Jennifer and Dave's Disney Adventure Report

Dates: 10/18 - 10/27, 1999 (10 day trip)

Adventurers:

• Jennifer Watson (author): 31 year old, writer and co-author of PassPorter Walt Disney World, on her umpteenth trip to Disney (from Ann Arbor, MI)
• Dave Marx: 44 year old, writer and co-author of PassPorter Walt Disney World, on his 10th (or is it 11th?) trip to Disney (from Hackensack, NJ and Ann Arbor, MI)
• Evans: online friend who we used to work with on AOL; Disney vacation veteran (joining us for the first three days)
• Liz: friend of Evans; never been to Disney before (also joining us for the first three days)
• Kim Larner: 28 year old, Jennifer's younger sister, pregnant (in her fourth month). On her third trip to Walt Disney World but brand new to the Disney Cruise (from Okemos, Michigan). She is joining us for the cruise aboard the Disney Wonder.
• Chad Larner, 28 year old, Jennifer's brother-in-law. Also on his third trip to Walt Disney World. (from Okemos, Michigan) He is also joining us on the cruise.

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Our first full day at sea! Jennifer woke early for her spa treatments (hydrotherapy bath and relaxation therapy), which were both wonderful and well worth the money. She also spent some time in the Rain Forest, which is a collection of sauna/spa rooms and quite delightful. Again, it was well worth the money (we'll post prices and more details later).

After the spa, we ate breakfast at Parrot Cay, which offered a buffet. There were other options, including table service at Triton's. Food was plentiful and generally good, though not always as convenient as we would have liked.

The boat was already docked at Nassau by this time, so we disembarked and walked around a bit. Yuck! What a nasty place. Not only was it very hot, but the hawkers were out in full force and had no qualms about getting in your face or insulting you if you ignored them. We found nothing of interest here as we didn't want to shop. If we were to do this again, we would have either booked a shore excursion or just not gotten off the ship at all.

Lunch was at Beach Blanket Buffet. Afterwards, Jennifer took a nap while Dave found a quiet chair on deck and read. We decided this trip would be a vacation first and work second (unlike trips to Walt Disney World), so we took every opportunity to relax.

The show this evening was Voyage of the Ghost Ship. We'd heard good things about it, but we were disappointed and would consider it the worst show on board. The acting and script weren't very good, and the storyline was weak.

Dinner was at Animator's Palette, the ship's piece de resistance in dining rooms. The meal lived up to expectations. The only disappointment came at the end, when the dessert was different from what we'd been lead to believe by others who'd taken the cruise. Dessert was supposed to be a "make your own dessert" with a variety of sauces you could "paint" on your dessert. Instead, they just brought us a dessert sampler. We asked about this, and they said they changed the dessert because the original one wasn't working out. More on this later.

After dinner, we took in an improv show at Barrel of Laughs, then hung out in The Cadillac Lounge and listened to piano music. We then went up on deck to watch the ship pull out from Nassau.

To learn more, continue on to our Sixth Day.