When we went on our AWESOME Disney cruise back in October, & had blogged on another site about our trip (well, days 1-5 out of the seven...I lost steam towards the end). I realized tonight as I was re-reading the report that I never posted the report here. It was fun going back & reading what we had done on the ship. It was such an outstanding vacation...so I thought I'd share my report with everyone here!!
Travel Day: I Want To Marry Ginger (Pills)
Our morning started early with a 4am alarm clock. As I showered, I realized just how lucky I am…the only time I ever need an alarm clock anymore is to wake up for vacations!
The night before, I had talked to Rusty about the fact that I would be waking him up in the dark the next day so we could leave for vacation. As soon as I rubbed his back Saturday morning at 5am to wake up him, he sat right up & started saying “hello” to Vacation Day. It was just precious…his little eyes were all sleepy-puffy and half open, but he was READY to get moving!
Some people I just don’t understand…So Clark grabs a group of 4 seats at the airport for us. These seats are arranged in a crescent shape, so there were no other seats within our little group. The boys went to get McDonald’s for breakfast, & I was sitting in the middle chair of our crescent, with a backpack on the other middle chair. We’ve got 3 backpacks, so it’s obvious we’re not just a group of “1”. Without asking, this man & his wife come to sit…but he sits in our crescent on the end, & she sits in another group of seats behind him (which had open seats anyway!). So I look all around, & there’s TONS of unoccupied “groups” of seats…ours was clearly occupied. And he didn’t say a word. I would have, at the very least, asked if anyone was sitting there. So when Clark came back, and we all had the seats, we silently mocked the newest member of our family.
As always, the plane ride was a breeze. Rusty entertained himself for the beginning of the flight & slept the rest of the way. I remember when Audrey was a little girl, she would need entertainment from us the entire flight. With Rusty, he plays with his cars for a bit & then goes to sleep. Any time of day. It couldn’t be easier!
Our driver is waiting for us upon arrival, our luggage takes forever to come out but it’s all there, & then we’re in the town car and on our way to Port Canaveral! A short 45 minute drive away…
Clark was exhausted & napped most of the way. Rusty & I chatted the whole way there, & every time we crossed over a bridge, I kept looking all around for the Magic, but I was consistently wrong with my bridges
We finally crossed the right bridge, & off to our left was…..the Magic! Clark woke up just in time and we all saw it together. Could I possibly be any cheesier? Oh, you just wait…everything about Disney brings out the cornball in me!
In my mind, embarkation was going to be mass chaos…Clark said I should have known better, as Disney is the master of moving masses of people efficiently. The cruise terminal itself if beautiful. Clark said it reminded him of the inside of the Small World ride. Soothing tones of blue along with splashes of color here and there made it feel like you were already on your way to a tropical vacation!
Since we had already received & filled out all the necessary paperwork (contracts, Bahamas immigration forms, etc), our check-in process went VERY quickly. Although, the very first question the Cast Member asks after you say hello is “Has anyone in your party vomited or had diarrhea in the past 72 hours?” Well, hello to you too! Seriously though, I’m glad they ask. A rocky boat is the LAST place I would want to be if I were ill, and I surely don’t want any ill people spreading their gunk our way!!!
So we check in (with the Cast Member who left his personality at home I guess), and receive boarding group #15. Humph. I couldn’t believe we were already FIFTEEN groups back…would we ever get on the boat? Not to worry though…they were already up to Group 10, so our short wait of about 20 minutes was easy since there were Disney cartoons to watch, a really cool, huge model of the Disney ship to look at, & snacks to eat.
“Now boarding passengers with pass numbers 2-15” SWEET! It’s our turn to board the ship. In my head: A mass of people rush the entrance & shove their way onto the boat. The reality: Disney Cast members at their finest, passing out hand wipes, leading you to your Embarkation Photo line (Clark humored me & took one!), and then up the gangplank onto the boat. Without sounding like too big of a weenie, can I say that I got choked up boarding the boat? We’ve had this trip planned for 10 months, & it was finally time to walk onto the boat….gulp….it was finally time
A Cast Member met us right away once inside the boat & explained a few things to us, then it was off to find some food & kill some time until our room was open at 1:30. Me, I’m a lemming. I go wherever the crowd goes, get in the longest line because it must be the right line, assume everyone else knows what they’re doing so I follow. Clark always laughs at me. Luckily, he is a much better navigator than I, & he leads us around the crowds, to the aft elevators, & up to the 9th deck for an outdoor lunch with NO long line!
On our way up, we stop by our first porthole window in the hallway & I promptly get shaky & feel like I’m going to fall over. And we weren’t even going anywhere yet! Turns out, I’m OK with looking out our veranda, and I’m good if there’s no windows, but to look out the portholes (which are closer to the water level) really messes with my mind & makes me feel just plain icky!
While Clark & Rusty grabbed a table, I picked up some burgers & chicken strips and we ate a leisurely lunch as we waited for Room Time. As we ate, we saw perhaps the best duplication of a Seinfeld episode…ever. Remember the one where George Costanza consumed the MASSIVE amounts of shrimp at the buffet? I swear, we have Lady George Costanza on this boat. I have never seen a bowl so overflowing with shrimp, and I’ve never seen a bigger mountain of shrimp shells in my life. It kind of ticked us off (gluttony!) and I wonder if she had toilet trouble today. Seriously, it was super-crazy how many shrimp she had on her plate. It was so obnoxious, I tried to take a picture of her as I pretended to take a picture of the ocean. I just HAD to show you how many shrimp she had. But it didn’t work. Go figure!
“Welcome to our camper!” Clark said as we entered our room. We’ve never cruised before, so weren’t sure what exactly to expect size wise. We were glad to have chosen a room with a veranda, because it really extends the “size” of the room quite a bit. I can’t imagine being in an inside room…that would not work for me! There’s a ton of storage spaces, plenty of light, & a cool little “shub” in the bathroom for Rusty to take a bath in. Almost like a half-sized bathtub/shower…so I call it the “shub!”
Our luggage hasn’t made it to the room yet, but I packed a bathing suit for Rusty in my backpack, so he changes clothes & we head to the Micky Pool to swim while we wait for our luggage. Rusty loved the Mickey Slide & would have stayed on it all night if we didn’t have to head back to the room for our 4:00 Boat Drill (or whatever it’s called).
We don our life jackets & wait for the sirens to sound. While we wait, Rusty & Clark wrestle on the bed & Rusty gets stuck on his back like a turtle & can’t turn over or get up. Clark and I, being the Parents Of The Year, can’t help but laugh first and then help him up. Everyone was a good sport about wearing their life jackets, but by the end of the Drill I was getting VERY claustrophobic with that thing on. They’ve got us all stuck in one of the dining rooms, I’m so hot & the life jacket is up around my neck, and all I want to do is rip it off! Luckily, the drill is fast & we’re back to our room within 10 minutes.
The Sail Away part is next, at 4:30, so Rusty & I head up to Deck 9. I guess nobody is prompt for anything anymore, because we arrived at 4:30 and there were only a handful of people on deck. Rusty was right up front & by the time we left Deck 9 & 10 were full of people & it was a madhouse. I was glad Rusty didn’t want to stay for the whole party…too many people for my taste.
We come back to the room & get cleaned up for dinner. Our First Seating means we need to arrive at 5:30, and tonight we dine in Animator’s Palate. We are shown our table & meet our table mates for the week. A family of five…a 4 year old boy, 9 year old boy, older girl, & Mom & Dad. Dinner was good in my opinion, Clark was just OK with his. It was “fancy food”, which we don’t really eat…we tend to lean towards burgers & fries type food. And while the food was good, the table mates….well, they are just NOT good! Clark was most bothered by the way they treated our servers & the fact that they kept changing their orders. I was most put off by the Mom’s attitude towards the 4 year old. She was just plain rude. Soooooo….we’re stuck with them for the rest of the week. Humph.
I did like our servers, Girish from India, & Anastasia from Trinidad. They will follow us all week long as well as we move from restaurant to restaurant at dinner. They were both kind & attentive to Rusty, which I liked. Girish even made a Mickey Mouse out of ketchup for Rusty’s fries
Rusty got antsy before the show part of dinner, so we left and came back to the room. I’m trying to remember if we did anything else, but I think we just hung out and relaxed. Oh yea, Clark did go get soft serve for us…which tastes exactly like a Frostee from Wendy’s…and we had already had dessert….but hey who cares! We played a few games of Uno…Rusty got bored after a bit and watched a movie while Clark & I continued to play. Wish I could say I beat him…but he’ll be reading this & I can’t lie. They had Yatzee in the Promenade Lounge today….I shall get revenge!
So ever since Friday, I’ve been taking ginger pills *just in case* there’s rough water or my stomach gets sensitive to the motion. I cannot read in a car, & I am prone to motion sickness so I wanted to cover my bases.
Clark’s stomach didn’t feel so hot after dinner, and we thought perhaps it was just from eating too much. I talked him into wearing some SeaBands I brought, and we looked at the Deck Report to see that the waters were rough with 8-13ft seas. I take another ginger pill…and am convinced that’s helping! I love my Ginger Pills!!
We’re off to bed before too long & sleep soundly. When I do wake up, I hear the hangers clanking in the closet which I strange. Every now & then I feel the boat lurch. One night down…six more to go…so far, so good!
Day Two: Blue Jello Seas & Green Faced Clark
We woke up this morning at 7:15 to the RING of the phone in a quiet room. Room service. We’re bring up your coffee you ordered last night. Can I get service like this at home?
This morning was our Character Breakfast, Mickey’s Jungle Jam something-or-other. We were supposed to be at the table again with That Family, and Clark wasn’t thrilled at all to sit with them any more than absolutely necessary. So I took Rusty down for a “breakfast date” and we met our servers Girish & Anastasia again. Luckily, That Family hadn’t arrived for the 8:15 seating time, so Rusty & I were alone at a table for 8. Mickey waffles, pancakes, & hash browns down the hatch, a few dances with Micky, Lelo & Stitch and then Rusty was done with the Breakfast Jam. Just as we were leaving, That Family showed up…30 minutes late…did I mention they were rude? They assign seating times for a reason, & I think it’s completely disrespectful to be THAT late for your seating. So I was glad that Rusty was ready to leave…we’ll have to see That Family soon enough…
Part of the reason Rusty was so ready to leave breakfast was because he wanted to check out the Oceaneer Club, the kids area where parents leave their kids. Now, we don’t leave Rusty (unless he really wanted to I guess), so the plan was for Mommy to bring a book and read in the Club while he played. Clark was finishing up his breakfast & then was going to meet us there to check it out.
What a gem! The Oceaneer Club has all sorts of fun toys, a huge climbing structure in the shape of a pirate ship, movies playing, & Cast Members that played games like Hide & Seek and Freeze Dance with the kids. Rusty found a huge tub of army men and he & another little boy played for about 30 minutes just with that! Clark came to check out the club, but was starting to look green & he decided to go up and take some Bonine and lay down. The 13ft seas were definitely getting to his stomach…but my Ginger Pills ROCKED and kept my tummy where it was supposed to be!!!
Rusty played for about an hour and then was done. It made me sad to watch some of the little kids in there, crying for their parents. We tell our children to stay away from strangers, don’t talk to strangers…but then we shuffle them off to the kids’ club and expect them to have fun. Of course, some kids do…because it IS a fun place to be! But for those who don’t want to be alone (Rusty being one of those), I wish more parents would listen their children instead of just dropping them off because “they’ll be fine”. I want Rusty to participate because it really looks like fun, & he needs to climb & run every day to burn steam, so I will join him because that’s what he needs. And I’m glad I did join him, because it was such a pleasure to sit far back & watch him play with others and enjoy himself.
After we leave the Oceaneer Club, we head back up to the room to find Clark on the couch, more green than ever. He asked why the boat was spinning in circles. Poor, poor Clark. I wish there were more I could do to help, so I give him the SeaBands to put back on and then Rusty & I head down to the Atrium to meet Pocahontas. The line isn’t too crazy-long, and when it’s Rusty’s turn to meet her, he walks up VERY shyly and gives her the sweetest hug. I took his picture, and as he walked away he had this sweet, bashful smile on his face. He was very excited to see his picture on my camera with Pocahontas!
UPDATE: OK…it’s now been a day and a half since I wrote this last part of our trip entry. Honestly, there is NO time to slow down!!! Let’s see if I can remember enough to update everyone.
The rest of our first full day at sea was really tough for Clark. He slept most of the time, and when he was awake he was either trying to soothe his stomach with anything that sounded good, or he was barfing. Poor, poor Clark. There wasn’t much I could do to help except perhaps keep Rusty occupied so Clark could have some quiet time to barf alone. He did get a chance to see the Bears game on TV in the sports bar on the ship. He said concentrating on the game helped take away some of his sickness…but the Bear’s loss didn’t help.
The rest of that day, Rusty & I were around the boat…playing Disney Monopoly, playing in the Oceaneer Club, swimming, catching a movie at the theater…I don’t remember exactly everything we did that day. But I do know we kept busy and out of Clark’s hair.
We ate dinner in our room that night (I’m loving the 24 hour room service included!) and called it a night fairly early. I went to sleep hoping Clark would wake up feeling better the next day, because there is just NO WHERE to escape the rocking ship!
Oh yea, and the Blue Jello Sea…I swear the ocean is the color of blue Jello. It’s absolutely beautiful. I want to eat it J
DAY THREE: Goodbye Green, Hello Food!
Again, I am writing this from memory since the three of us kept so dang busy yesterday that I didn’t sit down at all to write our Day Three blog entry!! The only real down time we had was during nap time, but I read magazines & showered while Clark & Rusty grabbed a 3 hour nap!
So our morning started off much better. Clark woke up feeling human again & after coffee, we all headed up to Topsiders for the breakfast buffet. The restaurant is on Deck 9 (only 10 Decks in all), so we were almost as high as you could get above the ocean. Clark found a great table right next to the rail, so as we ate breakfast we watched the ocean go by & enjoyed the breeze. I swear we’re going to gain 10 pounds on this vacation. But for some reason, I have never been so constantly hungry as I am on this ship! My breakfast: a doughnut, scrambled eggs, a hash brown, bacon, watermelon. OINK OINK! But it was all soooo tasty & we ARE on vacation after all…so why not.
The day is sort of a blur in my mind…here’s what I can remember but probably not in exact order!
*Lots of swimming in the Mickey Pool for Rusty in the morning. Too many people as the day went on so we found other things to do.
* Rusty & Clark built a potato car for the Mickey 200 car race. You are given a potato, a carrot, 5 toothpicks, 4 wheels, 4 nails, & a knife. As soon as we got our materials, I could see Clark’s wheels spinning on exactly how he was going to build the potato car to win the race. Then the Cast Member says “It must be the child’s design! Parents, you just do the cutting work.” I was very, very proud of Clark…he took Rusty’s directions & didn’t take over. That had to be hard for him J Rusty chose the team name “DaBears”, and we won the first round & were on to the Semi Finals. In the Semi Finals, the car next to us ran off it’s track & crashed into ours, causing us to lose that race. Oh well! Rusty didn’t much like losing, so we had a little talk about being a sore loser.
*I don’t think we’ve ever eaten as much soft serve ice cream as we have on this boat. It is so unbelievably tasty!
*We skipped dinner with That Family & ate at the burger stand on Deck 9 outside. After dinner, we saw the stage show “Twice Charmed”. Good singing, dancing, stage props. It was fun to see…it was a twist on the Cinderella story. Instead of finding Cinderella by fitting the glass slipper, the glass slipper is dropped & breaks and the rest of the story is “Twice Charmed” and shows how Cinderella is found in the end. Rusty sat in Clark’s lap the whole time & Clark said he really liked the show.
*Rusty spent lots of time in the Oceaneer Club today (his choice!). In the morning, he enjoyed the free play time climbing on the pirate ship playscape. While he played, Clark & I stayed there and played Uno. I so kicked his butt this time. I rock. In the evening, Rusty went back for Making Your Wish Come True night. He played games & made a wish, which the Cast Members wrote on a star. Rusty’s wish: I wish Captain Jack Sparrow was here right now. Turns out Captain Jack will be here tonight, so we’re SO there! After that, the kids decorated foam picture frames (Rusty was very, very proud of his…decorated with sea creatures) & then Pinocchio came to see them! They all had a chance to take pictures with Pinocchio, & their pictures will be put in the frames for the kids to take home at the end of the week. It was 10:00pm & I was finally able to pull Rusty away from the Oceaneer Club J
*Rusty had a night time swim before the Oceaneer Club & made some new friends. I brought some glow sticks for night time events, so Rusty brought 3 of them to the pool to share. They were a big hit & a great ice breaker. The three boys had the pool to themselves in the dark & had loads of fun pretending they were pirates (I think).
We zonked out hard & slept the night away as we made it closer to our first port of call…St. Maarten!
DAY FOUR: St. Maarten & Pirate Night
Rusty woke up at 5:45 asking if it was morning yet…um, NO! He didn’t like having to lay back down, but it took him all of 2 minutes to fall back asleep. It was too early in the first place, but then throw in the fact that we didn’t go to bed until almost 11pm last night, & it was WAY too early to wake up!
Once we did wake up, St. Maarten was just outside our verandah. After being at sea for 2 ½ days, it was so nice to see land! It was nice to have our room on the port side, so we could watch the island come into full view. The island is beautiful, green, with lots of peaks & teal water. No more Blue Jello seas for now!
The three of us headed to Topsiders for an early (7:30am!) breakfast because Rusty was itching to get off the boat and see St. Maarten. I’m not really sure what he was expecting, because he’s never been here & other than telling him we were going to “see” the island, we didn’t give many details because we weren’t sure exactly what we would do anyway! As we eat breakfast, little yellow butterflies are everywhere…another reminder that we are no longer in the middle of the ocean!
Originally, I had planned for us to visit the Butterfly Farm on our own in St. Maarten. Clark wasn’t too hot on the idea, & once it was actually time to make that decision, I wasn’t so set on it anymore. So we just decide to wing it & wake the Water Taxi to maybe do some shopping & then play on the beach.
For just $5 per person, we can ride the Water Taxi all day long, which I thought was a good deal, especially since it’s it’s a Mega Tourist Spot and they could easily charge more for that service. Then we found out Rusty is free, so it was an even better deal!
We Water Taxi over to the Town Pier, skipping Bobby’s Marina because Clark paid attention to the St. Maarten talk on TV and knew that the Town Pier was the best place to walk around. So off the Water Taxi, and straight to the beach. Rusty was going to have no part of shopping or walking…he was determined to get in the ocean. Period.
Luckily, I had packed a swim suit in my backpack *just in case* Rusty wanted to swim in the ocean. But instead of changing into that, he just went in the water with clothes on. Clark manned the backpack & shoes, while I huffed & puffed as I got all wet making sure Rusty didn’t get swept out to sea. I had on denim shorts, & I hadn’t planned to get wet…so I turned into a 5 year old and grumped. I’m not perfect J
Everyone had on sunscreen except for me, & I could already feel the tropical sun searing my skin. Out at sea, I hadn’t been hot once…but here on the beach I was roasting! After Clark tried to suggest a few things to me (since I was grumpy and wet), we decided to just change Reese into his dry bathing suit in the beach bathroom & then head back to the ship to clean up, rest, & head back out later in the afternoon.
So Rusty & I have feet covered in sand, Rusty is soaking wet from head to toe with ocean water and sand, & Rusty’s hands are covered in sand. As we walk up to the beach restroom, I see the restroom attendant (I guess?) standing outside the door with a mop & bucket and I swear her looks could have burned through my head. But, as Clark later said, it’s a bathroom ON the beach…what do they expect?
I got Rusty’s hands cleaned up, stripped him down & wiped him off with a paper towel I happened to have in the backpack, and dressed him in his dry bathing suit for the ride & walk back to the ship. I wiped up the bathroom floor the best I could with the papertowel & apologized profusely as we walked out with the attendant sweeping the floor like a mad woman. I still don’t know if she was mad at us for messing up her bathroom, or if that’s just standard since it’s right there on the beach. Sorry St. Maarten Bathroom Lady!
We rode the Water Taxi back to the cruise ship pier, boarded the ship, & took Rusty up to the Mickey Pool to swim/get the sand off his body. Clark put his suit on and joined Rusty for a little swim & then everyone was just about worn smooth, so we headed back down to the room. Clark showered & took the time to get all the sand out of Rusty’s shorts pockets while Rusty ate room service lunch.
As I sit here now, Clark is asleep on the couch, Rusty is in the bed next to me snoozing away, & I’m enjoying the quiet and watching the butterflies everywhere.
Our plans for the rest of the day:
*After naps, put on bathing suits & walking clothes. Head back to St. Maarten and stroll Front Street. After our shopping, we’ll take Rusty back to the beach with the sand toys & we’ll play on the beach for real!
*Tonight is Pirates In The Caribbean night. I’ve got pirate costumes for the three of us to wear, so we’ll get all dressed up & head to dinner. Hopefully, That Family will have other plans and we don’t have to see them. But we could only be so lucky.
*Rusty will probably want to play in the Oceaneer Club after dinner, so Clark and I will continue our Uno war while we’re there with him.
*At 9:45 is the Pirates In The Caribbean deck party. I’ve got bubbles, I’ve got glow necklaces….we’re all set! Since our dinner seating is at 5:30 and the party starts at 9:45, I’m not sure if we’ll still be Pirates or not…but we’ll be on deck for the fireworks!
After the deck party, it’s off to bed, because we arrive in St. Thomas tomorrow morning. St. Thomas immigration has some lame rule about every single person on the ship MUST present themselves at 6:30am for immigration. UGH. But what can you do? I guess if our biggest worry of the day is that we have to wake up early to meet Immigration because we’re visiting a beautiful island on a dream vacation, life ain’t too bad J
So this brings us up to date. It’s 12:30 and while the boys sleep I think I’ll grab a nap myself. Until my next update….
DAY FIVE: Are We Closer To The Sun On St. Thomas?
Last night, oh last night. Well….we donned our pirate outfits (complete with make up and all!) and I took Rusty for pictures with Captain Jack Sparrow. We came back to the room, picked up Clark (who is the most handsome pirate ever!) and head to dinner. I loved, loved, loved having everyone dressed up together. Can I just brag and say we looked so dang cute? I have a great picture I tried to upload, but the connection out here is slow & I didn’t want to waste our precious expensive minutes online with picture uploading (it cost $55 for 100 minutes of internet connection…ouch!).
Dinner was OK…the food was so-so. We arrived at our seating assignment time (5:30) and we were pleasantly surprised that That Family didn’t show up for dinner. So it was the three of us. Come 6:15 (yes, FOURTY FIVE mintues late!) That Family waltzes in, sits down, & starts their dinner. I just cannot express how rude I think that is. There are seating times for a reason, and I’m sure it puts pressure on our waiters having them show up so late always. Ugh.
This morning we woke up around 6:30, after we found out last night that we don’t have to be ready for immigration until 7:15….sweet! I ordered room service coffee for Clark & he was able to down a few cups before we had to head to the theatre with our passports.
We rounded the corner towards the theatre and were met with quite a long line. Yuck. Luckily, Rusty had brought along two Hot Wheels cars to entertain himself with, so the wait was only semi-unbearable. We finally got through the immigration line, the Customs Agents checked our passports, & we were free to eat breakfast…along with every other person on the ship it seemed. The line for the breakfast buffet at Topsiders was looooooong.
Luckily, Clark and I tend to have a “system” for doing most things, and tackling a buffet line is one of them! While I loaded up a plate with all of our breakfast foods, Clark went outside to scope for tables. By the time Rusty and I made it through the buffet line, Clark had found a great table next to the railing so we could eat breakfast looking at the ocean & St. Thomas. So pretty!
After a hearty breakfast, Rusty went to the Oceaneer Club to play. The activity for the morning was making butter with two small marbles, a tub, a pinch of salt, & some buttermilk. Shake, shake shake! And then there was butter…. Reese had fun playing, and I read a magazine in the Oceaneer Club while he played. He still wants Clark & I to stay in there with him while he’s there, which is fine. When Clark comes with me, we usually play Uno while Rusty plays in the Club.
I had to pull Rusty away from the entertainment at the Club so we could get ready to go ashore in St. Thomas. We slathered on sunscreen, grabbed the backpack, & headed off the boat in search of a pirate store. Rusty just has to have a pirate sword.
Too bad for my crappy map reading skills, because the pirate store I found on the port information sheet from the cruise ship had a pirate store listed, but it was downtown & not where we were (unless we wanted to take a cab ride).
Luckily, we stopped by the Atlantis Submarine storefront and they had this awesome submarine control panel for the kids to play with. So Rusty spent about twenty minutes in there playing. After that & the walking around we did, we were all WAY too hot and just plain tired of walking around…we don’t do jewelry stores in islands, and that’s pretty much all there was. Oh, and a drugstore that didn’t carry the Diet Mountain Dew Clark was craving. Darn.
We came back to the ship & headed back to Topsiders for a buffet lunch. I took Rusty through the kids’ buffet line, while Clark went through the regular buffet line. I set Rusty up at a table on the deck in the shade, & Clark returned with two heaping plates full of food for us. What a guy! It was my favorite meal, by far, since we’ve been on the boat. It was their “American” fare, which meant BBQ short ribs, corn on the cob, fried chicken, mashed potatoes, shrimp, OH YUM!! It was all so tasty, and if it weren’t for the fact that I’m really afraid of what the scale will say when we get home, I would have gone back for seconds and thirds! Clark brought back some Black Forest Cake, which I also had to eat (wouldn’t want to be rude, now would I?). It, too, was beyond tasty….
After we rolled ourselves out of Topsiders, we went down to our room & relaxed. Rusty slept, Clark caught a quick cat nap, & I fought a nap until Clark put me in the bed and I was out like a light. All this activity really catches up with us and calls for some big naps!
When everyone was awake and moving, we headed up to Ocean Quest for their open house. There’s a huge computer screen on the wall & a real-life ship control panel. The objective is to drive the Magic out of or into a port without crashing. Ocean Quest is usually just for the teenagers, but they have a two hour Open House each day so we take Rusty down there to check it out. They also have computer games, & Clark and Rusty play Star Wars together.
While Rusty is driving the Magic or playing other computer games, Clark and I have been playing Connect Four. Clark, Mr. Stragety, plans his moves & thinks three steps ahead to win the game. Me, I just play the next move and don’t “see” that far ahead. Perhaps that’s why Chess never makes sense to me. I just don’t visualize all the possible solutions to win the game! Anyway, Clark won most games, and if I could catch him not paying attention, I could win one or two. I hereby crown Clark Captain Connect Four.
We planned to attend the 6:15 show tonight (a ventriloquist show!), so at 5:15 we left Ocean Quest, much to Rusty’s protest. Since we had a little time, Rusty went swimming in the Mickey Pool while Clark & I ate yet another soft serve. Oh. Freakin. Yum. This stuff is so crazy good. And it’s “free”…any time of day or night…it’s too easy!
Clark grabbed a hot dog for Rusty as we headed back to the room to dress for the show. Rusty scarfed his hotdog & fries, Mommy put on something nice along with my new, pink high heels that Rusty picked out, & Clark got dressed. I threw on some clean clothes for Rusty and we were off to the show.
The gal tonight was really funny, although Rusty said he doesn’t care much for the shows. There’s a show every night, but I can’t imagine going to ALL of them. I doubt we’ll take in any more shows this time…it’s just not Rusty’s thing, and I don’t think Clark cares all that much about them anyway.
After the show ended, we stopped by the gift shops. Rusty found the sword he so desparately needed, & Clark found some t-shirts from another Disney cruise route that were on clearance for $6 each. I don’t know how we did it, but Clark and I both underpacked for this vacation and are almost out of clothes! They do have laundry facilities on board, but a new t-shirt seemed more fun J
Let’s see….back to the room, Clark went up to grab dinner for the family, Rusty and I put on some comfy clothes. We ate burgers & chicken strips, I ran up to the Spa to make a reservation for a scalp massage for Clark tomorrow, I grabbed more soft serve and brought it back to the room. Rusty took a long bath with a bunch of glowsticks I had brought…and now we’re all in our pjs at 9:45 watching Spiderman on TV.
I forgot to mention earlier, but we found shuffleboard on Deck 4 yesterday. Clark and I played a few games, and I know it’s hard to believe, but he beat me! Yes, my total lack of skill apparently goes for shuffleboard as well. It was fun to play though, & Rusty liked taking his turn at pushing the discs. One of these days, I am going to beat Clark at SOMETHING! J
Tomorrow is at At Sea day so I’m sure we’ll find lots of exciting things to do on board. I’m glad we’re going to call it a night soon, because we’ve been going SO strong since we’ve been here that we haven’t gone to bed at a decent hour yet!
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
1 comment:
Disney is a awesome place to spend a vacation. Hope you had a great time there, sure you might have captured every thing in your camera for a long lasting memories.
Post a Comment