 Headed into the
port with
no lines at the bag check. Up the escalators and the ship was
already
starting to board. We had made all our reservations online, so no
real
hurry to get onboard. Someone helped make sure all our docs were
properly filled out and signed, and then directed us to the repeat
cruisers line. I was helped immediately while the girls got
pictures
with Minnie and Pluto. :-) We were checked in in no
time, and by now
there was NO wait to board. Gotta love that. We waited in
line for
quite some time last year, and this was MUCH nicer. We had
our
boarding picture taken and then headed onto the ship. They
announced
us and a nice CM chatted a bit with the girls.
 Now, having eaten a big breakfast, we decided to make a
beeline for the
pool. It was just a bit too early to get a beeper for the girls,
so we
headed up to deck 9 and changed into our swim gear. Its another
blisteringly hot day, so the pool is going to feel great!
We had the
Mickey pool all but to ourselves for a while. The girls loved the
slide and then we hit the Goofy Pool for a bit. They have a
carpet
around the Mickey pool that keeps your feet from burning, but the
flooring around the Goofy pool was ridiculously hot. I mean we
literally had to sprint to the pool, and still really burned our
feet.
I looked back and Kristen was standing ON a lounge chair!
LOL She
jumped down and ran the rest of the way. We saw MANY people
follow
this pattern as the time went on! :-) Yowch!
 Around 1:30 the rooms were ready, so I headed down first
to get a bit
settled. I entered the room and took my obligatory room
pictures.
There was a nice canvas tote on the bed as a repeat cruiser gift.
I
checked outside and a couple of our bags had arrived. The ones
with
all the clothes. Perfect! I started unpacking everything,
and found
plenty of space for all we had. And the bags fit nicely under the
bed
which makes the room uncluttered. The girls soon showed up along
with
the rest of our bags, and Kristen and I got the room settled while the
girls played for a bit.
 Now we were a bit hungry, and headed up to the Buffet on
deck 9. I
wanted some of those wonderful shrimp I remembered from last
year! We
ate fairly light because dinner was at 5:45, but still had more than we
really needed. Everything was very good! While we
were eating, Jay
and Mik found us! This was the next surprise for the girls!
Mik (whom
them really like!) was on the ship too! They would all be in the
kid's
club together. Brinn decided that she wanted to go in with the 5
- 7
year group to be with Maddy and Mik.
 After eating we
headed back to the room to prepare for the required 4pm
drill. We gathered our life vests, and then waited for the
announcement. Off to deck 4 and station M for us! It didn't
take too
long, and after checking that everyone was there we headed back to the
room to put away the life preservers.
Time now for the Sail Away party! We headed on up, and arrived
early.
They were just getting started, and after a quick Frozen drink Brinn
and I decided to hit the dance floor! Maddy was being a bit
cranky
today, and didn't want anything to do with dancing. Brinn and I
had
fun, although it was in full sun out there! Hot! We were
nice and
close when the characters came out, and had a great view. Then a
bit
more dancing after Kristen and Maddy headed downstairs to get ready for
dinner. Brinn and I had a nice chat with Sally from
Australia. She is
a CM for the entertainment department, and was very nice.
|
|
Woke up a bit
earlier than everyone else and saw the message light blinking.
Figured it was something about checkout and waited until everyone was
awake at 8 to listen. Oops. It was the nighttime manager
again leaving a very apologetic message and an offer of breakfast in
Whispering Canyon Cafe. I thought this was extremely thoughtful
both for the apology (which it seems is sometimes hard to get from
Disney for mishaps) and the very unexpected
breakfast! We had no plans for breakfast, so we took
them up on the deal. :-) Of course, no one at the Front
desk seemed to know anything about this, but assured me it would be
taken off the bill. We'll see... I'll use my DDE card to save a
bit anyway, just in case! ;-) 
As we were leaving
the front desk we ran into Belle, Jay and Mik! It was great to
see them again, and as far as the girls knew it would be for the last
time. They said their goodbyes and got a cute pic by the totem
pole. Then they were off and we headed over to Whispering
Canyon.
Breakfast was very good. We then returned to the
room with a Bellman and were soon on our way. Breakfast had put
us behind on our arrival at Port Canaveral. If I had listened to
that message earlier I would have woken up the girls just a bit
earlier. We ran into a bit of construction on the way and they
slowed us down a bit more. I think it took a little over an hour
from WDW to the port. 
Taking and parking your rental car is quite easy.
They direct you to the front of the building where you unload all the
bags. Remember those Cruise tags. I forgot to put them on
before leaving the resort. But it was no problem to put them on
as we took the bags out of the trunk. The porters are right there
to take care of the bags for you, and then you drive a little farther
to park the car. $30 for the 3 day cruise. Its VERY close
to the port (at least our space was, but I think that lot gets
full). We parked just around 11:30 and there were lots of spaces
then in the close parking lot. 
Now its time for us
to get
downstairs to shower before dinner. That sun and dancing really
sweated things up, so the shower is going to feel great! We were
running just a bit late and arrived for dinner about 5 or 6 minutes
behind schedule. No problem. Belle, Jay and Mik were
already at the
table, and the girls were thrilled that we were eating with their new
friend Mik! Big thanks to Belle and her DCL connections!
;-) We had
requested to be seated together, but we had second seating. Belle
called just before the cruise and worked some magic to get us switched
to first seating. Thanks Belle! 
We all enjoyed a wonderful dinner. Our server
is Watt from Thailand
and our assistant server is Zoltan from Hungary. Both are very
nice,
and took great pains to entertain the kids with mickey shaped
condiments and napkin mickey ears. Lots of fun! 
Then we decided to head our separate ways. We
headed down to watch the
show, and really enjoyed Hercules. Very funny and some great
musical
numbers in that one! I was really tired though. I kept
nodding! Must
be old age setting in... 
Right now we are all tuckered out! Its been a long
and fun filled day! Tomorrow its Nassau and an excursion to Blue
Lagoon.