Newlyweds Living the Fantasy PTR FINISHED *updated with link to live TR*

[MissMet]

Welcome to our Pre-Trip Report!! ​

It's been a little while since my last DCL PTR & I'm excited to start this one. There has been a lot of changes since my last PTR/TR, which you can see here. For example, I'm married now!! We just got married May 6th. The wedding was a dream...er, no...wait for it...wait for it... a FANTASY! Not one mishap or disappointment. We were so blessed. Our honeymoon was amazing, not Disney style, but still amazing nonetheless. We are so excited to be husband & wife & start our new life together and what better way than a Disney Cruise on the Fantasy five months after we said I do!

The facts:

-This is an adults only trip report. I say that not cause we're newlyweds & you know what newlyweds are known for, not cause you're going to be reading about "DCL passengers gone wild", no "flash-mountaners" here, but because when you read a trip report that is with families it's a totally different perspective. I love the kiddos but I don't relate to those trip reports near as much as I do with just adult travelers.

-We'll be on a Eastern Caribbean Cruise October 6-13, 2012

-There will also be a Food & Wine Festival visit.

-There's lots of surprises both trip related & a super cool one coming up non-trip related.

-There will be TONS of pics.

-This will eventually become a LIVE Trip Report.


Now enough with the sterile bullet points & let me start with proper introductions...

Me (Lisa) 26 years old

I was born & raised in NY and still live there today. I grew up going to Disney World. I am a DVC member & this will be my 5th Disney cruise. I have sailed a 3 night cruise and 4 night cruise aboard the Wonder & a 7 night Western Caribbean cruise and a 13 night Westbound Transatlantic Cruise cloud9 aboard the Magic. I have also sailed 6 other cruises aboard NCL & Princess. I have been writing a travel blog for the last couple of years & I love doing it becuase I LOVE to travel. I have traveled to 42 US states, Puerto Rico, most of the caribbean, Israel (twice), Egypt, Ireland, Spain, Canada, Portugal & Gibraltar. I just quit my full time job in March to watch my now 5 month old nephew, Austin, full time. Talk about a dream job!! I am known to be sarcastic, unknowingly at times, and I have a rare silly side. I'm very shy with people I don't know, but the life of the party with friends & family. I love to laugh & my hubby doesn't make it hard. I am a HUGE NY Mets fan, I have an addiction to cheeseburgers, just started to learn tennis, I have the cutest dog in the world & I just married my dream guy... although he is a Yankee fan. Boo! Hiss!

My favorite part of a cruise is... UNPACKING!! Weird, I know.

Hubby (Matt) gonna be 33 in Aug...old man!

Matt is a Jersey guy who is bitter at what the Jersey Shore tv show has done to his state pride. He is now a New Yorker & I still wonder if that show is partly to blame. Although me living in NY may have something to do with it. Matt did not grow up going to Disney. Before meeting me he had only gone to Disney World once as a teen & barely remembers it. He has been on one cruise, although that was also as a teen & he has vague memories of that trip. Matt has traveled to Canada, Brazil, Antigua & Puerto Rico. Matt works in the Building Automation field. To explain it best...he can set your house up to have everything work by one remote control...turning the lights on, changing the AC thermostat, opening & closing your window curtains, etc. Really cool stuff! Right now he works with the commercial air conditioning sector of that industry. Basically he works on the computers that tell the AC units when to come on & off. He's even worked on the AC units on the 85th floor of the Empire State Building (see pic above)! Matt is hysterical. He has a very funny sense of humor with a crazy side as well. He's occasionally sarcastic & very outgoing. Matt is a huge NY Yankees fan, he loves to play sports, he's learning the acoustic guitar, loves riding his motorcycle, helps me stay on track with working out & he's a HUGE movie buff. He'll see it all...even the crappiest movie out there. He wants a manly dog to be added to our little family, a Victorian or Olde English Bulldog to combat my 4 lb Yorkie, Rocky.

Matt's favorite part of cruise... we don't know yet, but he loves a good beer & to ride some waves at a beautiful beach.

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Now enough about us... for now. Onto the beginning details of our cruise.

We are sailing for the first time for both of us aboard the Fantasy...in case you didn't catch that with our PTR title.

Our cruise is a 7 night Eastern Caribbean (itinerary A) visiting St. Maarten, St. Thomas & Castaway Kay October 6th-13th, 2012.

We are booked in a category 6A Deluxe Oceanview Stateroom with Verandah. We are still GTY & hoping to be surprised with a free upgrade. That'd be awesome, although we're not planning on it. We are excited to see where on the ship they'll put us.

We know we want to do some active excursions, I'm a new spa diva since our honeymoon & we also LOVE to eat.

Another fun part of our cruise is we will stay for a day & a half after our cruise for some Food & Wine Festival fun!

Well, I think that's enough for our first post. We have a lot of planning ahead & I hope you guys enjoy following along on our first official adventure as Mr. & Mrs...the honeymoon doesn't count.

 

[MissMet]

My posts index:

Update #1 Brainstorming flight ideas & other odds & ends.

Update #2 Finally made some decisions.

Update #3 Post-Cruise Plans.

Update #4 30 days out with lots of news.

Update #5 Three weeks away!

Update #6 Two weeks away!

Update #7 One week out!

Update with Live Trip Report Link It is finished.

 

[disneycruiser22]

Great PTR. I'm sure your excited for your cruise. Your wedding looks beautiful. Where was it?

 

[MissMet]

Great PTR. I'm sure your excited for your cruise. Your wedding looks beautiful. Where was it?

Thank you!

We got married at Sleepy Hollow Country Club. http://www.sleepyhollowcc.org/

 

[Toria]

Hi! I jumped over from the handheld steamer thread that I started. Your pics are beautiful and I about died laughing when you spoke about your Yorkie. Only because I brought a Yorkieand my hubby wants an English Bulldog as well. I told him, one of you snoring is enough. We would have to get the dog a CPAP machine too. LOL!

 

[MissMet]

Hi! I jumped over from the handheld steamer thread that I started. Your pics are beautiful and I about died laughing when you spoke about your Yorkie. Only because I brought a Yorkieand my hubby wants an English Bulldog as well. I told him, one of you snoring is enough. We would have to get the dog a CPAP machine too. LOL!

Thanks so much!

What are the odds?! That's so funny!! Well then you're really going to enjoy my "non-trip related update" coming very soon. BIG surprise coming.

 

[MissMet]

Well, I'm back after an extremely long hiatus. Sorry about that. July was a crazy month & I can't wait to tell you guys all that's been going on with us, but first is cruise planning. That's why you're reading this after all.

Our flight:

I have been checking Jetblue's website daily for our flight. The airfare prices are still really high, so I haven't purchased our tickets yet. We are Jetblue snobs, so we're holding out. Although, Jetblue always seems to be the cheapest for us anyway. As of now the flights on Friday night are much cheaper verses Saturday. In all of my past cruises, I have never flown in the day of. I'm so all over the place with what I want to do. As of now, I'm leaning towards flying in the morning of, first flight which arrives at MCO at 9:30am, & taking DCL's airport transfer. I'm also toying with the idea of flying in Friday night & staying at the Hyatt at the airport. Oh, I don't know. When I say I've been all over the place, I mean I've been all over the place with this. As of today I have a car rental booked, a night at the Radisson near the port booked & I even have a night at DVC's Vero Beach Resort booked. We're most likely not going with Vero Beach but it's still a slight option just because I've never stayed there & probably wont, but I want to see it.

Our room:

When I had booked the cruise I was only given one option for a balcony stateroom before going to the next level up, which is the Deluxe Family. We didn't need all that space & I didn't want to waste my points, we're booked on my DVC points, so I went with a 6A Deluxe Oceanview Stateroom with Verandah GTY. Well, I got my assignment & that's when I looked into where these rooms are. We are room #8182...the LAST room in the back of the ship! I was pretty disappointed. While this room puts us near all the bars & clubs, it also puts us clear across the ship from the adult only pool, where we'll be spending most of our time. I was pretty disappointed but I was getting over it. That was until I started to read the reviews about that room & the vibrations that you feel, especially when pulling into port. In all my cruises I've always been midship except for one time on the magic when we were all the way forward... I loved that room!! So now I'm debating on whether to go with our room booked or call DVC & have them see if I can change to a midship balcony, which with DVC's rules, if I change, it will cost me $95 to do so. Decisions, decisions. If it wasn't that this is Matt's first cruise I'd just stick with what I have but I want it to be perfect. He is a very heavy sleeper though, so maybe the move isn't necessary.

As for cruise "supplies"...I haven't really purchased any yet, but Matt did surprise me with my own snorkeling mask to bring along. He has his own that he brought on our honeymoon. I went on my first snorkeling excursion on our honeymoon & had a pretty horrible experience. I want to try it again on this trip & so having my own mask will help, since the rented one I had on my honeymoon was part of my many issues. I am such a non-adventurous person. Matt's getting me out of my lame "island tour" ways which I'm both excited & terrified of.

picture hosting​

I am also in contact with Shirley from the Perfect Gift to surprise Matt with a basket. I'm going to have her fill it with his favorite snacks & some Sam Adams. She also told me that I could mail her some special items to add to the basket but I have no idea what to add. We'll see.

Well, that's it for now. I'll be updating soon with a BIG surprise not related to this trip, but has made my free time non-existent. Things are slowing down now so you'll be hearing more from me... not to mention our cruise is only 64 days away!!!

Till next time...

 

[MissMet]

Hey guys. Back again to update you on some decisions I've finally made & to tell you about a major change in our home.

Pre-Cruise:
Well, I finally decided what we'll be doing for our pre-cruise travel arrangements. I still haven't booked a flight...holding out on a sale. However, I have decided that we will be flying in the night before and staying at the Hyatt right in the airport.

I got a really good deal on the room & I'll still continue to watch for an even better price. I put in a request for either an airport atrium view or runway view. I think both of those would be very cool. The flight I'm watching will get us there around 9:30pm. We'll probably just go for a late night swim & then head to bed. I like the idea of starting our vacation Friday night. We'll pack on Thursday night & then as soon as Matt gets home from work on Friday we'll head to the airport. Can't wait!!

We'll also be using DCL's transfers rather than bothering with a rental car. It's more expensive, but this is vacation. Matt stresses easily. I don't want to have to deal with shuttles, gas, tolls, etc.

Cruise Supplies
Since my last post we've added to the cruise supplies pile...my guest room is starting to get kinda crowded.

Matt & I decided on our Pirate Night wardrobe. At first I thought Matt would have nothing to do with dressing up. Not the case. He was talking about dressing up to a point of embarrassment. We decided against Matt's idea... parrot on the shoulder & all... and went with matching pirate t-shirts.

Now there's some back story to this... My last DCL cruise was with my parents & we all got pirate t-shirts that represented us. My mom's "Arrrrr Ennnn" (she's a nurse), my dad's "Will plunder for food" (he's a fatty) & mine because I love Jerry Maguire & really any love story, "You had me at yo ho". We wore our shirts with pride on our WB Transatlantic cruise & had some compliments. I even was told by a guy that my t-shirt was the best he'd seen. Fast forward 2 years later. I was lounging around the house & I wore my pirate t-shirt. Well, Matt stops by & sees my shirt & busts out laughing. I was confused. I was so Disney minded when I picked my shirt I just saw it as "yo-ho, yo-ho a pirates life for me". Well, Matt doesn't think Disney, he thinks GUY. He read the shirt & only saw it as "You had me at...YO HOE"!! I just about died. I wore that thing & neither me nor my parents ever thought of that. I posted about it in my PTR. Nothing. No one said anything. I then start to recall the comments I got from some of the men, including that one male CM that told me that my t-shirt was "the best he'd ever seen". Matt still makes fun of me that I never realized & how I wore it with pride.

So I was VERY careful in picking out this year's pirate night t-shirt. We went with a nod to one of our favorite movies, The Goonies. We both got the same one. It's a skull & cross bones made out of all the best quotes from the movie. A much safer choice.

We're also thinking of brining some "airplane bottles" of my favorite, Malibu Coconut Rum, pineapple juice & cranberry juice so that we can make some Malibu Bay Breezes for enjoyment on our balcony. Matt doesn't know, but we'll also have some Sam Adams for him via the gift basket I still have to order from Shirley.

Well, that's it for now. Next post will be about the excursions we've decided on and maybe start getting into our post-cruise plans... Food and Wine Festival!!




Mini "Life" Trip Report

I've been talking about this surprise that's been coming up & how my life has changed to have me not have very much free time. Well, I finally did it. I surprised Matt for his birthday with an Olde English Bulldogge. Apparently, my 5 lb Yorkie wasn't manly enough for him. I found the dog in Missouri & had the dog shipped. I picked her up at the airport while Matt was at work. I had a special bandana made for her to wear & when Matt walked in from work I was standing there holding her. The look on his face was priceless. "Is that ours?! What did you do?! How'd?! Oh my God!!"

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We are huge Seinfeld fans so we named her Bania. We were thinking Mulva but that could have been awkward...to say the least. When I picked her up at the airport she was 14 pounds. A month & a half later she's already 26 pounds!! The vet said she's on track to be 100 pounds.

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Hope you guys are enjoying this PTR. I know I am & I can't wait to be posting my live trip report!! 53 days!!!

 

[Trish82]

what a beautiful wedding

 

[MissMet]

what a beautiful wedding

Thank you!

 

[MissMet]

43 days! We've only got 43 more days to go! I am so excited!

I haven't talked much yet about our post-cruise plans so I thought I'd dedicate this post to those plans. I think I'm looking forward to this day and a half after the cruise as much as I am to the cruise itself. That's a good problem to have. Getting off the ship won't be so depressing.

Matt & I have late seating, so we won't bother with the last breakfast. We will want to get to WDW as soon as possible to make the most out of our 36 hours or so at WDW. We aren't much breakfast people anymore. I say anymore, because the breakfast buffet used to be one of my favorite parts of the cruise... that was until I developed an egg allergy. I digress. We bought the DCL transfer since there's only the two of us. A car service would be much more expensive and I don't want to have to deal with car rental shuttles, driving, etc. We're on vacation! So we'll be getting off the ship & heading via DCL transfer to the Beach Club Resort.

I am so excited to have scored a studio at BCV! I have not had the pleasure of staying at the BCV yet, so I'm really excited. Not to mention, what a perfect location for F&WF in a hurry.

Food and Wine Festival is my favorite time of year to visit WDW. Matt & I love to eat so F&WF is right up our alley. Since we are going on the weekend we want to be sure to get there right at 11am when the booths first open. Luckily, we had a family trip during F&WF last year so we'll have a good idea of the booths & foods we can skip. Most of the booths are serving the same foods, but there are some new items and we have to hit our favorites of course! Mine would be France's escargot and Ireland's Fisherman's Pie.

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Matt's birthday was last weekend. As you guys read, last month I surprised him with his dream dog for his early b-day present. Because of this I was asked that I not get him anything else for his b-day. So I didn't. Our dogs, Rocky & Bania, however, where never mentioned in this rule. So for Matt's birthday, "Rocky & Bania" got him tickets to see Cirque du Soleil, La Nouba the night we get off the ship. He's always wanted to see one of their performances and La Nouba is definitely their best. He's very excited about this plan.

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On Sunday we'll finish up what we can at F&WF and it looks like my Aunts & Uncle may be joining us in the festivities & then hopefully they'll take us to the airport so that we don't have to waste some of our time at Epcot with ME.

As for supplies, I've added to the growing pile in our guest room. As I had told you guys earlier, I'm planning on ordering a gift basket from Shirley. Well, when I first talked with her she told me that I could send something special to be added. At first I was really having a hard time deciding what to get. Well, I always put a NY Mets magnet up on my stateroom door. How would I do that with Mr. Yankee accompanying me? So I ordered a NY Yankees magnet, NY Giants magnet & a NY Yankees lanyard for his room key since I don't see him wanting to wear one with mickey ears on it.

Well, that's it for now. Feel free to head over to my travel blog (link in my signature). I am also posting about this trip over there, but it has more of my sense of humor & it has less of a "disboards" feel. You can also read some of my past trip reports including our 23 day DCL Transatlantic/Ireland/Spain/F&WF trip in 2010... among others.

 

[MissMet]

30 days until heaven!!! We're at the 30 days out mark!! I can't believe it's so close.

I've added to the supplies pile in a big way. The first was my new passport. I finally got that back after my name change. I also picked up some airplane bottles of coconut rum, in addition to some juice boxes of cranberry & pineapple juice. Love my Malibu Bay Breezes!! We'll be buying drinks onboard but I wanted to have something in our room to enjoy on the balcony. Also, I went on quite the hunt for the perfect beach hat. I'm not really a hat girl, but on the honeymoon I had really wished I had a sun hat. So I got Matt to go with me to the mall & find the perfect sun hat that wouldn't be too "in your face". They make those things MASSIVE these days!! I found two. Now I just got to get the courage to wear them. Now for the biggest addition. I got my birthday present from Matt a month and a half early (just like Matt!) because of the cruise. A new MacBook Pro!!! My 6 year old MacBook was not going to make it thru the cruise. I would have thrown it overboard, so Matt jumped in & saved the day.

We also received our cruise documents, which is always so exciting. I also FINALLY booked our flights. We did not get a deal at all & I don't think I've ever paid this much to fly to Orlando, but oh, well. It is what it is. I went with a later flight then planned. Matt's been working a lot of overtime lately so I didn't want to have the stress of missing our flight to start our vacation. We are now arriving at MCO at 11pm. Basically, now we'll just land, get our luggage, check-in at the Hyatt & pass out. I was looking forward to getting in a little earlier and enjoying some pool time before bed. It would have been a nice relaxing end to a long day. I think the pool will be closed by the time we check-in. Oh, well.

Excursions:
Matt & I decided on our excursions. We only planned one on St. Thomas. Normally I book all my excursions with private companies, but DCL was the only one to offer such a nice excursion & it gets amazing reviews so we bit the bullet and went with DCL's full day sail & snorkel to Turtle Cove & Honeymoon Beach. Sounds really fun and Matt LOVES to snorkel. It includes a lunch and rum punch, so I'm there.

On St. Maarten we're planning to take a taxi to Orient Bay. DCL's Orient Bay excursions were ridiculous & didn't offer a ton of time at the beach. Matt loves the beach so we're planning to spend a full day there. We'll rent some chairs & an umbrella, he'll ride some waves while I tan and people watch. I've read this can be quite the beach for people watching if you know what I mean. *cough* nude beach *cough*

On Castaway Kay, we'll definitely be lounging at the adult only beach, unless it's covered in seaweed like the last time I was there in the fall. We'll also try the snorkel lagoon (I've never done it in all my trips) and of course taking in that HUGE bbq buffet. If you haven't caught on yet, I love to eat!

We also have a Palo Brunch scheduled for our second day at sea. I'm so excited about that that I actually dreamt about it last night. It wasn't a good dream though. I dreamt that I forgot about our resi & missed it!! Not gonna let that happen! We didn't bother with Palo for dinner since we live in NY & can have amazing Italian every night. We also didn't want to miss any of the main dining nights. Same reasoning we did not bother with Remy.

Well, I think that's it for now, but before I go I've got more cool news. Our wedding was published on Style Me Pretty! We are so excited and shocked! Here's the link if you want to check it out. http://www.stylemepretty.com/2012/09/04/classic-scarborough-wedding-from-ulysses-photography/ Be sure to click to see the extra 3 pages of wedding pictures.

 

[MissMet]

Three weeks!!! Exactly three weeks from today we'll be headed for our Fantasy!

I am so excited I can't stand it!

I don't think I've been this excited for a vacation in a long time. It's been quite a while since my last DCL cruise. Actually, exactly two years from yesterday we set out on one of the most amazing vacations I will ever go on. A two week transatlantic cruise aboard the Magic with an Ireland visit before hand and a Food & Wine Festival visit afterword. In total, a 23 day trip!! That was my last time aboard a Disney ship. I had a cruise booked aboard the Dream for last Oct- a birthday cruise. However, as it got closer I realized that Matt wouldn't be able to go & I didn't want to be away from him on my Birthday, so I canceled. The things I will do for love.

ANYWAY. We are three weeks away. I keep panicking thinking I'm forgetting to do stuff so I started my usual trip check-list. I called and ordered Matt's surprise gift basket from Shirley at The Perfect Gift. I still haven't heard back on my order total, so I may call them today, since I also still need the information on how to send the items to be added to my basket. Can't wait to see Matt's reaction.

I also ordered a rolling garment bag. My bridesmaids had bought Matt & I our new luggage but we still didn't have a garment bag, so I ordered the matching one. I was just going to borrow my parents, but then I remembered I had an Amazon gift card & it almost paid for the whole thing. I love to have everything matching, so ordering that bag really made my day.

Another AWESOME idea I had was to go to Disneystore.com and order myself some DCL souvenirs! I don't know why I didn't think of this sooner but on every cruise there are specific items that are a must buy. First, a ship model. I have a model of every ship I have ever sailed on. Second, a dated ornament. Third, a photo album. I realized that I could buy these online before leaving and it would save us luggage space. I was able to get free shipping & an additional 15% off. So in the end I saved money AND luggage space. To celebrate, I added a DCL hoodie that was on sale for only $35! I don't think I've EVER seen a Disney hoodie of any kind for less than around $60 so I'm really excited!

The great planning ideas didn't stop there! I also came up with the plan of helping myself with the LIVE trip report aspect of the trip. I'm starting a little file with a bunch of helpful BBcodes (I always forget the good ones!), I'm uploading some stock photos to my image hosting site & anything else I can think of. I never thought to do this before hand to help the posting go quicker and to make for less time on the internet.

I also set up our Magical Express from the Beach Club, just in case we don't meet up with my Aunts and can't get a ride.

I'm waiting until just before our cruise to transfer over my reward dollars from my Disney Visa. I use that thing for everything I can, including bills. By the trip we'll have around $600! I'm going to save the reward dollars for the F&WF & Matt's 2 day park ticket. So expensive! I've run the numbers a bunch and even with our WDW trip next year, it's still cheaper to just buy him 2 one day tickets.

I have all our paperwork set and ready to go. I'll probably start the preliminary packing soon. I love packing so I always end up starting really early. I have alot of items that I can start packing now. Plus, that'll help make my guest room look a little less chaotic for when my friends visit next week.

Well, that's it for today. We have a garage sale tomorrow so I've got a lot to do!

 

[lafa]

Beautiful wedding pics!!
Looking forward to your trip report!
Have a great time!

 

[Cheryl726]

Hello Lisa, just wanted to say I am enjoying your PTR and pics! Looks like you are going to have a great trip! Hope you will be doing a TR when you get back.

Congrats on the new dog, hope it's going well for you! We stayed at the Hyatt last year before our Dream cruise and we really liked it. We booked our stay on lastminutetravel.com, how did you book yours? Great idea to order your souvenirs beforehand, but I'm silly so I'd probably rather get them while on the ship!

Yeah for Disney Visa reward dollars. We used those last year as well, went right to the member service desk and added them, very easy. Can I ask how you pay bills with your card? I wanted to look into doing that, but some companies don't accept credit cards.

Have fun packing and planning! Hope you have a Fantastic cruise!

 

[MissMet]

Beautiful wedding pics!!
Looking forward to your trip report!
Have a great time!

Thank you.

Hello Lisa, just wanted to say I am enjoying your PTR and pics! Looks like you are going to have a great trip! Hope you will be doing a TR when you get back.

Congrats on the new dog, hope it's going well for you! We stayed at the Hyatt last year before our Dream cruise and we really liked it. We booked our stay on lastminutetravel.com, how did you book yours? Great idea to order your souvenirs beforehand, but I'm silly so I'd probably rather get them while on the ship!

Yeah for Disney Visa reward dollars. We used those last year as well, went right to the member service desk and added them, very easy. Can I ask how you pay bills with your card? I wanted to look into doing that, but some companies don't accept credit cards.

Have fun packing and planning! Hope you have a Fantastic cruise!

So glad you are enjoying my random rambling! Yes, I'll be doing a live trip report from the cruise. I like to post each night, that way I remember everything. Plus, if I wait until I get home I won't do it.

I had been checking lastminutetravel.com & so far they havn't offered anything, except once and it was onlt $20 less than my AAA discount. I didn't want to get locked in at that number since I've seen reports of people getting it for much less. I watch it everyday.

Not all of my bills axcept credit cards either but a lot do. My car insureance, cable bill & cell phone do. Check online or call and ask. So worth it!

Thanks for joinging in 1

 

[MissMet]

Two weeks away!! ​

We are two weeks away from our big vacation. I am so excited I just don't know what to do with myself!!

Since I last posted, I haven't done too much trip related. Really, there's not much you can do at this point. I did create a document on my computer with a bunch of codes and such for my trip report. Like for example, all of DisBoards great smiley face codes. That way I can write up my live report even when I don't have internet access & not miss out on all these cute smilies. I can't wait to start that live report!! It's one of my favorite parts of my trip. I'll be posting my trip report here & then I will also be posting over on my travel blog.

One kinda major thing I did since my last post was I added another excursion. Right now we have a snorkling excursion on St. Thomas and on St. Maarten we're just going to take a cab to the beach for the day. Castaway Cay, I always just park it at Serenity Bay & spend my day there sunbathing. Then, I of course visit Cookies. I was thinking about Castaway Cay and remembered that they don't have waves. Matt LOVES the beach, but he NEEDS waves. Our honeymoon was in Antigua and our resort's beach did not have waves. Due to this, we only spent a day and a half on the beach and the rest of the days we hung out at the pool, since there was more stuff going on there. We did make a trip to an amazing beach with great waves, so he was happy. Anyway! Matt will only last probably 30 minutes at Serenity Bay and then he'll need to go-go-go. Matt is like a little kid in a lot of ways and this is one of them. He can't sit still!!! At first I thought we'd just play it by ear and seek out some activities once we're there. We will have our snorkel masks with us, so we'll do the snorkel lagoon. Then I looked into excursions. It's too late to add parasailing since all the times are sold out. Matt & I have been wanting to parasail but it's not top of the list. I wanted to do something special though. So I decided to book the Castaway Ray's Stingray Adventure. The earliest time available was 2pm which I was a little disappointed about. Then I saw the Extreme Getaway Package which includes the stingray snorkel, bike rental, float rental & snorkeling equipment. Perfect! We will have our own masks, but we'll be able to get the flippers, we were definitely planning on renting tubes & Matt will definitely love the idea of riding bikes around the island. So those are our plans for Castaway Cay. And by changing to the package they had a whole new set of times for the stingray snorkel, so I went with 1pm. We're definitely going to be a lot busier than I'm used to, but we're gonna have some fun! Plus, we have three sea days & one day at St Marteen to lay in the sun. Well, I'll lay in the sun while Matt probably runs in circles around my lounger & makes lifelong friends with everyone within a 100 foot radius. Seriously. He is a people person!! We're such opposites.

This week I'm going to have to get myself to the post office to ship Matt's magnets & lanyard for his gift basket from Shirley. I ordered a basket with Sam Adams, water bottles & a bunch of his favorite snack foods. The total was $85 with tax & delivery. I was happy with that. I was expecting a lot more. Can't wait to see what it looks like. I told her that he's not "Mr. Super Disney" & more of a sports fan, so I'd rather not a bunch of Mickeys & such. Sorry Mickey.

I'm still debating on wether or not to try & book brunch at Remy. I don't know if I want to bother. That'd be two sea days that we have to get dressed nice right towards the middle of the day. I really want to relax & not feel like we have anything hanging over our heads. Maybe I'll save that for our next cruise. We'll see.

Well, I think that's enough rambling for one post.

TWO WEEKS AWAY!!!!!

 

[Cheryl726]

Your plans sound great, and yeah for 2 weeks! We did Castaway Ray's last summer on our Dream cruise and really enjoyed it. Your DH sounds like mine in a way, not too big on Mickey but big on sports, though we are New England fans! Have fun with the rest of your planning and getting ready!

 

[MissMet]

Your plans sound great, and yeah for 2 weeks! We did Castaway Ray's last summer on our Dream cruise and really enjoyed it. Your DH sounds like mine in a way, not too big on Mickey but big on sports, though we are New England fans! Have fun with the rest of your planning and getting ready!

Thanks so much! Glad to hear you guys enjoyed Castaway Ray's. I've heard some mixed reviews. We really have no expectations, Matt still doesn't even know. So I think going into it like that, we'll definitely have a good time.

 

[MissMet]

ONE WEEK!!! ​

We are one week from our trip! I can't believe how fast this past week went. I had friends visiting from Missouri & Georgia so that helped pass the time a lot. I know this week is going to go just as quick because I've got a lot to do! This past week I only had to work on Monday which was great. Too bad though that wasn't next week. That would have been awesome! Oh, well. Work for me now a days is so much fun I really can't complain. If you've forgotten I watch my 9 month old nephew full time. They went away this week so my mom is seriously going thru withdrawals. He's the first & only grandchild. This fact seems a little off topic of my trip report, but not at all. Due to this fact, I will have lots of availability to do my running around since my mom will be begging to see him.

Things on my agenda this final week:

1. manicure, pedicure & wax on Friday

2. pick up make-up at Clinique

3. Return 7, yes, 7 dresses at the mall. I order online with free shipping & then return in store. Much bigger selection & much easier with a 9 month old hanging around.

4. transfer reward dollars to my card after the 4th

5. Book Aulani reservation on Thursday for our 1 year anniversary trip May 2013 (PTR starting once this trip is complete. It'll be a week at Aulani & a week aboard the NCL Pride of America)

6. Get Rocky's haircut (my Yorkie)

7. Sort my tip envelopes. This is something I started doing when vacationing with my parents. We're big on tipping. New Yorkers. Well, many times while on vacation my dad would seem to find himself wanting to tip someone & only having a 20. So I started planning our tips & placing them in individual mini envelopes with the date written on the outside, who it was intended for & the amount. I would also have an additional envelope with extra singles in case we wanted to add for extraordinary service. I place all these little envelopes in a ziplock bag & once we arrive it goes in the safe. Each morning I take out the little envelopes for the day. That way, you know the spending money in your pocket is free to use & you'll still have your tip money, no need to look for change or an ATM. Seems like a lot but it's very simple to do. I just do a walk thru of the plans we have & who we'd need to tip. I also include an envelope for each day for room service.

8. PACK!!!

9. CLEAN!!! Since I was young, a rule in my house was before heading out on a vacation the house should be spotless. This is a trait of my mother's that I have carried on. Thanks mom. I think maybe it's an Italian thing or something. Needless to say, by the time I'm ready to leave for vacation, I'm exhausted! I'm usually up late the night before cleaning. Another trait I get from my mom, procrastination. Again, thanks mom.

Well, those are the main to dos. There's definitely a lot more little things, but those are the biggies. My dad will be staying at our place to watch the dogs. The trip ended up being good timing since my mom will also be away for part of our trip. My dad will have Bania & Rocky to keep him company...and busy!!

As far as trip plans, I made a last minute decision and decided I should schedule an ADR for Saturday night after the cruise. If you remember, we'll be headed right off the ship to my favorite, Food and Wine Festival. Then at 9pm we'll be seeing Cirque du Soleil. I thought we'd just eat dinner at the F&WF booths, but then I decided I'd rather have a nice meal together, rather than waiting in line for two bites of food and then waiting in another line for two bites of food... We will have all day Saturday & most of the day on Sunday to conquer F&WF, so lets have a nice dinner before the show. My favorite restaurant, presently, is Via Napoli. I was thinking of eating there, but we went last year so I wanted to go somewhere Matt still hadn't been. So after much deliberation I decided on Raglan Road. We'll be eating after 7pm so when I realized we'd get to see the live entertainment I thought it was perfect. I have only been to Raglan Road once & boy was that an experience!! I had ordered the chowder. After my first bite I thought something was off, but then just chalked it off as an ingredient I didn't care for or something. I continued eating it. Once i was full my mom asked for a taste. After the one taste she told me she thought it was bad... I spent the rest of the evening in the bathrooms at the Christmas shop. On the walk back to the bus stop it hit me. I have never gotten so violently sick from food poisoning. I don't hold it against them as this can happen anywhere as long as there are humans involved. No one's perfect & I really enjoyed our appetizers and desserts. I just could never get myself to go back there. Until now. I know one thing's for sure. I still won't be able to get myself to order the chowder. I'm really looking forward to that dinner, seriously.

Well, that's it! That's my last "official" post in my PTR!!! My next post will be linking you guys to my LIVE TRIP REPORT!!! I'm thinking I'll probably get that post going Thursday night with all the preliminary stuff for those newbies just joining in. So exciting!!!