Sue's 4 Night Disney Vacation Club Cruise, February 2003

Who/When/Where:

Who: Sue (me), DVC member

Appearances by:

Leesa, Comedy Warehouse regular

Tracy & Tyger, Comedy Warehouse regulars

Adie & Lisa, Darla & Steven, Donna & Joe, Dottie & Joe - DVC friends

Debbie & Don, Rich & Deb, Chris & Mel & Mitchell - DVC friends

Dates: January 31 - February 6, 2003

Travel Method: Personal car, Disney Cruise Line

Resort: Leesa's condo & Disney Wonder

Experience: Extremely experienced

INTRODUCTION:

Originally my February trip was going to be another 3-day weekend at Old Key West, taken more towards the end of the month. Then DVC announced they had taken over the Disney Wonder for the February 2 nd sailing for a DVC Members-only cruise. I waited for the details of this'special' cruise - expecting a reduced rate like we've gotten in the past, and laughed at the gall of Disney to then jack the prices up slightly (so much for it being any sort of a'deal') for this cruise only. The explanation I heard most often was we were getting a 2 nd day at Castaway Cay, and that costs Disney money. LOL, I think the truth is the 2 nd day MAKES them money, as nobody can spend their money elsewhere on these 2 days. In any event, I initially had no desire at all to do this cruise. Of course, I should know to never say never!

Several DVC friends were planning to do the cruise, and I enjoy their company but figured I wouldn't be cruising with any of them until the kids were grown and it was just the adults left. If I had young children I'd welcome cruising with other families with kids, but since my kid is pretty much grown up I prefer to stick with the company of adults. I've done the 4-day Wonder cruise once before, and frankly any cruise of less than 7 days and which only goes to the Bahamas is normally not something I'd do without a really compelling reason. I love many things Disney, but for me the cruise is not where they shine. However, I fully expect to have a great time spending those 4 nights on the ship socializing with friends - some of whom I only see infrequently. My friend Leesa has let me stay at her place after a night at Comedy Warehouse to start many of my trips this past year, so I decided to bring her along and give her the cruise as a Christmas present. This will be her first cruise, so it will be fun seeing it all through the eyes of a cruise virgin!

We opted for late dinner seating this time, which I'm eager to try. Generally I don't like to eat late, but sometimes early dinner just cuts into the afternoon too much with prep time (unless you're naturally gorgeous - I am not ). Unfortunately, on Disney when you have late dinner you see your show BEFORE dinner - what the heck is up with that??? I know, it's good for the little kids - sigh. I would have preferred dinner around 8, show at 10, but that's not how they do it. Leesa in particular is a night owl, although she's been trying to adjust her sleep schedule somewhat in preparation for the cruise. Unlike most people, if she does not get enough rest she physically might not be able to move - and my biggest fear is the last day will come when we must get off the ship way earlier than she's used to, and she might have trouble. On the other days the worst that would happen is she misses whatever we're doing during the first part of the day. I'm somewhat of an early riser - I'll be up and out, walking the deck, having a light breakfast, so we'll have to figure out how to get in touch if she's still sleeping.

The Wonder is much more casual than the cruises I'm used to, so I'm going to take advantage of that and pack accordingly. The fancy dresses will stay at home, even though Darla has said she'd have to turn her head away when I come by in slacks . The daytime weather looks pretty good, getting pretty close to 80 degrees. Nights should be cool, but not cold. I opted for a cabin down on deck 2 (#2076), without a verandah this time. Since it is Leesa's first cruise I didn't want to get an inside (aka walk-in closet) stateroom - having the large window is so much nicer. From deck 2 we'll have a great view of the waves/water as we cruise along - although realistically, we won't be doing much cruising except after dark. Most of our time we'll be anchored somewhere.

Since the cruise leaves on Sunday and my workweek ends on Friday, I'm spending the couple of nights before the cruise at Leesa's and the Comedy Warehouse. Hopefully Tracy & Tyger will be there Friday night, too. I think the trip is going to go very quickly, and I look forward to relaxing on the cruise.

The plans:

Fri 1/31: Work, Comedy Warehouse

Sat 2/1: Relax & prepare for cruise, Comedy Warehouse

Sun 2/2: DVC Member Cruise begins

Mon 2/3: Castaway Cay

Tue 2/4: Enjoy ship while in Nassau , Andrea McArdle's show

Wed 2/5: Castaway Cay,

Thu 2/6: Breakfast, Leave ship, drive home

DAY 3 SUNDAY FEBRUARY 2, 2003 :

Plan: DVC Member Cruise Begins!

Actual: Today starts the DVC Member Cruise portion of this trip. To recap, Disney Vacation Club (DVC) has taken over the Disney Wonder for this 4 day cruise and made it exclusively for DVC members & their guests. I'm bringing along a friend who has never cruised before, and will be meeting several DVC friends - most of whom have cruised the Disney ships repeatedly, and I think all of them have cruised on some line or another. This will be my 2 nd cruise on the Wonder, 4 th on Disney Cruise Line, and 9 th overall. This portion of the story begins at my friend Leesa's condo near wdw, where I spent last night.

I got up around 7:45 and took my shower. When I finished I could hear noise that sounded like someone packing a suitcase - Leesa was UP!!! She was finishing her packing & was focused really well today, which was great! I made my hot chocolate & got online while she took her shower, then we finished getting our stuff together before leaving around 10:15 or so. It was a quick drive to the terminal and the entire checking in process went very quickly - even though it felt like we were constantly having to stop to show our photo id. They have security set up at the entrance to the terminal now, which is a much better arrangement. This makes boarding the actual ship go faster when that time comes.

We rode the escalator up and went to check in, meeting Chris and her mom Mel in line behind us. They are both so much fun - I'm glad they're on the cruise. After Leesa & I checked in we went and joined Rich & Deb, Darla & Steven, and Chris' son Mitchell in the line waiting to board the ship. The queue area was completely filled and and the line extended the length of the terminal 2.5 times by the time we boarded. Chris & Mel joined us and Chris introduced me to her son Mitchell - warning him that I really don't like kids very much so he needs to be on his best behavior around me, lol! Mitchell wasn't sure what to think - but he stood up to shake my hand. For the record, he seems like a very well-behaved kid, and is cute as well. Steven was eating a big bag of potato chips and Darla was laughing about how that looked - like the'studio trash' had arrived . Years ago I think it was Rich that coined the phrase'studio trash' when he was staying in a studio rather than the usual 2br villa.

Donna & Dottie arrived and went to check in, then the boarding started. We missed the announcement & whatever shenanigans they did, but that's a'been there, done that' thing for us anyway. Getting on the ship went quickly, and we were herded to Parrot Cay for the buffet lunch. Since dinner wasn't until 8:30 it was actually possible to eat lunch! The buffet was nice, with lots of food. They had these hand wipes for everyone, but I'm not worried about being germ-phobic beyond normal everyday hygiene practices. The buffet had salads, vegetables, pork, roast beef, pasta, chicken cacciatore, mahi-mahi, pasta alfredo, breads and a wide variety of desserts. Most of the desserts I thought looked better than they tasted, but I only tried a couple of things - plus a cookie (those are always good). Leesa tried a wider variety and said most of it was pretty good. We had fun catching up with everyone.

By 1:30 people started heading to their staterooms, and so did we. Our luggage hadn't arrived yet, so we checked out our gifts. I got a nice Castaway Cay beach towel and a couple of pins for being a Castaway Club (repeat cruiser) member (gave 1 of the pins to Leesa). From DVC there were a couple of special pins for this cruise - one for each of us, plus a cheap fan. The Disney Collectibles people also left a couple of different pins and some postcards. It was nice - and we'll also each get a t-shirt and a lanyard with another special cruise pin. All around the ship they have SS Member Cruise logo items replacing the usual Wonder stuff.

Leesa & I decided to wander around the ship. Since we're using the elevators, we're having to wait forever to get anywhere. The elevators here are absolutely tiny - I don't know how my friend Kathy managed it on her last (& final) Disney cruise - but I remember she spent an awful lot of time waiting as several elevators came that were too full for her to get into. At least with Leesa & I being small, we can squeeze in to just about any space. One elevator had 6 people on it, and it was full - that's ridiculous! We went up to deck 9, then had to get another elevator to deck 10 (I forgot we weren't doing stairs). We walked around, took pictures, then Adie & Lisa called to say our luggage was outside our stateroom so we went back down to unpack.

Leesa needed to take some medicine and rest, so after unpacking I called Adie & Lisa & went up to join them on deck 10. I used the stairs, since I could - kind of huffing & puffing as I climbed 7 stories! I found them and sat to chat with them. They were excited to have booked the mud room thing (private room - you smear mud on your naked bodies and then do whatever until your time is up). Adie found out the price was good for up to 3 people, so they added me to their party -–they'll just tell me when to show up ! Somehow I think I may be busy doing something else that day, but their invitation was a nice gesture, lol!

Around 3:30 we returned to our staterooms. Leesa was laying on the couch, so I got to work updating the trip report. We did the mandatory lifeboat drill at 4pm and for a change I was actually on the shady side! Usually I roast out there, but today it was very comfortable. After the drill we dropped off our life jackets and headed up to deck 10 for the DIS meet.

We found our DVC friends easily and admired the buttons that Mark from the DIS board had prepared for everyone. Donna was telling us how she realized she'd forgotten to put on her deodorant so as she was walking through the terminal she fished it out of her bag and shoved it under her shirt to put it on right there, lol! No sense wasting time finding a restroom! I went to find Mark for my button and ran into Shontell Crawford. I met her mom Gale and chatted for a few minutes - I knew Shontell was cruising and was glad to run into her so quickly. My next stop was Mark & his wife Mary - Mary had already gotten my bag ready and told me my button had something extra on it. I laughed when I saw it - they did the regular button but had a ribbon hanging down with a'Diva' glittery sticker on it! I'm the Diva of DVC, after all . We chatted, then I went back to our big group.

Frankie & the West End Boys began playing, and it felt like we were at Pleasure Island ! Leesa went over to take a bunch of pictures, while I visited with my DVC friends. It was a perfect day - great weather, good music, terrific company - I am really happy to be here! When we sailed away they blew lots of bubbles and shot streamers over the crowd. The Sail Away Party seemed to be better attended than my previous Disney cruises, but it's always pretty crowded. Debbie found us and introduced us to her husband Don, and Peggy found us as well. Cheryl from dvctalk came over to introduce herself - it was such a fun time being on board and having so many familiar & friendly faces.

After we started moving it got chilly really fast, so Leesa & I headed down to the stateroom. I love the view of the water from deck 2 - it's great being close to the ocean, and I really think a verandah would be too cold for either of us (plus they're much higher). I updated the report while Leesa did some reading. She was pretty tired and decided she didn't want to see the show, which was fine with me. I'd see it again if she wanted to go, but I won't miss it since I've seen it before!

Leesa stayed in the stateroom to do some reading while I wandered around. I like the stateroom, but can't spend a lot of time there when there's a whole ship to enjoy. I checked on our lanyards and the dvc people said they're making them now and they'd be delivered to our stateroom tonight. I went and browsed through the shops, and ran into Donna's Joe in one of them. We chatted a little bit before I headed out. After a lap around the promenade deck (deck 4) I climbed up to deck 9 and got some hot chocolate from the beverage station before returning to deck 4 to finish the mile. When I returned to the stateroom Leesa showed me an invitation to the Castaway Club reception had arrived, so we'll go to that tomorrow night. It's great that since we have 2 nd seating we can do the reception and not be too full to eat dinner.

We dressed for dinner - tonight we eat at Triton's, which is the most formal of the 3 regular dining rooms. I wore a dressy black & fuschia pantsuit and Leesa wore a long black dress. We met the others at Triton's, where our servers had created 2 large tables for us. At our table we had Adie & Lisa, Debbie & Don, and Mari & her daughters Tara & Shelby. Our servers were very good, and we weren't rushed at all during the meal.

Nothing really looked all that appealing to me, but I did order a glass of the moscato that was my favorite wine at LeCellier. I got the melon in port wine sauce, which was just ok. I ate some of it, but not all. I also had the chilled vichysoisse (sp?), which was onion, leeks & almonds. It was very mild - not bad, but not something I'd go out of my way to have again. For an entrée I got the grilled chicken breast, which was very moist & tender. My dessert was the grand marnier souffle with chocolate sauce, but I wasn't impressed and left most of it. Leesa's beef tenderloin was very dry, and looked awful. She loved the cauliflower soup but didn't care for the beef. She got the chocolate mousse cake, which was pretty good - especially when dipped in my chocolate sauce! Some of the others had escargot, shrimp, sea bass, or lamb shank - it was all pretty decent (except the beef), but nothing to write home about. It was typical for a Disney cruise, but substandard for some other cruise lines. Lisa had brought her duct tape and scissors to dinner, but ended up not having to use them. We'd heard there were only about 300 kids on board this cruise - normally there are closer to 1000 or more, so this is REALLY nice!

After dinner I went to the other table and talked to them for a while, then we finally all left the restaurant. Leesa & I decided to hang around with Adie & Lisa, so we stopped at Wave Bands to see if Frankie was playing. Leesa wanted to see them, and I'd leave her there if they were there. The 70's party was still going on, and the place reeked of cigarette smoke, so I never got past the doorway. Smoke can trigger her illness, along with her allergies, and nobody else wanted to put up with the smoke so we left. I checked at the front desk and saw Frankie would perform in about ½ hour (at 11:15 ) so we decided to walk on the deck for a while. Lisa was all dressed up and wearing pumps - I know the people on Fortress will be shocked to hear that, lol! We almost made 1 lap before Leesa started slowing down, and I knew she needed to get inside & sit down. We sent her in to check for Frankie, and the 3 of walked several more laps quickly.

When Lisa's pumps started bothering her she went in to use the internet café, I think looking for Adie's girlfriend Judy (aka Babe). Adie & I walked several more laps - she thinks we did 10 miles, but I'm not so sure . We walked pretty quickly for a solid hour, so it was probably maybe 3-4 miles. We went inside and she went to retrieve Lisa while I headed down to the stateroom. Leesa was on the couch reading - the cabin steward had turned down my bed but had not made up the couch for her. You'd think when 2 women are traveling together they would just assume they're not sharing a bed, but it seems I always have to tell them. We folded her bed down and hopefully when the steward sees it in the morning he'll figure out we'll be using both beds! Leesa never watched Frankie, due to the crowds, noise & smoke. Our steward had left a swan made from a towel on my bed, along with a couple of chocolates.

I finished up the report by shortly after midnight , and went to bed to read tomorrow's Personal Navigator. We plan to be off the ship early in the morning, so we'll see how that goes.

Today was a wonderful day. I'm surprised at how happy I am to be back on the cruise, and what makes it so special is having a bunch of friends on board. It really adds to the fun to have familiar faces around, and I'm looking forward to the next 3 days.

DAY 4 MONDAY FEBRUARY 3, 2003 :

Plan: Castaway Cay

Actual: I woke up at 6, not knowing what time it was. I'd set the wake up call for 6:30 , so I just stayed in bed rather than waking Leesa by playing on the computer. Promptly at 6:30 Mickey called to let me know there were'big doin's' going on around here, and to be sure to wash behind my ears. I took a quick shower and got into a swimsuit, then woke up Leesa and made a cup of cappuccino. The weather was 68 degrees already even though it was just past 7am , and it looked like it would be a great beach day.

Leesa took her shower and Adie & Lisa came to get us at 8. We went up to Beach Blanket Buffet on deck 10 and got breakfast to eat outside on deck. I had a little scrambled eggs & bacon (very good), ½ bagel (kinda tough) and a little Mickey waffle (just ok). They also had donuts/pastries, an omelet station, cereals, fruit, and other stuff I don't remember. It was a little chilly eating out on deck, but once we got off the ship it felt a lot warmer.

After breakfast we went down to deck 1 just as they were letting people off the ship. Adie & Lisa had gone to an 8:30 event and would catch up with us later. Leesa & I got towels and took the tram from the ship. After walking a while we took the next tram to the adult beach ( Serenity Bay ), meeting up with Shontell Crawford & her mom. We rode out with them, and enjoyed their company. They were headed for massages, while we went directly to the beach to see if any of the others were there. We didn't see anyone, but we were getting eaten alive by what we thought were no-see-ums. They turned out to be sand fleas, and the cm said they were attracted to anything white (like the lovely white beach towels Disney provides, lol). I laid in a hammock for a while and Leesa took a walk on the beach but we were both miserable with the damn bugs so we decided to call it quits.

At the tram stop we found Adie & Lisa just arriving (by foot - Adie again insisted she walked 10 miles but I think it was more like 1 or 2). We told them about the bugs and showed them the ones that were still on Leesa's cooler, so they decided to skip this beach as well. We took the tram back to the family beach and decided to give it a try. Since we were near the far end there were not many people, and there were NO bugs! We set up camp and relaxed on the beach.

Leesa went to walk along the beach looking for small shells and taking pictures, Adie went snorkeling and Lisa & I sat on our chairs reading. I gave her a trashy Soap Opera magazine and Adie tried to get me interested in one of her magazines - one I'd never heard of but since it was for women it must be like a Ladies Home Journal or something . When Leesa came back she mentioned seeing my DVC friends further down the beach, so while she sat & read the rest of us went down and joined the others for some conversation & laughter. They'd bought a couple of 6-packs of beer for something like $22 plus change each, but they came with a free soft sided cooler. It was fun talking to them, and eventually people started thinking of getting lunch.

Adie, Lisa & I went back to get Leesa and we headed to Cookie's BBQ for lunch. The lines were really short - much nicer than I've ever seen it. I got a couple of ribs and a bite of delicious potato salad. The ribs were very tender - I was able to pull the meat right apart with only a fork. They had the delicious jumbo chocolate chip cookies, too - I think we all ate one at lunch and I brought another one back on the ship with me. After lunch Adie & Lisa went back to the ship, Leesa wandered around looking for more shells, and I walked around taking a few pictures before joining Rich, Deb, Donna, Joe, Chris & Mel further down the beach. Leesa & I agreed to meet back at our chairs at 2, but we were both a little early & headed back to the ship then.

I took my shower first, then updated the report & watched General Hospital while Leesa took her shower. After a lazy relaxing day we were due for a fairly busy evening and mapped out our strategy for fitting it all in. We found there would be time to dress for dinner after the show tonight, so we put casual clothes on until then - I wore my Comedy Warehouse cast shirt so even though those people couldn't really be here, their images were on vacation .

When General Hospital was done I went up & used the Internet Café to catch up on some of the email and reply to a few people. Adie saw me and stopped by to chat on her way to her stateroom - it's so nice to just run into friends on this cruise! I got offline and went down to the stateroom to check on Leesa. She'd fallen asleep on the couch, so it was going to take her a while to get moving again. We agreed to meet up on deck 4 before the ship was due to sail at 5, and I went up on my own to do some laps around the promenade deck. At 4:55 as I was coming down the deck I noticed we seemed further away from the dock than normal so I stopped and saw that we were already moving! I kept walking, and soon found Leesa, then Lisa joined us - they missed the sailing away but we can try again Wednesday.

We wandered around and took some pictures, then it was time for the Castaway Club reception. On the way I introduced Lisa to Shontell, and we chatted briefly. The reception was incredibly crowded and filled 3 of the clubs instead of just Wavebands. Normally there are 150-300 repeat cruisers on board, but this time there were over 1000! The buffet was excellent - fruit, canapes, egg rolls, chicken wings, fried cheese, mini quiche and my favorite was the 'kids' sushi'. This was rice krispie treat wrapped in chocolate, then sliced - the only sushi that will ever pass these lips, lol! I found a couple sitting at a table with 3 extra chairs so we joined a very nice couple. We talked DVC (of course ) with them, and I got a couple of glasses of white wine - and put the 2 nd one in the refrigerator in the room until before dinner. When the reception ended Leesa went to the stateroom to rest, Lisa went looking for Adie, and I headed to the Walt Disney Theater for the show.

They did the DVC version of Who Wants to be a Mouseketeer, with all DVC questions. I ran into many of the others, so there were 12-13 of us who saw the show together, plus Shontell came and sat in the row in front of us. It was such fun seeing the show with the others, and it was amazing how little some dvc members knew about the different resorts! The higher questions were very difficult - like what type of wood is the boardwalk at Boardwalk Villas made from, and how many teepee chandeliers are in the lobby of Villas at Wilderness Lodge…who the hell cares, lol! None of us were called to be contestants, and none of the contestants won a free cruise, but it was fun.

When the show ended I went back to the stateroom to update the report and get changed. We left around 8 and stopped at the Shore Excursion Desk for Leesa to book a glass bottomed boat tour for tomorrow afternoon, then stopped at the front desk and then deck 4 to see what the 50% off a future cruise deal would mean if you were using points. There was a long line of people waiting to get information on the future cruises, and the discount was'up to' 50% certain dates, meaning it was much less than that for many dates. The savings didn't amount to very many points saved.

We headed to Animator's Palate for dinner and joined the others. Dinner was much better tonight! I skipped the appetizer and then tried the chilled gazpacho and loved it! I'd never had it before, and was quite pleased with it. For my meal I had the herb crusted lamb chop, which came with a delicious risotto. None of the desserts looked spectacular so I decided to try the kahlua trifle, which was just ok. I was hoping for more of a coffee flavor rather than actual kahlua soaking cake underneath the custard. Trifle lovers might love it, but I guess I'm not a trifle fan. Leesa had a sirloin steak tonight and it was much better than last night's beef. She also got the salmon appetizer but didn't like it, and the butternut squash soup, which she liked but not as well as the Wolfgang Puck version. She got the NY cheesecake for dessert, and that was excellent.

After dinner we talked to the friends at the next table, then looked at the pictures in Shutters (taken of guests by the ship's photographers). Leesa decided she was done for the night and went to the stateroom. I changed into sneakers and went walking around the promenade deck with Adie & Lisa for a while. It was a gorgeous night and I was actually warm walking the deck.

When I got back to the stateroom Leesa was in bed. Tonight's towel animal was a dog, and he's wearing my sunglasses. Our cabin steward is doing a good job taking care of us, but we don't see him much (we don't need to, since he's doing his job). Tonight's dvc gift was a blue mesh tote bag that says'member' along with the dvc name. It's not something I'd ever buy, and honestly seems a little tacky by dvc standards, but hell - it's free, it wasn't expected, so I'm glad to receive it!

Today was a great day. Once we got away from the sand fleas, Castaway Cay was really nice. The Castaway Club reception was very crowded but very nice - this is one area where DCL does a better job than HAL. The best thing though is being here with everyone else - that's really making this cruise extra special!

DAY 5 TUESDAY FEBRUARY 4, 2003 :

Plan: Enjoy ship while at Nassau , Andrea McArdle show

Actual: Today the ship is in lovely (not) Nassau from 8:30 am until 1:30 am tomorrow. Since Leesa's never been, she decided to go ashore and do a glass bottom boat excursion. I've done one of those in Grand Cayman and was bored enough to know it wasn't something I wanted to repeat. I plan to stay onboard and enjoy the ship while so many people are gone for the day!

Since we didn't have to get up early (Leesa's excursion was 2:30pm ) I didn't put in for a wake up call. Instead, the sun woke me up around 7. I got up & dressed, then went up on deck with my unmade cappuccino - just adding hot water at the beverage station. I love a cruise ship early in the day before everyone else is up and about! We were on the final approach to Nassau and I figured it would be fun to watch the ship tie up at the dock. The Carnival ship and 2 from Royal Caribbean were already docked, and we'd be the 4 th (& final) ship for the day.

I ran into Mary & Mark from the DIS boards up on deck and chatted with them for little while, then continued walking. Next I stopped to talk to Don (from our group), who told me about the navy ship escorting us in. I continued walking around and stopped up by the front of the ship, and soon Mel and Chris came by & joined me. We chatted while watching the ship dock - it's amazing how they can turn this thing completely around and back it into a parking space without the passengers even feeling a slight bump. I can't park my car that well, lol!

They headed to Triton's for breakfast and I returned to the stateroom. To my surprise I got back just as Leesa was leaving - I was shocked that she was up & about so early! She's sure Nancy will never believe it, but it's true . It was almost 9am , so we went upstairs to Beach Blanket Buffet for breakfast. Today I found the yogurt and added some granola and sliced almonds to make a delicious breakfast - much better than yesterday. I also had one of the small croissants, but that wasn't anything special. We ate outside at a table by the railing and it was a gorgeous warm sunny day!

After breakfast Leesa went to wander around in Nassau while I put on my swimsuit and went up to deck 10 near the adult pool to lay on a lounge chair. It was a perfect day, with a breeze that kept it cool enough to not get sweaty, but the sun was warm enough to keep it really comfortable. There was nobody around, either - so it was extremely peaceful - like having my own private ship! I did some reading and enjoyed the beautiful day, then decided a cookie sounded good. I got up and walked around to see if they had any at Scoops, but they only had fruit. I figured there were some in Beach Blanket Buffet but didn't feel I should go in there with just a swimsuit and bare feet so I went back to Scoops and got some melon.

Soon Leesa arrived, and told me about her morning in Nassau . She ran into some of the other dvc friends, which was nice. I wrapped my wrap thing around my waist, put on my sandals and went with her to Beach Blanket Buffet for lunch. As soon as we got inside a cm discreetly and nicely asked me to leave - to put on a t-shirt. I saw plenty of women in a swimsuit with just a waist thing wrapped around, but I guess since mine is a bikini top I couldn't get away with it! I wasn't really hungry anyway, so I told Leesa to just get her lunch and I went out on deck to get a table. I saw Debbie, Don, Mari, Tara & Shelby and went to chat with them about their day, then returned to wait for Leesa. She got what was almost a Thanksgiving dinner (turkey), lol, and enjoyed it. While she was eating I remembered I'd wanted to try some chicken fingers while I was on the ship, so I went over and got a couple of them and brought them back to the table. They were good, but I think once is enough .

When Leesa went to get dessert (with instructions to find me something chocolate) I went over and joined Darla, Rich, Deb & Dottie for a few minutes. Leesa came out carrying 2 plates full of desserts, lol - 2 banana chocolate pastry things, 4 chocolate chip cookies, pecan pie, 2 brownies and a yummy chocolate mousse or pudding thing. We looked like absolute hogs walking back to the stateroom with all of that, and as we passed Scoops the smartypants cm working called over to us asking if we needed any sweets for dessert . Some of the stuff was good, some was just ok - I'm sure some will end up in the trash but we at least tried everything.

Leesa rested in the stateroom for a little while and I put on some clothes over my swimsuit and left the ship to take some pictures. I never left the docks but spent a solid 30 minutes walking to another dock to get a good picture of the Wonder. Our friend Nancy wanted a picture of Donald Duck hanging from the back of the ship, so I took a couple of those as well - in case Leesa doesn't get a chance to do that. It's great that with digital we can easily share pictures. I got back to the stateroom around 2pm , just as Leesa was leaving to meet her shore excursion. I dropped off my camera and then went back up to deck 10 for another hour of reading in the sun. I brought a new Disney guide book - Making Memories by Dann Hazel & Josh Fippen, and I was absolutely loving it! Besides covering all the usual stuff they have a bunch of helpful tables and their perspective of taking a trip that will make memories to last a lifetime is terrific. I also got a kick out of being quoted in there a couple of times, lol, and especially finding my name in the acknowledgements - each time was a really cool surprise!

At 3 I gathered up my stuff, got a small ice cream cone from Scoops and returned to the stateroom to update the report and watch General Hospital . At 4 I went up to deck 4 to talk to the cruise sales manager about possibly booking another cruise for either the week of Labor Day or the 2 nd part of my November trip. It turned out if you're planning to cruise on points you don't have to stand in line - I found that out after waiting 15 minutes . People booking on points just call member services within 3 days of the cruise ending.

I walked some laps around the promenade deck, enjoying the great weather. When I finished I went back to the stateroom to shower, then went back up on deck for a while. Leesa figured she probably wouldn't see the show, which wasn't a surprise when she kept saying'Andrea who?' each time I'd mention Andrea McArdle was singing for us, lol! I got dressed for the evening and left around 6 to wander around and see the sunset from deck 10.

I ran into Mari while on my way to the theater and went back to see her stateroom, then went and joined the big group (Darla, Rich, Deb, Chris, Mel, Dottie, Donna, Joe, Debbie, Mari, Adie, Lisa, Shelby & Mitch in the Walt Disney Theater. Along the main walkway in front of the shops they had laid out a red carpet and cm's were applauding as people came down. What they didn't know was a camera was recording their arrival and shortly after they entered the theater they would see themselves on the 2 giant screens!

The show consisted of Andrea McArdle, her singing daughter Alexis, and keyboard playing husband Ed. Her daughter has an incredible voice, too - and sang a couple of songs she had recorded. Hubby wrote lots of music for the superbowl shows and other shows, and we saw clips of many of those. Andrea sang a song from each of the big Broadway shows she was in (Beauty & the Beast, Les Miserables, Aida, & Annie) plus a patriotic tribute to the astronauts who were killed last weekend. She closed the show with Tomorrow, from Annie - which of course was the highlight for everyone! It was a great show, and a wonderful opportunity for everyone on board - much better than typical cruise ship entertainment .

When the show was done some of us ended up in the shop, where I bought a photo album specifically for this cruise. Adie & I went to meet Leesa at Wavebands for the 7:45 Cabaret show featuring comic magician Rich Purpora. This was his'family' show, cleaned up for all the kiddies, and he involved the kids in all of his stuff. Even though it wasn't'adult' it was still very funny, and he's a good entertainer. I've seen him on previous Disney cruises with Sheila, and imagine I'll see him again.

Next we headed to Parrot Cay for dinner, where service took longer than normal. Our server apologized and said tomorrow we'll be back on track, so I hope she's right. The floor show takes up time, and some people didn't stick around to watch. The servers basically just parade through the dining room while lively music plays - personally I'd rather skip that part & just get the meal finished so we could get to wherever we wanted to go next. Debbie & Don skipped dessert in order to get to a 10pm show. Adie, Lisa, Leesa & I stuck around for dessert and just made it in time for the 10:30 show.

My dinner was pretty good. I skipped the appetizers and got a creamy sweet onion soup that I didn't really care for. For the entrée I got the mixed grill, which had a cute little tiny beef tenderloin, small lamb chop, part of a grilled sausage, and a few shrimp. It also came with macaroni & cheese, but it was just ordinary elbow macaroni & velveeta - nothing special. I gave my shrimp to Lisa but ate most of the rest of the meat and it was all very good. Leesa got the bbq chicken wings appetizer, some sort of salad, and a steak. For dessert I got the sugar free chocolate mousse and it was so good I was tempted to wipe out the inside of the bowl with my finger to get every last bit. Leesa got a bowl of berries, but she said they weren't as good as she'd hoped. As everyone knows, Disney Cruise Line isn't who you book if you're looking for fine dining !

After dinner the 4 of us went back to Wavebands and joined Debbie & Don for the Match Your Mate game. This is like the Newlywed Game except the 3 couples represent different lengths of marriage. It's always funny, but I only stayed through the couple selection process & left before any questions started because I wasn't willing to put up with the smell of cigarette smoke. We were in the non-smoking section but it still was disgusting and I wasn't about to stink by staying there. I checked email and then worked on the report a bit before joining Leesa up on deck 9 at the end of the Tropical Deck Party. She said the game was really funny - it's too bad they do it in a smoking venue.

Thankfully the deck party was almost finished - I don't dance and really don't like those deck parties at all, but we both were interested in seeing Frankie & the West End Boys perform since they're so familiar to us from our many nights at Comedy Warehouse. I got there in time for the last couple of songs, and then the Disney DJ started up with recorded music. One of the guys in the band who knows Leesa came over to chat for a while, but it was difficult with the loud music. He's enjoying playing on the ship, and they'll be here through February 22 nd . Afterwards AJ (Jim Robert's wife - she plays sax in Frankie's band) came over and talked for a while also. I returned to the stateroom to finish up the report and Leesa stuck around for a while longer.

Tonight we had a towel elephant, and the dvc gifts were t-shirts and free drink coupons. The t-shirts are a good quality, the same as what's in the parks. On the back they put the S.S. Member Cruise 2003 logo and on the front it says'Members are Magical'. We're supposed to wear them for the sailing away party tomorrow.

Today was another great day - relaxing but also full of things to do the 2 nd half of the day. The weather could not have been nicer, I loved getting to hear Andrea McArdle sing Tomorrow in person, and it's been fun spending time with everyone (but not in the mud room ).

Tomorrow is our final day, and we'll be back at Castaway Cay. As far as I know, this is the first time a ship has gone there twice during a cruise, so it's kind of fun to be a part of that!

DAY 6 WEDNESDAY FEBRUARY 5, 2003 :

Plan: Castaway Cay

Actual: We slept with the drapes open again, with the sun coming up just before 7am . I was up and out early, getting cappuccino made up on deck and walking a mile or so around deck 10. Leesa was awake when I left but decided to stay in bed a little longer. I returned around 8:15 to see what Leesa was planning to do. She got dressed and we headed out for breakfast. We met Chris & Mitch and ate with them - I had yogurt with granola & almonds again, and part of a hash brown. I took one of the chocolate brioche things - it ended up being a dinner roll with chocolate icing & sprinkles on top - totally disgusting!

We left the ship and went to meet the others at our spot on the family beach. It was a gorgeous day - even better than Monday was. At 10 we joined the DVC group picture, which was so big I doubt we'll be able to find ourselves . Back at our chairs we sat around talking & laughing, having a great time in the sun. I can't possibly convey what a nice day it was on that island sitting around with a group of friends! Leesa went off hunting shells and came back with quite a collection.

The lunch at Cookies' BBQ was different today, and I think we all preferred the regular meal. There were no ribs, but they had seafood jambalaya, salmon, pork medallions, burgers, hot dogs, bbq chicken and a couple of salads. I tried a tiny pork medallion, and the glaze was tasty but the meat was like shoe leather. I had a few bites of a greek salad, but it had no lettuce and no feta cheese - very strange. I ate part of Mel's burger, and a delicious chocolate chip cookie, and that was enough.

We didn't spend too much time on the beach after lunch, as the sun was pretty strong and there was still a lot to do since we have to leave the ship tomorrow. Rich, Dottie & I went to the Heads Up Bar to take pictures of the ship, and then I returned to the ship - meeting up with Adie along the way. I showered, started packing, and watched General Hospital while writing up this very brief report. At 4 I went up to the front desk to charge my tips and get the slips for each person, and also stop by the dvc desk. I was hoping they were waiving the banking deadlines for people adding on, but they were not. If they were, I could have bought points, banked the 2003 allotment and received another allotment on April 1 st - it would have been like getting a bonus year. However, if I buy now I'd have to use the 2003 points before 3/31/03 and I don't think I can do that, so I guess there's no sale to be made.

Leesa went up and took care of her tips, then we went up on deck to get a drink while the ship sailed away from Castaway Cay for the final time. Leesa & I went up to deck 9 and traded in my coupon for a rum punch. She kept hers and gave it to me since the non-alcoholic drinks were just soda and she didn't want that. The rum punch soon went to my head, although I'm not sure why. We went down to deck 4 and watched while they released the ropes and the ship moved sideways away from the dock. It's amazing how they move this big ship as if it was nothing at all! Once we'd backed out of the dock area we headed inside. We met Dottie at the elevator and Leesa went upstairs with her while I put the rest of my rum punch in the fridge in the stateroom and grabbed a cold lemonade for Leesa. I went up to deck 9 and gave Leesa her lemonade, then used the other coupon for another rum punch. They had Goofy dancing on the stage, but that soon ended and the party was over. Leesa went down to the stateroom to pack her stuff, while I walked around deck 10.

I ran into Debbie & Mari, and stopped to talk with them for a while. They may book the same cruise as me for later this year - I hope they do, as it's so much more fun with friends! Yes, I do plan to book another Disney cruise - the 7 day western Caribbean with my friend Sheila this coming November. She's never been to those ports, and although I have a couple of times I know she'll be comfortable going off on her own to do any excursions I'm not interested in - just like Leesa was on this cruise. This will give me 3 cruises in a 9-month period, which makes me feel like a very lucky person!

Eventually I grew tired of being wind-blown, and poor Debbie had lost most of her champagne to the wind (thank goodness she said it tasted awful so she didn't care), so we headed back downstairs. They went to Bingo and I returned to the stateroom. Leesa finished her packing and rested a bit. Once down, she wasn't getting up soon - not for the 6:30 Disney Dreams, not for the 7:45 Walk the Plank game show. I skipped Disney Dreams as well, since I've seen it a couple of times and I'm not sure if Sheila will want to see it again in November.

The game show was not my style - I left before it ended, when I couldn't stand it any longer. It also wasn't well attended - very small crowd. I went back to the stateroom to check on Leesa, and she was up. The person delivering tonight's gift woke her up (that's a good thing). The gift is gorgeous - it's a beautiful Steamboat Willie teapot, along with a DVC member tin which I'm assuming has some tea bags inside. It's really nice, and a great gift even though I don't drink tea! I have to admit, the daily gifts have been nice, and they've taken great care of us on this cruise. It's pretty safe to assume I'll be on the next one .

Dinner tonight is the Master Chefs series, which is the'best of' different Disney restaurants. The menu is the same regardless of which restaurant you're scheduled to be in, although the dress code for Tritons remains relatively fancy compared to the casual Parrot Cay & Animator's Palate. Our dinner was in Tritons, and we headed up to meet the others just before 8:30 . Leesa was exhausted and lasted about 5 minutes before returning to the stateroom and going to bed.

The portions tonight seemed larger than other nights, or maybe we were just getting tired of eating! For an appetizer I got the honey mustard chicken tenderloins that were breaded in crackers - absolutely delicious, and the best thing I ate on the entire cruise. I skipped the soup/salad and ordered the filet mignon and lasagna roll for my entrée. The filet was huge, but what portion I ate was nice & tender. The lasagna was full of beef, and reminded me of the LA Lasagna at Planet Hollywood. I like the LA Lasagna but didn't care for this beef version. For dessert I got the Celebration Cake, which was yellow cake, cheesecake, strawberries and white chocolate. It was ok, but not worth finishing. I brought back a Chocolate Decadence for Leesa, which was chocolate cake with chocolate mousse on top, and a side small parfait of chocolate mousse & other stuff. All the desserts had a white chocolate medallion with a full color logo from the DVC S.S. Member Cruise 2003!

After dinner I returned to the stateroom, where Leesa was sleeping. I finished packing and put my suitcase out (it had to be out by 11pm , which is absurdly early for such a thing). I portioned out the cappuccino I needed for tomorrow morning and then took what little was left up to deck 9 to make a ½ cup for tonight. I sat and filled out my comment cards from DCL and DVC before turning them in and walking some laps. It was so windy I didn't last long on deck 9 or deck 4. On deck 4 I kept getting wet from the spray of the ocean, and once outside it was hard to find a door that could be opened to get back inside.

I stopped by Wavebands, where Frankie's band was playing, but it was a little too smoky for me to stick around. Instead, I finished up the report and went to bed.

Today was a perfect Castaway Cay day, but it's very sad that this cruise is coming to an end. I really don't recommend the 4 day cruises - you really only get 3 full days, and that is not enough. However, they've been terrific days!

DAY 7 THURSDAY FEBRUARY 6, 2003 :

Plan: Breakfast, Leave the ship, Drive home

Actual: We docked in Florida by 6am , and had to be at breakfast in Tritons at 8. I got up just before 6:30 so I'd have time to do some laps on the deck as the sun came up. I HATE being back in Florida and having to go back to work tomorrow, but I guess all good things must come to an end. Leesa was up and in the shower when I left the stateroom, which was a very good sign. I made my cappuccino and walked around on deck 10, stopping to chat with Mel for a while. It sucks being back in Florida , but at least I have about an hour to enjoy being out on deck before having breakfast and then returning to the real world.

I got Leesa and we stopped on deck 4 briefly. I walked a lap while she was watching dolphin playing. By 8 we were seated in Triton's for our final meal of the cruise. Since we'd just finished dinner 22 hours before I wasn't particularly hungry. I got a yogurt and added some granola, then ate a small croissant and a muffin. It was way more than I needed, but somehow the'all you can eat' mentality is hard to resist at the end of the cruise, and I knew it was all good. Leesa got fruit and a traditional breakfast with eggs, bacon & pancakes. People were definitely less excited at this meal, lol! When we finished eating we all said our goodbyes and left the ship.

One advantage to late seating is by the time you get off the ship more than half the luggage is already gone, making it very easy to find yours! Usually we're first seating and we wander the rows searching for our luggage, but this time I spotted it from far away and walked directly towards it. We rolled our luggage out to the car and were at Leesa's condo an hour later. I posted the last few days reports, and Leesa put all of our pictures on a cd rom for me. The drive home took 3 hours and was uneventful - except for wishing I was still on the ship!

It took most of the rest of the day/night to go through the pictures and select the ones for posting in the Ofoto album, then uploading them via dialup modem! The album has some Comedy Warehouse pictures at the beginning, but most of it's the cruise. Go to the upper right of this page to access the pictures.

SUMMARY:

I was definitely skeptical about this cruise, but I have to admit it exceeded my expectations. Let's get the negatives out of the way first, so the report can end on a positive note . Four days is NOT long enough - it's like a tease to have 3 full days then get thrown off the ship. The only way I'd do another 4-day cruise would be if it was another DVC Members Cruise. Dining on DCL is mediocre at best. This cruise our servers were slow, and I can't recall anything that was truly great except for a chicken finger appetizer! Some people had food that was overcooked, somewhat cold, or seemed to have been sitting around. If you're looking for fine dining on a cruise, better book somewhere else. The smoke in Wavebands was bad enough to make me leave just as an event I enjoy was getting started. It's a shame they can't either ventilate those rooms ( Holland America seems to have figured out how to do that) or make the venue smoke-free. The sand fleas at the adult beach on Castaway Cay were a disappointment, and it was the first time any of us had encountered that there.

Ok, now for the positive stuff . Having 2 days at Castaway Cay was wonderful, and with perfect weather and great company those days were better than I'd ever imagined they'd be. Leesa enjoyed the shelling while I enjoyed sunning and socializing. Nassau was a nice chance for me to enjoy the ship while everyone else went ashore - it was wonderfully peaceful! The ship was not a floating kiddieland like it usually is, with only 300 kids rather than 1000 or so. THAT was really nice! We never saw any unruly or misbehaving kids anywhere on the ship, and other than the screaming toddler being ignored by her parents on Castaway Cay it was possible to forget kids were even around. The kids in our group were all great kids/teens, and a pleasure to be around.

DVC did a super job making the cruise special! All over the ship there were special DVC touches, from the flags, signs, and other décor. The Who Wants to be a Mouseketeer show was revised to be all dvc-related. They added special programs which I don't think any of us took part in - things like you'd see on a 7-day cruise but not a 4-day. The gifts every night were a nice surprise, and made us feel very appreciated. Our stateroom on deck 2 midship was terrific, and convenient to everything plus I love being that close to the water to better see the waves.

The best part of the cruise though was the company I kept. Cruising with a large group of friends makes it so much more fun, especially when the group doesn't try to stick together the whole time. I don't think I ever went anywhere on board without running into someone I knew, and that was really nice! If there's a 2004 DVC cruise I'll definitely be there! Until then, I'll be calling tomorrow to book the 11/08/03 Magic Western Caribbean cruise with Sheila. We've got the Eastern Caribbean on HAL in June with our sons, but by November I'll be wanting to get back on a ship again .

My next big trip is mid-March in a grand villa at Disney's Hilton Head Island Resort, although I'll probably take a weekend trip just for Comedy Warehouse before then.

Until next time - thanks for reading

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