoint was not run by the TSA, so we did not have to choose between the peeping line and the groping line or have our personal items extorted. They were very friendly and reasonable.

After security, we took an elevator up with Rachel’s stroller, while everyone else took an escalator. We arrived in the main hall of the DCL terminal. We filled out a “community health survey,” which I think was a sneaky way of trying to identify people who were ill and should not cruise. We were pleased that James’s vomiting did not disqualify him from the cruise. You have to have vomiting in conjunction with some other symptoms. Cheeseburger-induced vomiting was okay, so we proceeded to the main check-in line.

Check-in was a little like the check-in line at a very large hotel, but very slow. They took our photos and issued seven Key to the World cards, used as room keys and payment cards. They gave us some paperwork, including a Personal Navigator for the day, which is the daily schedule of events and ship directory. They also gave us a boarding pass with the number 20 on it.

We had to check in separately for the kids to join the Oceaneer Club and Oceaneer Lab, which was also slow. The kids received wristbands and we received a pager. Simon did not receive a wristband at that time because he is not completely potty-trained. But here is the secret: 3-year-olds who are mostly potty-trained can go in the Oceaneer Club! Yes! You’re supposed to go check on them every 45 minutes or so, but they can indeed join. Too bad we didn’t find out until a couple of days into the cruise.

We waited in the terminal hall until they started calling boarding numbers. 1. 2. “I need to use the bathroom.” Bathroom trip. 9. 10. “I need to use the bathroom.” 17. 18. 19. “I need to use the bathroom.” Again? NOW??? Bathroom trip. During the bathroom trip, “everyone may now board.” Oh no, we’re going to miss it! Hurry kids! No, we would not have missed it. We were hours early. But I was anxious to see what this ship would be like. So finally, we made our way across the gangway and onto Deck 3 of the Disney Wonder!

My first impression was that the ship was a lot narrower than I imagined. I’m a bad judge of distance so I won’t even try. But it was narrow for something that looked so huge from the outside. Of course I wasn’t disappointed, and I’m not saying it was cramped. Not at all. It was spacious. But that was my first impression: narrower than expected.

Of course the ship was gorgeous. The lobby where we entered looked like the grand entryways of some the most beautiful homes I have visited. The ship is a giant floating hotel, and it was as nice as the nicest hotels I have been in.

As we boarded, they announced our family by name and several crewmembers applauded to welcome us. It was lunchtime, and we were told that we could go either to the Beach Blanket Buffet on Deck 9 or the Parrot Cay Restaurant on Deck 3. Tip to future Disney Wonder cruisers: go to Parrot Cay for your first lunch! We went to Beach Blanket, as I mentioned above in “The Bad and the Ugly.” The food was fine but due to lack of indoor seating we could not enjoy it very well. We did not return to Beach Blanket for the rest of the cruise. (Note: everyone’s jackets go in your carry-on, not in your checked luggage! Big mistake on my part!)

At this point Tracy was feeling very stressed and worried that the whole cruise would be full of waiting in line at overcrowded restaurants and other venues. Thankfully, our first lunch was by far our worst experience of the cruise, and really it wasn’t that bad.

After lunch we went to our staterooms on Deck 6. We wanted to be together with my relatives, and they all chose the cheapest rooms possible, which did not allow us to get interconnecting rooms. So we had two separate rooms again, just like at the hotel in Cape Canaveral. We got extra room keys so Tracy and I could open both rooms, but soon the extra keys failed. Some of our Key to the World cards didn’t work either. But Guest Services on Deck 3 did their best to fix it up.

The kids loved playing in these little rooms. They also discovered the life jackets in the closets. They ran between the rooms, carrying life jackets back and forth and having a ball in a new place.

The rooms were very nice. It was our first cruise so I don’t know how the Disney Wonder rooms compare to other cruise staterooms, but they were the same size as the smallest rooms I have had in nice hotels in some large cities. Since these were the cheapest rooms on the ship, I was impressed. We didn’t spend a lot of time in our rooms, so I didn’t miss having more space or a window.

Each room featured a queen-size bed and a sofa that folds into a twin bed, as well as a pull-down bed from the ceiling. The pull-down bed is locked, and our room attendant Johny prepared all the beds each night, complete with the famous Disney Cruise towel animals they are so good at folding:

Towel ray, in Tracy’s room on the last night of the cruise.

When we arrived in the rooms, the TV was on and tuned to a ship channel all about the ship and the safety drill that would soon happen. At the right time, we grabbed the kids and all the life jackets and headed to Deck 4, lifeboat station F, and lined up by family with shortest in front and tallest in back, underneath our lifeboat:

A lifeboat on the Disney Wonder. I don’t think this was our lifeboat. Boats are numbered, but meeting areas are lettered. Disney was the first line in the modern era to have non-orange lifeboats, because orange didn’t go with the Mickey-Minnie-Donald-Goofy theme. They got special permission for yellow after proving that this particular hue is in fact more visible than standard lifeboat orange.

We all wore our life jackets, and Rachel’s jacket was made for infants and was truly like a jacket, with a hood and sleeves. Tracy thought Rachel was so cute in the life jacket and wanted a photo, but Rachel was asleep when Tracy thought to take the photo. So here is the jacket sans Rachel:

Imagine little Rachel, bobbing around in this cute thing, with people screaming all around…

Thankfully, we did not need to use the life jackets or boats for their intended purpose.

After the drill, we returned our life jackets to our rooms and went up to Deck 9 for Adventures Away, a sail-away party. It was cold, cloudy, windy, and rainy. Also, our kids got lost, so we spent the party looking for them. They turned out to be with various relatives. At that point, we made clear the need for people to tell us they were taking our kids, so we would not spend the next four days searching the ships and islands instead of having fun. As far as I remember, that only happened once more during the cruise.

Once we found the kids, the party was over and I was freezing. It was notable that the ship did *not* sail away during the sail-away party. Then it was time for our first dinner. We retrieved the kids and went to the Animator’s Palate restaurant in time for our 5:45 dinner seating.

Here’s how dinner works. There are three restaurants for sit-down dinner: Animator’s Palate, Parrot Cay, and Triton’s. You are assigned to one restaurant each night and have a chance to eat at all three. We had a four-night cruise, and our first and last dinners were in Animator’s Palate. This is the one where Disney art on the walls is supposed to fill with color and come alive. It did not happen on the first night, which we later learned was intentional for the first night. On our last night, there were some colors and sort of a light show, and I believe the servers changed their vests from black-and-white to color, but I was underwhelmed based on everything amazing I had heard about this restaurant.

But the food was amazing at all three restaurants. Each diner gets an appetizer, a soup or salad, an entrée, and a dessert. Each appetizer is single-serve, so everyone gets what they want. I can’t remember very many specific dishes, but here are the things I remember enjoying most from dinners on the cruise:

Mixed Grill: all kinds of meat seasoned and grilled
Some kind of spinach/artichoke dip with chips
Potato cheese soup
Crème brûlée

As Latter-day Saints, we do not drink alcohol (I think crème brûlée is okay because the alcohol is burned away). That’s great on DCL, because non-alcoholic beverages are free! (Exception: drinks at some venues like the theaters, as well as “virgin” mixed drinks, are not free.) I ordered orange juice on my first night, and I guess that became my default because they kept bringing me orange juice every night. I ended up asking for something different, which was fine.

The #1 best thing about the dinners, and maybe the best thing on the cruise, was the service. Our servers were Jedi master Geffrey, from the Philippines, and his Padawan learner I Made (ee-MAH-day), from Indonesia. They made our dining experience extremely relaxing and pleasant. When we go out to dinner with our five kids, it’s often a relief to finally be done and get out of there. Not so on our cruise.

When we first arrived at the Animator’s Palate, Geffrey and I Made were there to welcome us and take us to our tables. There were 17 of us, and each large table is designed for 10, so we had two tables. I figured it would be me and my family at one table and most everyone else at the other. Instead, Geffrey and I Made suggested having an adults table and a kids table. I thought they were crazy and didn’t know what they were getting into. As it turns out, they were wonderful with children! They helped them understand the choices, order, cut their food, and have a great time. Meanwhile, at the adults table we got to have a very pleasant meal most nights. One night we did have trouble with both Simon and Rachel, and that was more like a typical restaurant visit. But all the other dinners on the cruise were very nice.

During Sunday’s dinner at some point, we felt the ship start to move! It was unnerving at first, mainly because Animator’s Palate has no windows. But soon we got used to it. The movements are very gentle and subtle. I can’t imagine anyone being seasick on a ship like that, though I know some do get sick anyway.

After dinner, we went over to see Sunday night’s show, The Golden Mickeys. We took some photos ahead of the show:

Simon, Amelia, James, and Jonathan near the entrance to the Walt Disney Theatre just before The Golden Mickeys. Amelia’s pompom came from the Adventures Away party.

“The Golden Mickeys are tonight!”

Actually the three big kids wanted to go to the clubs instead, so we introduced James, Amelia, and Jonathan to the kids’ clubs. The Oceaneer Club is designed for ages 3 to roughly 8, and the Oceaneer Lab is designed for about 8 to 11. There is no rule saying who goes where. If a child wants to switch between Club and Lab, a counselor can take them. James spent more time in the Lab because they have cooler video games. Amelia, Jonny, and later Simon when we learned he could participate, spent more time in the Club. Amelia says, “I just loved being little-kid-ish.” The Club had some great climbing and sliding, as well as a stage where the counselors ran fun activities for the kids. Jonny says, “I liked the Oceaneer Lab, but for some reason I only went there once.”

One good thing to know about is the ability for 9-, 10-, and 11-year-olds to check themselves in and out, if parents give permission. At first we said no, because we didn’t want to spend the cruise looking all over the ship for James. But then we found out about a great program called Out and About, in which the counselors take the tweens to fun activities around the ship, not just in the lab. To participate in Out and About, a child has to have self-checkin/checkout privileges. So we let James participate, and as it turns out, Out and About was his favorite part of the cruise. We made sure he realized he was not to leave the Club and Lab outside of Out and About, unless he returned to the Club or Lab right away. It went really well, and he did exactly what we said. Way to go James! He was especially excited when Out and About took over the teen club for an hour!

After we dropped off the kids at the clubs on Deck 5, we went back down to Deck 4 in time for The Golden Mickeys. It was a good musical show about a stage crew member who ends up hosting an awards show (best hero, best villain, etc. from Disney movies).

I’ll be honest: the thing that impressed me most was before the show, when Christian the cruise director introduced Captain Gus, captain of the Wonder. Wow, the captain of a huge ship! Right there on the stage! Captain Gus sounds like he’s from one of the Bork, Bork, Bork countries. He said there are 999 crewmembers on the Disney Wonder (“that’s the actual number,” he added).

Later in the cruise, there was a Captain’s Corner scheduled to hear Captain Gus talk about the ship and ask him questions, but we didn’t have time for some reason. I told my dad about the Captain’s Corner after the fact and he said, “how did you know?” “The Personal Navigator,” I said. “Oh, we haven’t bothered to read those,” he said. I can’t say enough about how useful the daily Personal Navigator is. You get one in your room every night or morning, and they have extras at Guest Services on Deck 3.

Anyway, The Golden Mickeys. The show ended around 9:15, and Simon and Rachel were already asleep. We had had a fun-filled and energy-draining day, so we collected the big kids from the clubs and went to our rooms to sleep. We found all the beds configured for sleeping. I shared my room with Amelia and Jonathan, and Tracy had James, Simon, and Rachel. I offered to take Rachel, who was not sleeping through the night, but Tracy very kindly took her. We read and prayed together, and then we hugged and kissed good-night, separated to our rooms, and settled down for a wonderful night of sleep.

Monday, December 13: Windy Day in Nassau

On Monday morning, we woke up and could tell that the ship was still moving. That morning we were supposed to be in Nassau, and in the late morning we were scheduled to ride the Seaworld Explorer semi-submarine. We had time, so we took it slow and let everyone sleep as much as they wanted.

Around 8:00 or 8:30 each morning, Christian the cruise director would make an announcement over the PA system. Christian was quite witty, and I always looked forward to his morning announcements, as well as his introductions to each night’s musical show. For example, he poked fun at his own baldness, and at one point he compared himself to his counterpart on The Love Boat. On Monday morning, Christian announced that they were trying to dock in Nassau but it was windy and tricky.

We went to breakfast with relatives at Parrot Cay, where breakfast and lunch are buffet-style. It was awesome, with no waiting or lines. They had all kinds of great breakfast food, including a cook making omelets to order. They also had chocolate soy milk for dairy-allergic Simon! He was in heaven!

During breakfast, they announced that we had docked at Nassau, and we could go ashore very soon. Then they announced that due to extreme wind, some excursions had been cancelled. It would have been much quicker to read a list of excursions that were *not* cancelled, because almost all of them, including our semi-submarine ride, were slapped down by Mother Nature. Thanks a lot, Mother! However, Chris and Tirah got to go swimming with the dolphins, which was a great experience for them.

Amelia actually cried about missing the semi-submarine. She gets emotional. I was a little sad but also thought “by Grabthar’s Hammer, what a savings,” because we now would not have to pay for it. By the end of the day, I realized that it was a pretty relaxing day without the scheduled boat ride. It would have been fun but by no means ruined our vacation.

The boys’ reaction was approximately “too bad; oh by the way, can we go to the club now?” We said sure and dropped the kids off there. We decided that we would not be denied a visit to the non-Disney part of our foreign vacation, so the rest of us (I, Tracy, Simon, and Rachel) headed down to Deck 1 and across the gangway into Nassau, The Bahamas.

Simon, Tracy, Rachel, and me near the cruise terminal in Nassau. Yes, the water is really that blue!

The stern of the Carnival Fantasy in the foreground, with the stern of the Disney Wonder in the background. Our ship is better than yours.

The northernmost pier of the Nassau cruise terminal, taken from Deck 9 of the Disney Wonder, facing north. Windy day!

It was extremely windy, especially between the Wonder and the Fantasy. The two ships created quite a wind tunnel. But elsewhere in the city it was windy too. We wandered through the cruise terminal, were offered 57 taxi and buggy rides, and walked into the shopping district of town. We went into The Linen Shop and bought a Christmas tree ornament, which is a traditional souvenir for our family trips. Unfortunately, I left Rachel’s blanket there, but when we went back the kind shopkeeper knew why we had returned and gave me the quilt. I was half expecting to find it on the shelves for sale, so I’m grateful that she was kind and honest.

We took a few photos, one of which was close to the water and soaked my feet and pants! Thankfully, the kids did not get wet, and neither did Tracy, who was taking the photo. We got an American-looking couple to take our photo all together, at least the four of us who went on the island. Meanwhile, James, Amelia, and Jonathan were having a ball in the clubs on the ship.

We returned to the ship around lunchtime. We checked with the kids to see who wanted to come see Toy Story 3 in 3D! Everyone but James said yes. On our way to the movie, we stopped by the counter service restaurants on Deck 9 to get some lunch, which we were able to carry into the movie theater. That was fairly pleasant, other than taking four small kids and food for six from deck to deck and down some halls and stairs.

Dads, if you see Toy Story 3 and you love your kids, you may get emotional. That might sound silly, but if you have seen it you know what I mean. It addresses kids growing up and leaving their childhood behind. It made me ponder the next 10-20 years in our family. I look forward to those years, but I’m not ready for them to grow all the way up yet.

After the movie, Amelia and Jonathan went back to the clubs. Tracy, Simon, Rachel, and I went to Deck 9 to kid around, play ping pong, and eat watermelon. I think Simon appreciated the attention. Simon got cold, so we took the watermelon back to our room. We met my mom and dad with the other cousins in their room, where they had a nice quantity of fried snacks they were sharing.

Around 5:00, we gathered the kids to dress for dinner. On DCL, every dinner except one is “cruise casual,” which means no shorts or bathing suits. One dinner is supposed to be formal, so we dressed everyone up. It floors me that it takes 45 minutes to do this. I should know, because we give ourselves 30 minutes every Sunday to get ready for church. But Simon had a bit of a meltdown and was difficult before and during dinner. We barely made it in time. If you’re too late for dinner, you miss out, though you can go to the counter service places to get decent food. We never missed our seating, including on Monday at Parrot Cay.

Parrot Cay is supposed to be reminiscent of the Caribbean islands. It was nice but didn’t remind me of islands. Geffrey and I Made were there in tropical vests. We were there in our Sunday best (even though it was Monday). I noticed that only about half of the guests abided by the formal dress code that evening. On the one hand, how can you enforce it? Everyone has paid hundreds of dollars to be there. On the other hand, it would have been a little nicer if everyone had been dressed up. But our entire party was:

Rachel, James, Simon, Cameron, Abby, Jacob, Jonathan, and Amelia near the elevators on the way to Parrot Cay for formal dinner on Monday. Thanks to Jonathan and Amelia for looking at our camera instead of the one next to us!

Dave, Angie, and Todd. Angie and Todd did not realize they were being photographed. After this one turned out so nicely, I decided not to take more photos of our table at this dinner.

Simon, Geffrey, Abby, and Amelia, doing a kids’ conga line around Parrot Cay.

Amelia, Jacob, and I Made in the Parrot Cay kids’ conga line.

James, Jonathan, and Cameron in the Parrot Cay kids’ conga line. I Made is cheering them on, and Angie is taking photos from the other side. Rachel’s stroller is in the foreground.

I believe Parrot Cay is where I had the Mixed Grill entrée that I enjoyed so much. It was also where Simon had a complete meltdown. It was a real train wreck…well, not as real as the train wreck on Thursday (I’m telling you). Tracy very kindly took him back to our rooms, while I took the other three walking kids for the rest of the dinner, and my mom graciously took Rachel for a while. The food and service were great once again, but Simon’s behavior made this dining experience not so pleasant.

After dinner, we changed out of our clothes and saw Toy Story: The Musical in the Walt Disney Theatre. It is a pretty good show that quickly goes through the original Toy Story movie in dance and song on the stage. Some of the kids opted for the clubs again. I think they missed out again.

After the show, I put the sleepy kids in bed, while Tracy retrieved the others from the clubs. This was when Tracy discovered the glorious secret about almost-potty-trained kids being allowed in the clubs, as long as parents check on them frequently. Armed with this information, we were confident that Simon’s tantrums were done, and we rested easy as the ship steamed out of Nassau toward Castaway Cay.

Tuesday, December 14: Abort, Abort, Abort!

On Tuesday morning, Captain Gus himself made the announcement that the extreme winds would made it very difficult to dock at Castaway Cay and almost impossible to do anything fun there, so instead we would spend the day at sea and try for Castaway Cay tomorrow. By this point we knew that being on the ship was extremely fun, so we were not disappointed. We went to Parrot Cay again for breakfast and re-planned our day.

The kids spent the lion’s share of Tuesday in the Oceaneer Club and Lab and had a ball as usual. Tracy, Rachel, and I attended a Disney theme park trivia contest, where we got about 18 correct out of 25 multiple choice questions but had the worst score in the room. We were up against some real Disney fanatics, I think.

We went through the main lobby on Deck 3 and took a quick photo of the Christmas tree:

The Christmas tree on Deck 3 of the Disney Wonder.

After counter service lunch on Deck 9, we gathered the kids to go to the Mickey 200, where the kids would be able to make racecars out of vegetables! Sounds like a veggie Pinewood Derby. Unfortunately, we were late and they ran out of kits. So we went up to Deck 9 and spent some time playing ping pong and foosball. We had a nice time.

During ping pong and foosball, Simon needed a bathroom break. On our way back from the bathroom, we ran into someone special and got one of my favorite photos of the trip:

Simon and Daisy Duck. Look at Simon’s face!

Daisy Duck was waiting for an elevator and had time for a quick photo. Simon was thrilled. I told him that was a reward for choosing to use the bathroom. The characters always had long lines, just like at the Disney parks, so we were very fortunate to run into Daisy like this.

At 2:30 we all went to a class that taught us how to fold and twist towels into animal shapes. Everyone had a blast and learned a new skill. All of us can make a swan—they’re easy. Only the few and the proud can make a monkey without using the instructions. The DCL room attendants make these cool animals in all the staterooms every afternoon.

The kids nagged us about the swimming pool the whole cruise. We realized that we should bite the bullet and go swimming while it wasn’t too freezing or windy. It turned out to be both on Tuesday afternoon but we did it anyway. It was even cloudy and about to rain. But I was already a KSC Liar, and by gosh, I was not going to become a Pool Liar. So we swam (not Rachel; Tracy and I took turns). The water was warm. The kids didn’t want to get out and neither did I. But finally we got out and made a mad dash for the towels. The kids still asked to swim throughout the cruise, but we were justified in saying no, for the sake of everyone’s health.

After swimming, we put on dry clothes and went to dinner at Triton’s, a French-themed restaurant. I was not brave enough to try the escargot. I tried one once at age 15 and spit it into a water cup, and I did not want to try again. But the food was fine once again. It was Angie’s birthday, and Geffrey and I Made assembled a squad of crewmembers to sing to Angie. They also brought a cake in addition to our individual desserts. The cake was good, but it had corn flakes on it, which was weird.

At Triton’s we each received a Pirates IN the Caribbean bandana to wear to the party of the same name that evening. Rather than wearing them pirate-style, I Made tied them on our heads the way we would do if attending a traditional Indonesian ceremony. It was different for men, women, boys, and girls. It was a nice touch, and though some in our party weren’t amused, I was proud to wear I Made’s handiwork that night.

Most of us, all but James I think, went to see Tangled in 3D, which was in lieu of a stage show on Tuesday evening. Tangled is Disney’s new Rapunzel movie and was in theaters at the time of our cruise. DCL claims to be the only cruise line showing first-run movies onboard. Good show. I like how they did not go overboard on the 3D. I don’t remember any parts that screamed, “hey look, it’s 3D!” 3D added a little to the experience without dominating it.

All but James then went to the Pirates IN the Caribbean party, which was a dance party with Captain Hook vs. Mickey Mouse and the only at-sea fireworks of any cruise line in the world (another Disney first; they had to do the research to convince the government to let them do it, and then they patented the process. Brilliant!).

Cameron, Chris, Tirah, Rachel, and Tracy at the Pirates IN the Caribbean party.

Amelia at the Pirates party, with fake pirate teeth.

The party was okay, but we had at least two sleepers by the end. Drowsy, we did not stay for the food. We retrieved James and went to bed.

Wednesday, December 15: Welcome to Paradise

Wednesday morning, we had room service for breakfast, since we would need to make an early start if we were indeed going to Castaway Cay. We still didn’t know for sure.

Then Christian came on with his daily announcement, which began thus: “Good morning! We’re hee-re!” I didn’t realize until a few days after the cruise that Christian was totally imitating a line from Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure, but the point was that we had made it to Castaway Cay! Woot!

Then Christian started the list of excursions cancelled due to weather. Tracy and I were planning our one and only date without kids during the cruise to be a walking and kayak adventure on Castaway Cay, and it sounded like we would not be going. As Christian went through the long list, I just knew ours would be included. To my great astonishment and joy, ours never came up! The walking and kayak adventure was on!

When 9:00 arrived, we split up to quickly drop off Rachel at the nursery on the ship and the kids at Scuttle’s Cove, the kids’ club on the island. Captain Gus was welcoming people off the gangway, but sadly we had no time to talk. I didn’t want to miss the kayak adventure.

Castaway Cay has a tram to take you around the island. In our experience, Murphy’s Law applied exactly: if we chose not to wait, a tram would pass us a minute later. If we did wait, it took longer than expected. For healthy young folks, I don’t think the tram saves much time. If you’re older, slower, encumbered by children, or you just want to relax and are not in a hurry, the tram is probably a good bet.

We met up with Ricky the tour guide, who issued each of us a life jacket. We started walking down a small road toward the kayaks. Ricky was full of good info and survival tips about the island and its plants. For example, Ricky said that Disney simply bought the island from its owners several years ago. However, Ricky said to say that a guy named John said the real story is that the island was snatched from drug smugglers and then Disney bought it up (your secret’s safe with us, Ricky). It’s a beautiful island, but Ricky pointed out non-native tree species introduced by the smugglers that were planted for concealment but are harming the native vegetation.

After the hike, we paddled kayaks through a mangrove swamp. Tracy and I shared a kayak. All our adult relatives on the cruise were there too. Everyone had their spouse with them except recent RM Dave, who shared a kayak with another lone fellow. These two-seat kayaks are not at all cuddly; you can barely reach your co-passenger. But I think operating one alone might be tricky for a beginner, so it worked out for everyone. Even my mom and dad did pretty well in the kayak.

Castaway Cay from the road.

What a cutie!

Ricky teaching us about lifesaving plants.

Looking down the road on Castaway Cay.

Are you prepared to rock?

I took no photos from the kayak for fear of dropping our brand new camera in the water. I’m clumsy like that. But we had a wonderful time paddling the kayak. It’s much easier than a canoe. After kayaking, we went in the water for a few minutes. Then we headed back so we could pick up the kids.

Rachel slept almost the whole time in Flounder’s Reef Nursery. After getting Rachel and returning to the island, we grabbed lunch while it was still open. The other kids had a great time in Scuttle’s Cove, but all except Jonny were ready to leave. In fact, James was already gone. Argh! We figured one of our relatives must have picked him up. Sure enough, we eventually found him, but it took some time. Again, make sure you tell people in your party to let you know when they’re taking your kids.

We spent the rest of our Castaway Cay day swimming at the beach. It was cold but warmer than Florida. A few of us saw a huge fish, 2-3 feet long, swimming in shallow water right near us. The kids were pretty confident in the calm water.

Tracy and Amelia swimming off Castaway Cay.

Dave, Todd, James, Abby, Jacob, Tracy, and Amelia swimming off Castaway Cay.

Amelia, Jacob, and James wading off Castaway Cay. Every child eligible for the clubs had a wristband like the one you can see on Jacob’s arm.

Simon, Tracy, and Amelia off Castaway Cay.

Simon, Jacob, Abby, James, and Tracy at Castaway Cay. Great smile Simon!

James, Amelia, and me swimming off Castaway Cay.

While we swam, we were blissfully unaware that we were being paged to get Jonny before Scuttle’s Cove closed. Then we were paged to say they were taking him back to the Oceaneer Club on the ship. We didn’t realize it, so we panicked when we saw that Scuttle’s Cove was closed and abandoned. But a friendly crewmember said not to worry—the kids would be at the Oceaneer Club. We went straight there and retried Jonny, who was enjoying more time in the club. I was sad that he chose not to swim with us, but it was a vacation and I’m glad he had a nice time.

After changing out of our swimming clothes, the kids went to the Oceaneer Club and Lab to get ready for a stage show called Friendship Rocks. The kids were the stars of the show! They each got a t-shirt and got to sing and dance in a brief stage show in the Walt Disney Theatre, which we attended Wednesday afternoon. Some were more into it than others. Amelia really rocked the house! The boys did fine, though Simon was so little and needed to be directed around.

FriendSHIP Rocks!

Simon (short boy in yellow t-shirt) on the stage during Friendship Rocks!

Mickey and kids on stage during Friendship Rocks! Amelia is the pretty girl in the center of the photo, second row, red t-shirt, taller than the other kids in her row.

Friendship Rocks! Jonny is to the right of the center of the photo, in the third row. He is easy to spot with his widow’s peak.

Show’s almost over. Simon is two to the right of the adult in the photo, with his thumb in his mouth.

James exiting the theater after Friendship Rocks!

After the show, we took one last chance to look out at the ocean from the ship in the daylight:

From the starboard side of the Disney Wonder, Deck 4, underway from Castaway Cay to Port Canaveral. There is land in the distance, probably one of the islands of The Bahamas.

I took an excellent opportunity to photograph the most beautiful woman in Disney Wonder history:

Wow!

We had one last gourmet dinner with excellent service, this time back at Animator’s Palate. The lights were working and it was entertaining. But after so many days in the lap of luxury, everyone was getting a little loopy:

Mom, Dad, and Dave

Dave’s left arm, Chris, and Tirah

Todd and Angie

Tracy

When dinner was almost done, the servers left, and then an announcement prompted us to cheer as our servers re-entered. Geffrey and I Made came back wearing colorful vests. We understood that this was the time not only to clap but also to give gratuities.

On a cruise, it is traditional to give gratuities to your dining room servers and your room attendant, all in one shot on the last night. On DCL you tip your server, assistant server, head server, and room attendant. The head server is the server and assistant server’s boss, who comes by once a night to make sure everything is okay but is otherwise like a mob boss, taking a cut without actually doing much. But it’s tradition, and you never want to tick off a mob boss, so everyone got gratuities from us. Some in our party thought Geffrey was the head server, so it was a bit confusing. But I think Tracy and I got it right. One weird thing was that Guest Services said we should pay gratuities for our two separate rooms, rather than lumping it all together on one room. I don’t know why, but it was their ship and we did as we were told.

I’m making light of the gratuity process, but believe me when I say Geffrey and I Made earned every penny and then some. They went many extra miles to make every dinner a delightful experience for us and our kids. I’m guessing the head server picked out her best duo for this family with a zillion kids, and for that I am thankful. Jonhy was also very helpful, getting our room ready just the way we wanted every morning and afternoon.

After dinner, we went outside on the deck for one last family photo onboard:

My past, present, and eternity: Amelia, James, Jonathan, Simon, Rachel, and Tracy

Some of the kids went to the clubs after dinner. Most of us went to Disney Dreams, a stage show featuring various Disney movie vignettes. This was my favorite performance of the cruise. There was some great singing, dancing, and acrobatics.

At some point before and after dinner, we packed our things. You have to pack checked luggage on the last night of the cruise, tag it, and leave it outside your stateroom door. DCL crewmembers whisk it away to be picked up in the terminal upon arrival.

After Disney Dreams, the kids were finally exhausted from a wonderful week:

Me and Simon, on the way to retrieve the other kids and turn in wristbands and pagers.

We put the kids to bed, and since our packing was done and all the kids were asleep, Tracy and I took one last chance to explore this grand ship, this vacation we had waited nearly two years to take, this dream come true. We went through the entry hall on Deck 3 with its tall Christmas tree. We walked outside on Deck 4 and around the back, where we saw lots of equipment including huge chains, small boats, wave runners, and other stuff that I couldn’t even imagine. We walked up to Deck 9 or 10 Forward, where there is a plaque from the shipyard in Italy where the ship was built. We just wandered, enjoying being together on this (so far) once-in-a-lifetime experience. When we had seen enough of this wonderful ship, we kissed good-night and went to bed to get ready for a busy day.

Thursday, December 16: The Boot

They say that all good things come to an end. I know that’s not true, but let’s say all good things that are of this world come to an end, and a Disney cruise is one of those things.

We were told to awake early and get ready to get off the ship. But first, we had a final DCL meal, back in Animator’s Palate, and once again with Geffrey and I Made serving us. This was the only breakfast where we had our dedicated servers. It was very pleasant once again, though it was designed for efficiency. No buffet, just a simple menu. I had an omelet and a drink, which was plenty after such lavish food that week. I am pleased to say that I did not overeat in general, and there was only one time that I felt a little uneasy from too much to eat. Overeating is a general problem on cruises, so I’m happy with my performance.

After thanking Geffrey and I Made one last time for helping us have such a great experience, we bade them farewell and went back up to Deck 6 one last time to get our carry-on bags from our rooms. Then we went down to Deck 3, through the entry hall (which I suppose was an “exit hall” that day), across the gangway, and back into the real world.

Rather than the grand hall where we checked in on Sunday, we were directed underground to a warehouse-like area where we found our luggage waiting for us. A helpful porter approached us and I gladly accepted his help. I was a little embarrassed that he cut ahead of other passengers in the immigration and customs line, but it did get us through quicker. Make sure you tip these folks who help you with your bags. You’ve just paid hundreds or thousands of dollars for this vacation—don’t be cheap over a few dollars for some valuable help.

Almost as soon as we made our way outside to the same curb where the Country Inn shuttle had dropped us off, the Country Inn shuttle drove right up, and it was already time to say goodbye to relatives who were headed to the airport. We got in the shuttle and off we went. The driver was friendly and witty, warning us that there would be no one to clean our rooms or cut our steaks for us anymore now that we were back in the real world.

Arriving back at the hotel, we loaded the van, had a quick bathroom break, and drove toward Disney World, where we planned to meet some of our relatives with later flights at Downtown Disney. It was their first time in Florida, and we had several hours to kill until the train. We saw more of Downtown Disney than we had seen before:

Abby, Amelia, and James running around in front of the House of Blues at Downtown Disney

Jacob and Jonathan playing near the House of Blues at Downtown Disney

We realized that we had not had the kids shop for souvenirs. We got them some on the ship, but we had said they could pick their own. They had been too busy having fun! But we were already KSC Liars, and I did not want anyone to remember and realize that we were also Souvenir Liars, so our main mission at Downtown Disney was to let the kids pick a souvenir each. Jonny and Simon found their treasures at the Lego Store, while James and Amelia chose from the world’s largest Disney Store.

We were going to eat lunch with Chris, Tirah, Angie, Todd, Jacob, and Abby, but we realized that the timing didn’t work. So we said goodbye to them all and headed for Sanford. We stopped at Checkers to get some food to eat in the train station (meal for everyone was a little less than $20 and decent for fast food…thank you Checkers) and then checked in at the Amtrak Auto Train station. It was a very similar process to what we saw in Lorton. We even saw some of the same staff as we boarded the train.

We were relaxing on the northbound train when I noticed the train braking harder than it had the whole southbound trip. It wasn’t enough to jostle anyone (remember what I said about momentum), but I noticed. Then it braked hard again, then it started slowing to a stop. As we crossed a street that had the gates down and lights and bells on, I felt a “thump-thump-thump” and then smooth. Immediately I thought we had run over a car. In fact, we did hit a pickup truck. One rumor was that the driver tried to go around the gate. Another rumor was that the driver drove up to the white line, saw that the gate was coming down, pulled forward onto the tracks, and was stuck.

Thankfully, the driver was uninjured in our train wreck. He walked away. The news reports state that the train was headed southbound from Lorton to Sanford, but don’t be fooled. Believe me, I was there.

I got out my phone and searched for news. No good. Then the thought occurred to me: maybe this is what Twitter is good for. I searched Twitter, and sure enough, someone had tweeted about the accident. In reply, issued my first ever tweet that said anything other than “still not sure what Twitter is good for.” The original tweeter replied back. Interesting stuff. We were stuck there for about 2.5 hours while they investigated. It was one of the smallest train wrecks you can imagine, but I’m proud. If my family can survive a train wreck, we can survive anything, right? Smile

We ate dinner during the investigation. After we were done, the train got underway again. Once again we had a place for Rachel’s stroller. Once again the kids insisted on Awesome Mode for their footrests (I used Standard Mode for mine). We had an easy night of sleep.

Jonathan sleeping by Rachel’s stroller on the northbound Auto Train

James sleeping near his unfinished bowl of complimentary snacks on the northbound Auto Train. Leg rest in Standard Mode. We did have pajamas and blankets for the kids, and Amtrak provided blankets and pillows. I think this was an afternoon nap when everyone was all cruised out.

Rachel napping in her stroller Friday morning on the northbound Auto Train.

Friday, December 17

At almost noon the next morning we pulled into Lorton, a few hours behind schedule but safe and happy.

Virginia is freezing. I never thought so until returning from this sub-tropical vacation. But now I promise that Virginia is cold. But we put on our coats and braved the cold. We went to lunch nearby (I think it was Wendy’s) and then went home to find everything well.

I’m so grateful we could go on this very memorable vacation. This blog post is more for my benefit than anyone else’s so that I can remember the wonderful times we had and things we saw and did. If you have any questions about Disney cruising, Amtrak Auto Train, or anything else, put it in the comments and I’ll help if I can.

kiddodiddo

Friday, January 28, 2011

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Monday, January 24, 2011

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