Can we really do this without kids? Our 5 night CA repo to Vancouver

Arizona Rita

DIS Veteran
Joined
Apr 23, 2007
Hello! (she says in a voice like Patrick Wharbuton in Soarin' Over California!)

I have not written a trip report since our Baltics Cruise which I believe was 2010? So I though I would try this again, especially while it's fresh.


Characters:
Rita: me! I am the Disney fanatic in our family and my husband indulges me!
I am an event planner and am the volunteer manager and office manger for the company I work for in Az

Chris: DH, the patient and indulgent one!
Lets see, he works for one of our community colleges full time, is working on his masters on line through Georgia Tech, teaches a computer programming class and has two consulting jobs and that was this semester.

Needless to say I did not see much of him this semeseter. (Our lives run in semesters!)


So when he found this cruise and we found we could do most of it on our DVC points we grabbed it. This would be our 8th Dis cruise.
However, it would be the first without our kids, DD21 and DS24.
Would the magic still be there? Or had we outgrown DCL until grandkids came our way?
 
Woohoo, following! We were on this cruise with you!

Also interested because we are doing Alaska (again) next year but first time without kids, so a new experience for us as well ;-) Can't wait to relive our cruise through your eyes!
 
Hey Rita, long time no hear! Can't wait to hear about your latest cruise! We're going on the Med in July.
 
Good morning!
Did I meet you bcwife76? Let me know when you see the photos I am going to have DD show me how to post!
Wendy! How are you? Have you done the Med? We loved it! First time I did a FE! and it was our most expensive cruise because we bought into DVC on that cruise!

On Tuesday we were all set to go and waiting to kill some time before we left when a family member had an emergency crisis. I wont go into it but it came very close to us cancelling or possibly going the next day when our doctors told us that we needed to take this trip knowing about DH's semester and my health issues.
This is how close we were. We were boarding group 6 and they were calling group one when we got to the gate! I've only had to run once and hopefully plan to keep it that way!

We arrived in San Diego and weather was great. We stayed at the Hampton Inn San Diego. Average room, clean, and nice view. We could see the port out the window and straight across was the Star of India sailing ship.
When I was little my family would switch off years and go to DL or San Diego and I wanted to go to SeaPort Village and see how it changed.
I don't remember it being that nice. The yatchs were docked close by and there was a great walking path all around it. Lots of cute shops and the taffy was still the same.
We ate dinner there and had a great view of the post and watched the boats, joggers and families.
I have to go to a work conference in January and although I'm expecting it to be freezing I look forward to walking around there again. The SD conference center is within walking distance of SeaPort.
Photo time:
 


Good morning!
Did I meet you bcwife76? Let me know when you see the photos I am going to have DD show me how to post!
Wendy! How are you? Have you done the Med? We loved it! First time I did a FE! and it was our most expensive cruise because we bought into DVC on that cruise!

On Tuesday we were all set to go and waiting to kill some time before we left when a family member had an emergency crisis. I wont go into it but it came very close to us cancelling or possibly going the next day when our doctors told us that we needed to take this trip knowing about DH's semester and my health issues.
This is how close we were. We were boarding group 6 and they were calling group one when we got to the gate! I've only had to run once and hopefully plan to keep it that way!

We arrived in San Diego and weather was great. We stayed at the Hampton Inn San Diego. Average room, clean, and nice view. We could see the port out the window and straight across was the Star of India sailing ship.
When I was little my family would switch off years and go to DL or San Diego and I wanted to go to SeaPort Village and see how it changed.
I don't remember it being that nice. The yatchs were docked close by and there was a great walking path all around it. Lots of cute shops and the taffy was still the same.
We ate dinner there and had a great view of the post and watched the boats, joggers and families.
I have to go to a work conference in January and although I'm expecting it to be freezing I look forward to walking around there again. The SD conference center is within walking distance of SeaPort.
Photo time:

I'm not sure lol We never made it to the meet and greet the first afternoon, but I was at mixology with my husband and another friend.

We stayed at the Wyndham Bayside but saw the Hampton Inn was less than 2 blocks from the Wyndham; while I loved waking up the morning of our cruise and seeing the Wonder, when we return to SD in March for our Baja cruise we may stay at the Hampton instead to save some $$. I had no idea you came so close to cancelling the trip, I'm glad it all worked out in the end!
 
When I opened the curtain in the morning I was met with this "Wonder"ous sight! I didnt realize we were that close! (The Star of India is the other photo and what I think is so cool even thought I did not get a photo is that there were three different type of ships, a sailing ship, the Wonder and the Midway from WWII was there!) It was maybe at most a fifteen minute, if that, walk from the hotel.
IMG_2953.jpg IMG_2949.jpg
 
bcwife76- the hotel is so close. I know the Wyndham had the best view! Did you get to see the fireworks off of the Midway? So cool!
 


bcwife76- the hotel is so close. I know the Wyndham had the best view! Did you get to see the fireworks off of the Midway? So cool!

Yes we did! My girls were just drifting off to sleep when they started so then we were all up watching them haha. It was a nice capper to the evening, though pixiedust::thumbsup2
 
After we got back from SeaPort we were ready to call it a night.
When we first got to the hotel DH thought that there was a lot of street noise and had called the desk to see if we could change our room and they told us it got quieter and the other rooms on the other side of the hotel actually got more noise.
I am really happy that we didn't change.
I woke up around 10:30-11:00pm after falling asleep and thought there were a bunch of kids maybe playing with firecrackers on the street below us.
Wrong! Opened the curtain to see a full on firework display happening!
The next morning we asked at the desk what that was and they said that sometimes the Midway will have something going on where they will do a display. Bonus!

We had gotten up, got ready, ate breakfast (hotel provides breakfast), went back to the room and I got antsy!
We decided to go ahead and head over to the terminal. We had a hotel shuttle scheduled but DH asked if I just wanted to walk and of course I did! We cancelled the shuttle and the desk people told us that most people do when they realize how close the terminal is.

Terminal was very nice. It did not have the warehouse feel that so many cruise terminals have. Plenty of seating. Check in seemed very organized. Or at least this is what we experienced.
We were in group 15 to board. (
I should explain at this point that we booked this cruise within 5 weeks of sailing. We got everything together including FE gifts in that time. We pulled it off!

We were not able to get a brunch or massage booking ahead of time so once on board we split up, divide and conquered!
We also had second seating and with my diabetes it is best for me to eat earlier.
We were able to get first seating, Palo brunch and a couples massage! Yay!

When we sailed with the kids we would have lunch first before we did anything else. We did all of our changes first and then went and had lunch. First change.
We went to our room and within a short time our baggage was there and we were able to get settled before the safety drill.
We went to the safety drill and and wandered. We did not to go the sail away party. Second change.
We tried waiting for the ship to sail but there was no notification that the ship was not going to sail until 6:00pm. We watched people on shore and the pilot boats and then went to our cabin and got ready for dinner.

DH really doesn't care to dine with people he doesn't know and we had to share a table with two other couples.
Being in the business I am, people are my thing, so it doesn't bother me. He isn't antisocial but he is used to having a table with just the four of us.
Our tablemates could not have turned out any better if we habd picked them ourselves.

We had Ken, and Alreen, both retired, he a sportscaster and she a teacher (I had been a preschool teacher for 14 years), and Max and Barbara, both retired, he was in sales and she was some type of executive position.
Alreen liked to talk, alot. But so sweet. Max and Barbara were both very quiet and I think glad the four of us kept the conversation going.

When we went on our first cruise in 2003, we had met a retired couple and honeymooners, as well as families. And here we were again. We saw honeymooners at a game show and met retirees.
I think the "magic" is still there.
 
Looking forward to your report! We just booked our first "kid free" cruise for 2019, but first, Alaska with the kiddos.
 
Hi, looking forward to your report. My dh and I went on a DCL cruise for our honeymoon over 17 yrs ago. We've done a few more since then with our dd. I look forward to doing another cruise with just my dh some day. My dd is only 9 yrs old, so we have a long time to go until we can do it. We'd never hear the end of it if we tried to do one now without her.
 
Good morning!
Wendy, sorry about that! I look forward to reading your report and taking a trip down memory lane! Are you going to write one? Hope so!

I think I mentioned that we cruised on DVC points and we used up all of our Visa Disney dollars on this trip. By doing that we had limited cabin selection.
We have stayed in all types of cabins, verandahs, portholes, and the cabin with the murphy bed thingie.
This was the first time we cruised in an inside cabin. We weren't sure how we would feel about it but figured for 5 nights we could at least tolerate it.
It was very nice and we were pleasantly surprised. We would book this cabin again. Cabin 6316.
It was located off of one of those short little hallways but using FEs as my guide I adapted.
It did not have the divided bathroom or the shelving that is over the toilet ( I think that is usually over the toilet). And the tv was abit further away from the bed than we would have liked.
Our steward was a bit confused though and we think it was because maybe he wasn't told that we had changed dinner seating. If we would go to a show when we came back the room was turned down.
But if we came back between activities it wasn't and he came by a couple of times to check on us and we would refuse service because we didn't need it. It wasn't that he wasn't doing his job but his english was that great and so there was a bit of confusion.
Our cabin
IMG_3156.jpg
 
And it appears from the photos that I did not take any food porn photos from the first dinner but I made up for that later.

They did not have the All Aboard! show but instead they did the Golden Mickeys.
Later during the cruise we found out from a cast member that they will be retiring the Golden Mickey show in the next year or so.
 
SEA DAY-PIRATE NIGHT!
Something that we have been looking forward to. We both love sea days and look forward to doing a transatlantic crossing someday.

My body has Anna's attitude of "The sun is up so I am up!"
SO while DH slept I was out delivering FE gifties.
I like delivering on sea days because I think it breaks the time up for the kids.

DH also planned our massage for this day and he surprised me and got the, not sure what its called, maybe the "Romance package".
We had the private verandah with the jacuzzi. 2.5 hours. Very nice and well deserved, especially for him.
The only thing we wish had been better was the weather. It was cold! and would be getting worse. But Disney doesn't control the weather. Yet.
 
PIRATE OBSEVATIONS:
I went to guest services to ask if the characters would be in pirate dress. Two had no clue and the third who seemed more in charge was "No madam, we are not aware of any themes. They will be normal"?
They were not helpful at all. I dressed up and went to the atrium and of course they were!
Love the new look of the menus and especially the Mickey in the sails.
Fireworks were great as usual and had a great spot for them. But it was so cold out we went back to the cabin so DH could put on another layer of clothing! I was wondering they would have the fireworks because of the winf and they did. But they did not have Mickey do the zipline.
We miss the days when the buffet was on the deck and not in Cabanas. They would have special desserts and a lot more fruit carvings. (Had this pineapple cake once that was to die for!)
DH said that it just seemed wrong having tacos on the buffet for Pirate Night.
 
Ok so I'm not crazy - Mickey did NOT do the zipline!! We kept waiting for it and thought 'jeez, did we miss it?' It WAS a cold night up on deck for the fireworks! Since we were second seating for dinner we skipped the buffet in Cabanas since we were still pretty full :rotfl2:
 
Good morning!
Wendy, sorry about that! I look forward to reading your report and taking a trip down memory lane! Are you going to write one? Hope so!

Rita, yes, I plan on writing a trip report.

Also, looking forward to your experience with cruising without kids. DD graduated from high school last week! Remember when she was just going to start high school? Anyway, we booked the Panama Canal cruise in October, our first without her. Is it my fault that she will be in Flagstaff for school and won't get 2 weeks for fall break? :confused3 :rolleyes1
 
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