Yes, We're Actually Going! 10/11/14 Fantasy Western Caribbean PTR

[Castillo Mom]

Oh my, where to begin? For some reason I've never been very good at starting these things so I'll just dive right in, no pun intended!

I guess introductions are in order! I'm a widowed mom to three wonderful adult sons ages 20, 23 and 25 and yes, they all still live at home. We've always loved Disney and live a mere 15 minutes away from DLR. We were first bit by the WDW back in '04. It was an amazing family vacation and on the plane ride home we were already planning our next trip! We've been DVC members since '08 and many amazing memories from our visits.

My eldest son is 25 and has a love and talent for Disney animation. The kid demonstrated a talent for art practically as soon as he could pick up a crayon. Don't know where he got it from because I can barely draw stick figures.

My middle kid 22 is a huge Mickey fan and has quite a collection of stuffed Mickeys. Although all three of my kids love Disney, I think he'd go to WDW every year for vacation if I'd agree to it!

My youngest is the baby at age 20 and will be just shy of his 21st birthday when we go on our cruise. Oh he'd love it if he knew I was referring to him as "the baby" on a discussion forum! He's also a Disney fan albeit a little more cynical than the other two. He'd love for me to share with you that his favorite character is Pooh!

Next on the list is my little sister. We are 12 years apart and I love her to pieces! She's been able to join me on two WDW trips and in June '12 she went on her first Disney cruise with me, actually first ever cruise and we had awesome sister bonding time just the two of us!

My sis has two beautiful children, a boy and girl My niece is 6 years old and the ultimate princess and auntie (me) loves to indulge her in all things princess-y since I don't have any daughters. My nephew is 4 and is the sweetest little guy you'd ever want to meet and adores his auntie. My sister's hubby is an awesome uncle to my sons and a blast to hang with.

In addition to my sister's family, my SIL who lives in South Carolina will also be joining us. Her little family includes her hubby and my 12 year old niece. A few years ago they moved away from California so we miss them terribly. We try to vacation together as much as possible and are looking forward to seeing each other again in less than two weeks!

This will be a very special trip - for one it's a family reunion of sorts and both couples will also be celebrating their 15h wedding anniversary.

I think that's about enough for now but I'll leave you with a few pictures of my family before saying goodnight!

Me and my kiddos on Dapper Day at DLR this past February

My adorable sissy and her family

Lovely SIL and her family

 

[Castillo Mom]

So how did this trip come to be? Well, to back track a bit, my sister and I went on a lovely cruise together in June '12 just the two of us. Yup, left the kids behind and all. Did we feel guilty? Maybe just a tad but we sure did need to break. We had a fabulous time and before it all ended, we talked about rebooking onboard which we did. Initially we booked a 7 night Eastern cruise on the fantasy for summer of this year. Unfortunately due to unforseen circumstances we ended up cancelling a few months later.

Well, fast forward to May 2013. I get a call from DSIL in South Carolina and she floats me the idea of joining her on a cruise in fall of '14 to celebrate her 15th wedding anniversary as well as my sister's. Far be it from me to say no! Her initial suggestion was to go with Royal Caribbean or Princess. Wants to save money she says! What, me go on a non Disney cruise?! Mind you, DSIL had already been on three Disney cruises, she was one ahead of me. Well, to be honest I agreed to go with another line because hey, the most important thing was that we'd be spending time together as a family and I knew we'd make the best of it.

Being the designated family vacation planner, I went into research mode right away. To be honest I was becoming intrigued with sailing on one of the newer Royal Caribbean ships. It took a few days but I finally came around to the idea. Until....

I get a voicemail message at work from DSIL who says I need to call her urgently. I call her back and she excitedly tells me she doesn't care about the expense, she wants to go with Disney! So by end of May we settled on the 10/11/14 Western Caribbean sailing on the Fantasy.

Now remember that cancelled cruise that my sister and I had booked in '12? Well, of course we missed out on the OBB credit. Although I prefer having full control over my vacations, I agreed to transfer my reservation to DU in order get some sort of credit since DSIL and DSis were doing so.

We're all in verandah rooms with the exception of two of my sons. It's kind of a long story but they're all the way forward on deck 7 but we're going to try to get them moved when we get to the terminal. My middle son and I are in 7190, DSis and her family in 7188 and DSIL and her family are in 7194.

On a side note, DSis and I were in 7190 on the Dream and we absolutely loved it, the verandah is huge! I was thrilled when I was able to get the same room on the Fantasy. Score!

Before I close for the night, I'll leave you with a pic of 7190 on the Dream in case anyone is interested in what one of the extended verandahs look like.

 

[Castillo Mom]

I'm free!!!!!! Free from what, you say? Free from work! My vacation starts now!

Well, sort of. You see, I'm a manager in healthcare. If anyone here, that is if anyone is listening, works in healthcare, they know exactly what that means. It means a whole lotta crazy! I've been in healthcare for for 17 years now and let me tell you, its intense. I didn't take a vacation last year so this one is way overdo. Waaaaay overdo!

But I digress. I say sort of because I left a few loose ends that need to be tied up so I'll be going to the office tomorrow. It's not such a bad thing though because I'll be the only one there so I'll actually be able to hear myself think and concentrate on what needs to get done.

So I had this brilliant idea of writing a detailed PTR but I've just been too darn busy and exhausted to keep up. My hope is that I'll be able start and actually complete a trip report when I return. But I have a confession to make. I tried two trip reports in the past and didn't finish either one! There, I said it. Do I feel any better? Not really. I'll feel better if I end up actually keeping my promise this time.

I will share a few more details of what we have planned though. As I said a couple posts ago, I'm a DVC member so I planned on us spending a few days in WDW to unwind. No parks though. I go commando, get everyone up early for rope drop, follow an itinerary, yada, yada, yada. You know the type, right? No, not this time. It's been a very stressful year for me and DBIL at work so I decided we'd just take it easy. Besides, I always look back on our trips and wish we had spent more time enjoying the resort no matter how long we stay.

At first I had booked two rooms on points, a two bedroom for my family and my sister's and a studio for DSIL and her family. After more thought though, I decided to book a grand villa. We all enjoy hanging out together so I figured it would be the perfect balance of togetherness yet enough space so that we're not on top of each other. I ended up booking at AKV Jambo house so the guys will get to enjoy the pool table and the younger kids can participate in some of the animal programs that are offered. And auntie? She'll be making a beeline to Victoria Falls lounge!

Although we're keeping things kind of fluid, I did book a couple of dinners. Arrival dinner will be spent at Boma. I chose it because it's right in our hotel, so easy access after a 5 hour flight plus the food is yummy!

Second evening I've booked Raglan Road. DBIL, my sister and I had dinner there a few years ago and had a blast! I'm sure we'll have an even better time with our lively group this time around.

Third day we'll hit up 'Ohana for breakfast. Ahhh, I love the Poly! I'm looking forward to taking a peek at the villas that are currently under construction. In fact I'm hoping they have a model available to tour. Oh no, I feel addonitis coming on!

Ok, that's enough for tonight. Going to try to pop in between all the madness of cleaning house and packing this weekend.

 

[Castillo Mom]

Well, it's finally the eve of our vacation! Checked in for our flight on Virgin this morning, spent an awesome day of beauty with my sissy and now here at home checking, double checking and triple checking that the four of us have packed what we need. It's like herding cats I tell you!

We've been looking at weather reports but know things can be unpredictable. We'll just hope for the best and expect that we might night make it on all of our excursions. Excursions! Oh my goodness, I didn't post what we have planned.

Ok, well we've booked all of our excursions privately. Don't feel like being herded like cattle and prefer a more personalized experience. Here's the plan:

Grand Cayman - private charter that will take us out to Stingray City, Starfish Point and another snorkel spot that I can't think of right now. My nephew has a fascination with stingrays so I'm hoping that this one doesn't get cancelled.

Jamaica - although we dock in Falmouth, we booked Irie Blue Hole which is actually located in Ocho Rios. After that we have lunch planned at Scotchies for some authentic Jamaican jerk chicken. After that we'll do a short city tour, a few photo ops and a little shopping.

Cozumel - we booked a private guide who will take us on a tour of the island, maybe a stop at a tequila factory, ruins, a bit of surfing for my brother in law hopefully. We'll hit up the east side and have lunch there.

Well, gotta get those ME luggage tags attached to our bags. Until we return!