Live, Laugh, Love...Dream: Mother/Daughter Cruise on the Disney Dream: Debarkation Day-Updated 3/29/11
About This Page: This is a discussion on Live, Laugh, Love...Dream: Mother/Daughter Cruise on the Disney Dream: Debarkation Day-Updated 3/29/11 within the Sharing Your Adventure: Disney Cruise Reports, part of the PassPorter Community - Boards & Forums on Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel; Hello…is this thing on? <tap, tap, tap> Welcome one and all! I have returned after an almost 2 year absence ...

**DawnDenise** · 01-19-2011, 05:35 PM

Hello…is this thing on? <tap, tap, tap> Welcome one and all! I have returned after an almost 2 year absence from trip report writing. I will admit that I got a little bit burned out after my run of five trips in one year, and just couldn’t convince myself to write one. I truly admire and do not know how some people (ahem….you know who you are) write a TR for every trip. But I digress. I figured the perfect time for me to return to my trip reporting would be with my first Disney cruise. This cruise has been a long time coming as we have had booked…cancelled…booked…cancelled many times.

My traveling partner on this journey is of course, my mom, Lynn. This will be our 4th Mother/Daughter trip together with number 5 already in planning mode. She is truly my best friend, and these trips are truly high points in my life. She is known for her “cool” hair, sparkly clothes, and a habit of getting me more than a little tipsy on our trips.

Without a doubt, she comes up with something for both of us to wear on our trips that usually goes beyond my comfort zone at times, but I wear dutifully because it makes her happy.

Below is a picture of us from our 2nd trip together.

As I stated, we have booked and cancelled cruises many times due to factors like my mom retiring and my DH and I buying a house. But in June 2010, mom was ready to book again. Since my mom was now a retired travel agent (she worked for AAA for 15 years) and I became a travel agent at about the same time, it was my turn to get this booked. After talking on the phone many times and trying to convince my mom that a 7-day cruise was not in the financial books for me, we finally decided on a 4-night Bahamian cruise. The exciting part was that we were going to get to sail on the Disney Dream if we booked in 2011. That sold it for mom. As normal, we looked at dates in February as that is when we usually go on our trips. It took less than 10 minutes to decide on the February 13th sailing. We even chose our stateroom of # 5544 (Deluxe Oceanview Stateroom with Verandah) and went with the Late Seating for dinner. Within minutes, the deposit was paid, and there was no turning back.

Next was deciding on flights.

Normally, when going to WDW, we fly out of Indy since we can get non-stop flights at an early hour to maximize our park time and for decent prices. However, since we weren’t spending any time in the parks prior to or after the cruise, we decided to see what Louisville had to offer. Let me tell you, it isn’t much. However, we decided to fly in the day before so we make the early buses to Port Canaveral. We were able to snag a non-stop flight down to MCO but do have a layover in Birmingham on the flight home with Southwest. We paid for Early-Bird check-in so I didn’t have to worry about checking us in at the 24-hour mark. Call me lazy, but I just wanted it taken care of for once.

We then had to decide on where to stay for that night. We paid for ground transfers when we booked the trip so it was essential to stay near the airport so we could catch the motor coach to the port. Mom mentioned the Hyatt at the MCO and I brought it up online. I was pleasantly surprised to find that with mom’s “senior” discount, it was very reasonable! It was only $30 more than staying at a hotel outside of the airport and the ease factor is totally worth it. A few clicks later, we were booked for one night. Knowing my mom and me, we will find enough to keep ourselves busy.

Now anyone that has read any of my Mother/Daughter trip reports, we have to have a theme. The theme for this trip goes back to my mom’s mom, my Mema. Her house with filled with several knick knacks and pictures that had a common theme in a lot of them. “Live Every Moment, Laugh Every Day, and Love Beyond Words” or “Live, Laugh, Love” for short. Mema took these words to heart and lived her life by them. My mom and I both try to do the same. When talking with my mom, she took it one step further by adding Dream in honor of the ship. So...she has been on the search for some themed items to commemorate the trip. If she can’t find what she wants, she makes them herself. That’s my mom for ya.

Unfortunately, being that this is our first cruise, we had to wait until 75 days out to book any excursions or Palo/ Remy reservations. We haven’t been able to get reservations for anything at Palo or Remy, but we will try the waitlist as soon as we board the ship for a Palo Brunch. We are skipping on Remy as we really want to enjoy the restaurant rotation and don’t want to miss Pirate Night

. We’ll just have to try Remy on another trip, plus the $75.00/each additional cost could be spent on adult beverages according to my mom.

Coming Up: The Theme Gifts Begin, Apparel Decisions, Excursions if any

**Colexis Mom** · 01-19-2011, 05:43 PM

Great start Dawn!

Two4Disney · 01-19-2011, 06:09 PM

Oh, I can't wait for more!

**lauriep** · 01-19-2011, 06:13 PM

Sounds great!

**DrDolphin** · 01-19-2011, 10:07 PM

Looks like it will be a great trip Dawn! I love your Mother/Daughter trips and can't wait to read all about this one. Someday I am going to get my mother to do a mother/daughter trip!