Our family's long-awaited Disney Cruise! Alternate Western Caribbean itinerary - Grand Cayman, Cozumel, and two stops at Castaway Cay (Disney's private Bahamian island).
Date(s): 09/27/08-10/04/08. Album by AQW. Photos by AQW. 1 - 89 of 89 Total. 465 Visits.
1 Happy people on the flight from LAX to Orlando... Disney Cruise, here we come!
2 JetBlue was too expensive, so we flew Southwest and brought our own DVD player.
3 Completely passed out - 3am, Hyatt MCO, night before embarkation. Notice Daddy is scrunched up on one side of the bed; I was scrunched up on the other with Missy Prissy Pants taking up the middle!
4 Celeste's version of a "princess pose" (you'll see Snow White doing it below)
5 Sitting in the big portholes outside Animator's Palette. Celeste thinks that looking at Mommy's camera's REFLECTION in the window is the same as looking at the camera.
6 Cheesy girl in Mommy's sun hat
7 On the Castaway Cay tram with Nana
8 Fresh Smidgie is the catch o' the day on Castaway Cay (Disney Magic in the background)
9 Ta-da!
10 Fascinated by "Mount Rustmore" (Castaway Cay)
11 Somebody has been watching too much Project Runway - modeling the "surfer Mickey" outfit Mommy made
12 Dexter and Daddy all geared up for their stingray encounter swim/snorkel (Castaway Cay)
13 Swimming and snorkeling with the stingrays in the shadow of the Magic... does it get any better than this???
14 I had to photoshop out Daddy's butt crack. You can thank me later.
15 Hello Mr. Stingray! I was ankle-deep in water when this fella swam right over my foot
16 Trevor and Celeste posing in front of the Magic (Castaway Cay)
17 Celeste was so happy to wear Trevor's cool shades
18 Posing with "Magic Mickey" (as Celeste calls him). Celeste was perturbed because she wanted to show Magic Mickey the nickel she has clutched in her hand, and the photographer wouldn't let her
19 With Stitch (Lightning McQueen outfits by Mommy - next time I'm making Celeste a ruffled a-line top, because everyone thought she was a boy!)
20 Our assistant server was Lazslo from Hungary... Celeste was in LOVE. She was all about "Mr. Lazslo" every night - tracked his every move, smiled coyly, even winked at him at one point. He, obviously, was enchanted.
21 All smiles with Peter Pan and Wendy (store-bought tee, capris by Mommy)
22 The infamous Mickey head ice cream bar... before...
23 ...during...
24 ...and after. What a mess!
25 Meanwhile, Celeste was a perfect lady with her dairy-free mango sorbet
26 Celeste ran up to Cinderella and said "I saw you at Disneyland!" and the gal, bless her heart, said "Oh yes, I remember you!!" Celeste literally stopped in her tracks, and over the next few days breathlessly told the story to anyone who would listen.
27 Trevor and Dexter on formal night - SO handsome!
28 A little princess, clutching the Nala her Nana bought for her. All our photos from that point forward had Nala in them, as Celeste never let her go!
29 The kidlets posing with Snow White... I think Dexter was putting the moves on her
30 ...and I *know* Harold was putting the moves on her! That's his "how YOU doin'?" look
31 A private audience with Captain Mickey - so proud of herself in her tiara, sparkly "glass slippers", and Mommy-made formal dress
32 "...and then you and Pluto could come to my hacienda, and you could bring Minnie because I have a Minnie dress I could wear, and Donald and Daisy could come but they are not on my sheets, just you and Minnie, and I wish Pluto could be there too, because I love Pluto and when I see him I think he is going to lick me because he is a dog, and we don't have a dog at our hacienda but Pluto could come with you and be our dog, and your dog too, and we could share, and..."
33 A kiss on the nose
34 Waltzing with Nala during the kids' club "ball"
35 Prince Dexter in his hand-crafted crown
36 Big hugs for Celeste's new best friend Mickey
37 Cheesing for the camera and she still can't keep her eyes off Mickey
38 Mommy and Smidgie on the tender headed into Grand Cayman - dig the Caribbean braids!
41 Celeste, Nana, and the ubiquitous Nala at the Fort George plaza (Grand Cayman)
42 So happy and proud to FINALLY be allowed on the ever-exciting top bed... because it PULLS out of the CEILING, can you BELIEVE it???
43 Scurvy pirates!!
44 Pirate Celeste and Pirate Minnie, all dressed up for the "Pirates IN the Caribbean" party
45 Scurvy Pirate Dexter couldn't be bothered with us landlubbers... he was in the kids' club as usual, and didn't join us for photos... or dinner... or any other festivities. I had to catch him in passing to get a quick shot of his painted face.
46 Arrrrrrrrrrrrgh!
47 Our stateroom hostess Flori kept us entertained with her towel animals and various other magical touches each night - on this evening, we returned to our cabin to see Mickey and Minnie holding hands, gazing out the porthole at Cozumel.
48 Celeste with her new best friend Pluto - we got her a stuffed Pluto (or, as she calls it, a "stuffed up Pluto") late in the trip and it actually replaced her beloved Nala. So fickle at three.
49 Missy Prissy Pants with "Princess Minnie". Celeste wanted to know why Mommy didn't sew her a Princess Minnie dress - well, now that I know, I'll make her one for next time!
50 Showing off her Mommy-made Minnie outfit, posing with the Cruise Director, Brent Davies.
51 Both kids loved the character breakfast - the pictures aren't much, but they loved that each character came to the table to say hello and pose with them.
52
53
54
55
56 As best we can tell, these are supposed to be Minnie ears. Hey, there's only so much you can do with a folded napkin.
57 Princess Celeste
58 Peter Pan
59 We think this is supposed to be Goofy. Nana certainly looks GOOFY in it!
60 I have no idea what this is supposed to be, but it was great for lots of pointing and laughing!!
61 Trevor and Dexter showing off their vegetable car, created for the "Mickey 200" race. (No, I did not know about the race when I made the boys appliqued racecar Mickey head tees - just a lovely coincidence). Our car, pedestrian though it was, came in SECOND PLACE out of 20+ entries!
62 She was thrilled to see Maxie... really. Honest.
63 Cool kids w/Goofy
64 Passed out in Auntie's arms by the pool. This little girl spent HOURS splashing around in the Mickey pool, going down the water slide, you name it
65 Dapper Trevor outshining formal Mickey
66 Celeste was *supposed* to be wearing a Minnie dress for semi-formal night... but she was so fond of her Mommy-made dress from formal night that she INSISTED on wearing it again. The best laid plans...
67 With formal Goofy (is that not an oxymoron?)
68 The Flying Dutchman
69 You can just barely see Goofy hanging off the back of the Magic, doing some paint touch-ups
70 Someone fell asleep the very moment we took off from Orlando and didn't move AT ALL until we landed in Denver four hours later. "Stuffed-up Pluto" makes a lovely pillow!
71
72 This is what one looks like upon waking when one has a habit of twirling one's fingers through one's hair while one sleeps.
73 The kids were invited into the cockpit during our stopover in Denver - Pilot Celeste was excited, but not excited enough to leave her peanuts behind.
74 Co-Pilot Dexter
75 ...make that CAPTAIN Co-Pilot Dexter
76 Happy Trevor, directing traffic in the cockpit
77 Gotta wear the cool captain's hat...
78 ...even if it doesn't quite fit.
79 How cool is this???
80 A super ending to our super trip... a personalized tour of the cockpit w/the pilot. Lucky, happy, tired children. :)
81 Embarkation photo... you can tell Celeste is totally overwhelmed!
82 Scurvy pirate cousins, ARRRRRRRGH!
83 Matchy-matchy Disney tropical shirts, of course
84
85 Pirate Celeste with Pirate Minnie
86 Semi-formal night with Fancy Mickey
87 Girl talk, one princess to another
88 It cracks me up how you hardly notice Smidgie in this picture, tucked behind Belle's ginormous skirt
