Disney Wonder Cruise - Day One - Bon Voyage!

Two Fridays ago, I was running around picking up last minute necessities and packing for our 7 night Disney Wonder Carribean Cruise!!!!

Saturday, October 5 Tate and I woke up and got dressed to go on our first cruise together!!!  We were joining some new friends for a 7 night Carribean Cruise aboard the Disney Wonder.  We met N and her daughter H last fall during swim lessons.  It was an instant friendship for N and me, and I was so very glad to be making friends with other black moms.  This past June we were sitting in the observation room watching the kids swim (H will turn 4 in November, so Tate's about 4 months older than her) and N told me that she was going on a Disney cruise with another friend and her family, and I just HAD to go!  Ticket prices were at an all time low, so she convinced me to check it out.  By 5:30 that afternoon I had Tate and I booked on the boat!!!  

We started making our Mickey plans!!  N introduced me to R, her friend, via text message as we were all planning our matching shirts via Etsy.  In an email I thought I recognized R's name; turns out I was right.  R and I had met at a diversity luncheon last fall given by one of the local private schools which was trying to increase the diversity of its campus over the next few years.  We sat at the same table, and she gave me her business card, so we could get our boys together, which I promptly lost.  Well here we were a year later going on a cruise together!  We got the boys together for a playdate a few weeks ago, and we even went to her son, G's birthday party in September.  We were all super excited!

N's husband is in law school, so he was unable to join us for the festivities.  R and her husband B and their 4 year old son G and 18 month old daughter L came along with their nanny and her husband.  Disney was awesome and had our rooms all in a row, and we arranged to have one big table at dinner!!!  

So Saturday morning my parents drove Tate and me the 60 miles to the Galveston port for our departure!  Lucky for us, N and H had just arrived and we were able to hook up with them immediately at the dock!!  Kisses and hugs for Grandmommy and Papa and the four of us were off to meet the mouse!!

Mickey Mouse!!

Ready to get on that boat!

Meeting Minnie for the first time!

 

We love Minnie Mouse!

Our whole group!!!!

 After much 'standing in line' we finally boarded the boat.  Ok so we waited about 45 minutes because R and her family were late (this was to become the theme of the week :) ).  In fact, her nanny and her husband almost missed the boat entirely.  So about 90 minutes after we arrived we boarded the boat.  Our rooms weren't ready, so we lugged our carry-on luggage, and oh goodness did we have a TON of carry-on stuff.  I even had a small cooler filled with yogurt and string cheese for Tate.  In my rolling carry-on I had a case of water along with two bottles of wine.  In Tate's rolling trunki (that I pulled!!) I had cheerios, oatmeal, pouches and applesauce for him as well!  In addition to my fantastic 31 backpack, his 2 loveys and my computer we were loaded down!

But we made it the lunch buffet.  However, it was a buffet.  This is not a safe option for a child (or adult) with food allergies.  Luckily I had been warned this would be a distinct possibility, so I was prepared with other lunch offerings for Tate, and all was great.  Finally it was 1:30 and we were able to head off to our staterooms!!

It was gorgeous and a good size with a fantastic verandah!!

We got a bit organized; the rest of our party got to their rooms and we decided to go get the kiddos their wristbands for the kids' club (Oceaneer Club) and get the lay of the land.  It took a bit to get Tate all signed up with the kids' club and arrange how we would organize meals there for him as well as making sure they would keep his benadryl and epi-pens, but it was all good and taken care of!  N had been part of a FB group of folks coming on this cruise, so she could participate in fish extenders, so we went down to the lounge they were having a meet and greet.  The kids ran around while she met and chatted with her online friends.

G and Tate playing

We were then shuffled up and outside for the safety drill.  Seemingly silly and not needed and quite disorganized, but we knew we were to line up in uh, ummm, hmmm somewhere in case of an emergency.  I distinctly remember the letter 'L.'  Yes, yes, we were group L.  

N and I took Tate and H up to the 9th deck for the bon voyage party.

Tate was tired though, so we went on down to our stateroom so he could decompress and lucky for me both pieces of our luggage had been delivered!!  I unpacked while Tate played, very happily I might add, with his trains.  Because yes, we brought trains on our trip.  I forgot to mention he was also toting his Thomas Take N Play tote earlier with about 4 take n' play trains.  In addition, I had purchased four new take n' play trains to give him over the course of the week.  Because I knew he would 'need' his trains.  :)  I was right.

We got cleaned up and made our way down to dinner at 5:45.  (We were scheduled for the first seating)  N and H went with us.  We met our server, Duran from Jamaica and our assistant server, Jane from the Phillipines.  Let me just say they work their asses off.  Finally the rest of our party arrived, over 30 minutes later.  You can imagine I was not pleased as I really wanted to keep Tate to as normal of a sleep schedule as possible.  With the 5:45 dinner I knew it was still gonna be a stretch, but I didn't realize how much of a stretch those first few nights.  And eating somewhere else on the boat, like one of the buffets or by the pool wasn't really an option because I needed food that was safe for him.  Anyway, they were late.  The meals are five courses and it took forever.  Even worse, though I had contacted Disney cruise via email and phone call they were still unprepared for his food allergies.  They were able to get us some french fries for this meal, and I had brought down a cheese stick, applesauce, yogurt and a couple of his rice crackers, so he was happy.  Our head server, Gregory from the Phillipines, came over and said the first night was always difficult, but that from here on our Tate would easily be accommodated.  (this turned out to be very true).  All I had to do was order for the next day at dinner and let them know where we would be eating breakfast or lunch (so the meals could be made there) and since dinner was already pre-assigned they would know where we would be for dinner.

So, Tate happily noshed on french fries and his food from home.  I had a nice drink with my dinner and all was good.

Animator's Palate Dining Room

This face sums up our entire cruise vacation!

I rushed Tate up to bed as soon as his last spoonful of ice cream was in his mouth and got him ready for bed ( I had already bathed him before dinner).  We read two stories, I turned his sound machine on (Yes, I brought that with me!  I travel with it everywhere!!)< I put his lullaby CD in my computer and laid down with him on the little bed turned down by our stateroom host, the fantastic Sam from the Phillipines.

However, this was all after Tate was thoroughly tickled by the swan towel animal Sam had made for us!!

This became a nightly ritual as Tate would skip down the hall with glee wondering aloud "I wonder what animal he (Sam) made for us tonight!!!"

He fell asleep almost as soon as his head hit the pillow.  But it was 8:30.  I was not looking forward to the 5:30am wake-up.

But we were on a cruise.  I was stressed worrying about how he wasn't going to get enough sleep, but I tried to let go of that worry.  After all there wasn't anything I could do about it.  But we all know how I am about Tate's sleep, and we all know how unpleasant I am when I'm awakened at 5:30.  On vacation.

But I was in bed going to sleep by 9:45!! I perused the Navigator for the next day (the Navigator has a list of all the activities for the upcoming day's events from character meetings to adult only activities).  I got our bag (my backpack) organized and I was ready for some zzzzzs.  I decided to put Tate in my bed as I went to sleep to prevent him from waking up and getting into bed with me in the middle of the night (like he does every.single.night. at home...these days it's around 9:30pm!, but that's a whole other post).  I was sound asleep in minutes.  

I wish I could say I slept well, but I didn't.  Tate slept like a log, but I was up every couple of hours.  I don't quite know why.  I wasn't sea-sick...I was wearing my sea bands on my arms and had taken my Dramamine as I did the entire cruise.  I just didn't sleep soundly.  I could definitely feel the boat rocking, and I had hoped it would rock me to sleep.  No such luck.  I did go back to sleep relatively easily each time I woke up, so that was nice.  I tried to let and go and de-stress.  I'm thinking that once you become a parent you are never able to stop worrying.  But it's a worry I'll take anyday to have this boy in my life!