Cruising – It’s our Last Night!

We were all having dinner together on the last night to celebrate Victoria’s birthday.  We were in the Enchanted Garden Restaurant.  Almost everyone chose prime rib for their dinner, but I made a special request:

Yep, I had the kid’s cheeseburger.  They even brought it out 10 minutes ahead of everyone else, so I could run off to the kid’s club and play.  I chose to stay at dinner …

Tori branched out on her food choices this trip – here is her prime rib.  She liked it.  She also liked the ribs at Castaway Cay.

The waiters sang Happy Birthday, and delivered a special birthday dessert.

It was another fun-filled day, and we were all ready to get some sleep after dinner.  We had to pack our bags and leave the suitcases outside our cabin door so they could be unloaded from the ship early the next day.

I took a few photos of the luggage unloading early in the morning:

On our last trip with the kids, getting off the ship was a nightmare because there was a holdup in Customs.  This time, it went very quickly.  We all met at the restaurant at 8am for a quick breakfast:

Before we could blink, we were off the ship, through customs, and waiting curbside for our pickup.  The van came shortly, and we had a safe trip home.  It rained almost all that day and the next – we even had some flash flood warnings at home.  The kids had a day to relax and pack before beginning to head home.  Beth stayed an extra day, and had a chance to visit with Todd’s parents as well.  It was a great trip.

I think Tori said it best, in her thank you note to us:

Thanks for following along on our family adventure!

Disney Cruise – Day 4 – At Sea …

We woke to some early morning rain and lots of clouds.  It never really rained hard, so the kids were able to get lots of pool time in.  Today was “Adult Day” at Palo – the restaurant that serves a delicious brunch.  The girls were happy to be rid of us for a few hours.

A photo of the adult pool – no one felt like swimming at 6:30 am.

We went to brunch/lunch at noon, and had lots of good things to choose.  There is a buffet with assorted breads, seafood, desserts, and more.  Plus, you can order off the menu if you want a hot entrée.  It was all delicious, and as usual, Catherine and Beth filled up on seafood, Mark had pasta, I had pizza, and Lou had eggs.

The girls enjoyed their time alone – they did some shopping, watched a movie, and checked out the ship.  They spent the afternoon enjoying themselves in the pool.  One of the lifeguards said they were so happy, he invited them (and Mark) to play mini-golf on his break.  They enjoyed a full afternoon.

Beth and I did some shopping as well – I got some new shoes:

We arranged a birthday celebration for Victoria, since this was the day she turned 11.  She was surprised and happy:

The weather continued to be drizzly – but not too bad.

We’ll pick up with our last Dinner on the Dream in the next post.

Click HERE to see if we made it to our last Disney Dream Dinner. 

Dreaming – Day 2, Part 2

We left off on the last cruise post after having pulled into Nassau, and the girls getting some AquaDuck time.  The kids did get off the ship to check out the shopping opportunities in Nassau.  They seemed to enjoy their time onshore, but weren’t overly impressed.  They did say the vendors in the Straw Market were a little annoying, and they didn’t enjoy haggling over the cost of  a fridge magnet.  Beth had received a coupon good for $100 off of a $500 purchase at Diamonds International (because of her upcoming birthday) – she chose not to take advantage of the coupon.

Lou and I just hung out on the ship, and had a bowl of chili for lunch.  Here’s one of the larger ships heading out to sea.

Another photo of the pool area – you can see it wasn’t that crowded, and Lou sneaking in a soft serve ice cream cone:

We were still at port as the sun began to set.

A postcard view of the Atlantis Resort:

A house we can see from the ship – I’m not sure how I’d feel about having such a beautiful home near cruise ships coming and going:

More views as we headed out to sea at about 6pm, and what is more romantic than watching sand & gravel being loaded on a barge in the Bahamian sunset:

The Holmes family went to the Animator’s Palate Restaurant for dinner, and Beth joined us for dinner at Palo – this has turned into one of our favorite restaurants.  We enjoyed an aperitif in the Meridian Lounge before dinner:

I think Beth finally figured out it was best not to take the seat across from me if she didn’t want to be my featured model for the evening 🙂

We were seated in an almost private nook area, with an interesting mural of Venice behind us.  The mural lit up with an interesting effect when you took a photo with flash.

Our servers name was Marco from Montenegro, and he was fantastic.  Everytime we ordered something he said, “OK, but I will also bring a surprise.”  As a result, we each had our selections, plus at least 3 others to try with the appetizer and dessert menu.  He was a lot of fun.

Marco had us pose for a group photo, and we left Palo with our full tummies.  Beth and I wanted to hit a nightclub or two, but we were a little too stuffed.  (Perhaps it’s time I invested in a better bra …)

We found an elephant on our bed when we returned to our cabin:

And, this completes our second day of cruising.

Click HERE to read about our next cruise day.