Cruising for a Bruising - 7 nights with nine members (well close enough) of the same family **COMPLETE** About This Page:

[DrDolphin]

Hello again from the shores of the St. Johns River in beautiful Jacksonville, Florida. Its time for another Terri (DrDolphin) Disney Cruise Line trip report. It seems like this is almost becoming an annual event for me. I guess before I go any further – we should introduce the nine members of our tour party (OMG – am I nuts?? Touring with NINE members of the same family?? Ok officially eight and one to be).

Me – DrDolphin – 38 years young
Marine Biologist & Lover of all things Disney
DVC Member and Castaway Club Member
5th Disney Cruise

DH2B – Chris (known on the boards as Crick85.. don’t look for him too often – he doesn’t post…) – 42 years younger
Pharmacist and learning to love Disney
1st cruise (amazing since he was in the Navy for 6 years and was never on a ship!!!)

DM – My mother – old enough to be my mother
Veteran cruiser – 3rd DCL Cruise

DF – My father
Veteran cruiser – 3rd DCL cruise

DNiece - 10 years old (35 in wisdom sometimes) (DN10)
3rd DCL cruise

DNephew - 6 years old (almost 7) (DN6)
1st DCL cruise

DAunt
My dad’s sister
1st DCL cruise – but has cruised on other lines

DUncle
My dad’s brother in law
1st DCL cruise

DCousin
Aunt & Uncle’s 21 year old, disabled daughter
1st DCL cruise – but has cruised with her parents before

WHEW!!! Did you get all that?? NINE people. Ok - so how did we get here? Time to strap on the way-back machine (this gives you the opportunity to scan forward and skip all my ramblings if you want….) and go back to see how this adventure all began -
My parents and their siblings have cruised together before – about five years ago to Hawaii on the now defunct NCL –America line. And about a year ago – my parents were talking to them again and dad’s sister (DA) suggested they do it again. At the time, mom’s sister DA2 and her spouse were part of the traveling party as well. But that changed. DA said (or so I’ve been told) that since DM and DD have spoken so highly of their DCL cruises with me – they should do DCL. DM booked for all of them – called me and asked me if I could join… here is where things got sticky.

It was March of last year – and I had submitted my application for a yearlong training session with work – and had to wait to see what the calendar for the training classes would be. So I was on HOLD… now that was just not nice… my family, that I introduced to DCL cruising – is planning a trip without me… POUT.

Well – while Lesley and I were bobbing around the Atlantic, Caribbean and Pacific Oceans on the Westbound relocation cruise last year, the PA schedule was finally released – and praise be – the week of my family’s cruise was OPEN. Now – this was great news – see I was ON BOARD a DCL ship – see where I am going here? Onboard re-booking bennies!! I emailed my mom from the ship, and she was going to add me to her cabin… 3 adults in a cat 6??? Not exactly roomy. So – she asked me if I could get an inside cabin (since that was about as much as I could swing $$) and agree to bring DN10. I was worried about DN6 feeling left out (see DN10 went on the Med cruise with us 2 years ago – when she was DN8 and DN6 didn’t go…). Mom said to go ahead and book onboard, and we would add DN6 if DSis allowed us to (see we hadn’t even asked my sister if we could steal her kids for a week!!). So I had cabin 7001 – Cat 10, inside stateroom booked with a $200 on board credit and re-booking discount. YEAH!!

Next installment - the challenge of adding a DBF!!!

[crick85]

Great pre-trip report except for the comment about me not being a poster. Looking forward to finding out what our itinerary is and hobnobbing it with other well-bred members of high class society

[DrDolphin]

Originally Posted by crick85

Great pre-trip report except for the comment about me not being a poster. Looking forward to finding out what our itinerary is and hobnobbing it with other well-bred members of high class society

Hi Honey - gee post #2. You're making progress. At this rate - you might make it three before we go on the honeymoon cruise. As for hobnobbing it with rest of high society... inside cat 10 on the Titanic would have been steerage.... good thing this isn't the Titanic....

[DrDolphin]

AKA - how do I add my Boyfriend to this trip?

Fast forward about a month – and I meet DH2B (at that point known as DBF) and a few months into our relationship, I mentioned this cruise, and he mentioned he might be interested in going…. OK – major challenge here… Will GRANDMA (DM) allow DN10 to stay in my cabin with DBF and me??? How will DS feel about that – how will DN10 feel about that? How will DBF feel about that?? So after some discussion, it was decided that DM and DF would upgrade from a cat 6 to a cat 4 – and they, plus DN10 and DN6 would share that (we had added him by this point).

A little while later, after transferring the ressie to TA (our own Belle*), I decided to surprise DBF with the Romance package while we were on board… A first for me. We had our dining reservation added to my parent’s group – so we were a table of 11 at the early seating (remember we have kiddos….). Months go by and we get closer to pay it off time – and booking of excursions, Palo, spa, etc – and the bad news starts.

My DU2’s company is threatening significant layoffs – and he is worrying about dishing out significant $$ for a cruise that they may need to live off of… so he decides to wait until the last moment to decide if he and DA2 will join us. Ends up that they won’t be. So now we have Nine folks. I should say that while we will be dining together and maybe seeing shows together – DH2B and I have separate excursions booked (with a couple of exceptions on CC).

Now you know the backstory of the cruise – we can get to the details – what are we doing – when?

The rest of the crew from NM, OR and IL will be flying into Orlando on Friday the 24th of July and taking a Quicksilver towncar/van to the port (at my recommendation – cheaper than Disney transport) and staying at the Cocoa Beach Hilton. The next morning, Chris and I will be driving down from JAX. He works until 11pm on Friday night, and I will have returned from two weeks in Alaska the prior Sunday – so we will need all week to get me back on the right time zone, and pack all our stuff for the cruise.

We plan to be on the road by 8am and pull into the DCL terminal bldg right about 1030 (it’s a 2 hr 25 min drive usually). That should let us be on the early boarding group. The traveling contingent will meet us at the terminal and I think we will board together, or at least close to each other.

Plans for the cruise –

Ship Itinerary –
July 25 – Sail Away
July 26 – Key West
July 27 – At Sea
July 28 – Grand Cayman
July 29 – Cozumel
July 30 – At Sea
July 31 – Castaway Cay
Aug 1 – Back to the House and start planning the 2 week trans-Atlantic honeymoon cruise!!

And our plans –

Key West – GPS Walking Tour
1st Day at Sea - Spa Appt
Grand Cayman – Stingray City Snorkeling & Palo Dinner
Cozumel – Zip Line, Snorkel combo
At Sea – Palo Brunch (all adults in the party) & Spa Appt (trying for a couple’s suite)
Castaway Cay – Parasailing, Bike riding (w/DN10) & Mr. Ray’s Stingray (with DN6 and DN10)

Well – that is it for now – the basic plans for our party of nine. I don’t know what DA, DN and DC are doing for excursions yet, and really don’t know what DM, DF and the DN and DN are doing either. I’ve sort of been in a planning void as far as they have been concerned.

I will come back with more details on the planning, packing and paying details – as well as a live “Floridian freezing in Alaska” trip report right before the cruise takes off!!!

[pamcarey]

Sounds like a great trip you've got planned! I can't wait to read all about it. I loved reading about your Mediterranean cruise.

[statelady01]

Your plans sound great!

[Kenny]

Plans sound great, Terri! A Lot of folks going on the Western lately... I need to take notes for ours in October!

[chezp]

Great start Terri and great to hear from Chris as well!

[lauren-roxy]

Great start Terri and your plans sound wonderful!!

[lauriep]

Oh, goody... a Dr Dolphin cruise report! Great plans and as always I'm amazed at how you keep everything organized with your busy work and play schedule. Not to mention planning a wedding and honeymoon trip!

And HI CHRIS!

[HeatherD]

Terri, I totally didn't know we were the same age....shows you how well I pay attention on FB! Looking forward to reading about your trip (even though none of the excursions except Stingray Ray's match up to what we're doing in Oct! Maybe that's good, a little variety!). Do I recall that you did a zipline excursion on your Panama cruise?

Hi, Chris! Welcome aboard...

[Colexis Mom]

Great start Terri!!

[Hugmonster]

Great start. Sounds like a fun trip.

[oldmom]

sounds like a fun trip.

[mcc0313]

Great start, sounds like you have just the right balance of quality family time and some time for you and Chris as well. Great excusions planned...love the idea of zip lining. Can't wait to hear more.