Fantasy vacation before baby #2 arrives - Disney World and Cruise

[acceber32]

Hello everyone! I am a first time trip writer, so bare with me while I learn the ropes. I have been a lurker on the boards for about 6 months or so (no idea why I didn't register, just didn't) and have learned so much from reading threads and reading trip reports that I thought I would write a TR as well to try to help others (or for just entertainment).

The cast: Myself (29), DH (32) and DS (3). We have all been to Disney World several times (4 times for me, 5 times for DH and this was DS 3rd time) and consider ourselves intermediate in our Disney knowledge (not beginners and not experts, lol). We have been on different cruise lines as well but never Disney and we were excited to experience a Disney cruise. I have posted the Disney World portion of our vacation here (http://www.disboards.com/showthread....5#post46370435) and then the cruise portion on here. I am currently pregnant with baby #2 (at time of vacation I was 14 weeks along) and we wanted to take one last vacation as a family of 3 (that's what we said when we went back in January but we were so happy we were able to sneak another one in). We spent 2 1/2 days at Disney World and then a 7 day cruise on the Disney Fantasy. Well, let's get on with the show.


Day Four: It’s cruise day! Yay! We were sad to be leaving Disney World but not all that sad since we were getting ready to board the Disney Fantasy. We had scheduled for a shuttle to pick us up at 9 to go get our rental car so we were in no big hurry this morning. We woke up and got read, packed what was still out and said bye to our room. We had one last danish at our resort before heading out front to wait for the shuttle. Our driver called and said he was running a little behind, not a good start; however, this did not continue. We used Budget rental this time around. DH was very nervous about renting a car because last time it was a huge hassle renting from Avis (had to take a bus to Downtown Disney to go to the hotel across from there to pick up the car, waited quiet some time to get the car and then when we returned it in Port Canaveral we had to wait to be shuttled over because Avis’s bus had broke down). Our driver showed up about 15 minutes late but was polite and apologetic about it, said his last passenger was late. We were quickly taken to the hotel where the Budget desk was. The desk was just right inside the door and we were the only ones there. The lady had us checked in and a car ready before I had even gotten back out of the bathroom with DS, I was shocked. We walked out to the car, got the car seat hooked up and were on our way. Driving to Port Canaveral is a little annoying because of all the tolls but I guess that’s just because we come from a state that doesn’t have tolls. But in less than an hour and after stopping for gas right next to the Budget center, we returned the car. And to our delight there was a shuttle waiting! We were able to hop on and were at the port by 11. It was so much easier this time around and so pleasant. We will defiantly use Budget again in the future.
It truly is a site to see the ship when you first go over the hill when driving to Port Canaveral. Seeing your cruise ship in the distance and knowing that will be home for the next week is so exciting!

We dropped our checked bags off to the porters and headed thru security. Everything was very easy and such a breeze! We didn’t have to wait in line at all to check in. It only took a few minutes for them to issue us our Key to the World cards and we were given boarding #6. I did not stand in line to check DS into the kids club here because I had read that it was much easier and quicker to do onboard (and I’m glad I waited, the line was long here and no one in line onboard at the open house) nor did we stand in line to see Mickey or Minnie, lines were long for them as well.

Model of the ship in the cruise terminal.




You go thru Mickey Ears to get on the ship thru the cruise terminal. Love the details Disney does.




After just a short wait we were called to board. We had our picture taken and were boarding. It was a neat thing to hear our name called and having them clap and wave at us as we came on board. DS liked that they were wearing Mickey hands. The first view takes your breath away, the atrium is beautiful! We walked thru quickly because we didn’t want to add to the congestion or be a cause for it so we headed toward the elevators (which were very easy to find). We saw the mosaic of the Cinderella coach and the big chair and I was in love.

DS and me in the royal chair.




We headed straight for Cabanas for lunch because surprise, surprise I was hungry, lol. Cabanas is really nicely decorated in my opinion, again the tile work is amazing! We picked up plates and quickly found enough we wanted and were sitting down to eat by 12. I do not remember what we ate specifically, just that it was good and filling.

We walked around for a little bit after lunch just taking it all in. We went up to Palo to make a brunch reservation (which we had no problem getting the day or time we wanted). Our room was ready by 1:30 so we switched into swimsuits and when back up on deck. DH really wanted to ride the Aquaduck (water coaster) and DS was just itching to get into Nemo’s Reef splash area. DS loved Nemo’s Reef (and we would be back many times before the end of the week) and DH really enjoyed his ride. We went back to the room, changed and headed back out to check out the ship some more. We went to the open house at the kids club. I had already pre-registered online so checking DS in was very quick and easy. They gave us the Mickey band and we went into explore. DS loved the Monsters Inc room and Andy’s Room.

This place is so neatly decorated and fun! There are tons of computers for the kids to play on as well; DS thought this was so neat! He loved being able to actually play on the computer! They have smaller scaled bathrooms just for kids and automatic hand washing machines (they were pretty interesting!). DS loved it and was so excited to go back! We walked thru all the night clubs/adult only areas.

Picture of DH & DS playing in the phone booth in one of the night clubs.




We saw both theaters and more art work. We played a game of shuffle board, DS found this amusing. By now it was time for our muster drill. This was super easy, we were in the Walt Disney Theater balcony area and it was over in just a short time. We headed up to the pool deck to the Sail Away Party next. This was so fun! It’s a great way to start a Disney cruise to be out on deck dancing with the characters.




After we went back to the room for a little bit before dinner to relax. We had already gotten one of our bags so I unpacked it. I believe during this time DS played on my Kindle and DH watched tv while I unpacked, not sure how I always get to be in charge of the fun stuff. When we boarded I did notice that we got the dinning rotation that we had requested, so tonight we were in Enchanted Garden. Our other bag was waiting outside our door when we left for dinner. DS had chicken tenders, fries and mac and cheese. This one was a favorite for him and he had it a few nights. They did serve it with veggies and made a cute Mickey head out of ketchup as well. I started out with heirloom tomato soup and a romaine wedge. Both were pretty good. DH had lobster ravioli. We both had the prime rib that was served with double baked potato and we thought it was good. Potatoes were a little dry in my opinion but when you are cooking for the masses I guess that happens. For dessert, DS had an ice cream Mickey bar. He loved these and had one almost every night.




I had a chocolate torte and it was ok. DH had the banana foster sundae and enjoyed it. We did not do much else this night, we were all tired. So we headed back to our room to relax and get DS to bed. I finished unpacking and read for a little bit while DH watched tv (he watched 6 movies on tv while on the cruise, lol).

[jenseib]

Joining in!

[Cheryl726]

Great start! Congrats on your first Disney cruise!

[ProudMommyof2]

Great start!

[acceber32]

So sorry it's been awhile since I've updated!!! Before our cruise when I would read reviews I would try to be patient waiting for them to be wrote but honestly, I'm not a very patient person and it annoyed me. Now, I understand!!! Writing a review isn't as easy as it seems, it's time consuming, real life gets in the way (like work and house cleaning) and (I'll pull out this card, lol) I have a 3 year old while 17 weeks pregnant so this all leaves very little time to update and write. Thank you to those that are being so patient waiting for the next installment!!!! Here it is!

Day Five: Our first full day at sea! We planned on having a nice relaxing day and that’s exactly what I was going to do, relax! DS never really sleeps in late so he and I were up before 7:30. I showered and got ready for breakfast while he watched cartoons and DH slept. After I was ready I made DH get up and get ready so we could all go get breakfast, this pregnant lady doesn’t like to wait to eat in the morning, I am always hungry early. We went up to Cabanas and found plenty to eat. Omelets, hash browns, pancakes, Mickey waffles, cereal, pastries and donuts, fruit, etc. So much food! Everything I had on my plate was very good. I made DS a plate and what do you think he ate, cereal. He didn’t really want any of the other stuff for breakfast all week besides maybe a bite or two of a donut, maybe some fruit but would eat cereal every morning, lol.

After breakfast, DS and I went to “Wake up With Disney Junior”. It was a little dance party for the kids. There was a cast member there and he was very interactive with the kids. They played music from Disney Junior shows and did different dances. Goofy came in for a little bit and danced with the kids too. It was fun and cute! Great way to start the morning.





After this, DS was begging to go to the kids’ club. I hadn’t been sure about taking him before the cruise (I don’t like him spending so much time away from us, we both work all day and he is in daycare, I feel we miss so much) but he was begging to go. I made sure he understood that I couldn’t go and that he would be going by himself, he was fine with that and excited to run around and play. So, reluctantly I took him to the kids’ club. Since I had some free time on my hands with no plans (this never happens!!!) I decided to relax. I grabbed my Kindle from the room and went to the adults’ only area up on the pool deck, grabbed a chair and read a book. DH isn’t the type to just sit and has a hard time with it. He decided he wanted to go swimming so he changed and got in the adult only pool for a little bit with an occasional run over to me just to make sure I hadn’t forgotten about him and to interrupt my reading. It was drizzling rain at this point but he was in the pool and didn’t care. They made an announcement that the Aquaduck was still open despite the rain so he went over to take another ride; however, before he got to the top of the stairs they had closed it due to lightening. With nothing for him to do I thought he was going to sit down and drive me crazy, thankfully he couldn’t sit there long so he went back to the room to change and explorer the ship. I loved having my time to read. It was so nice to be able to sit down, read a good book and look out at the ocean everywhere around us, aw this is the life!

After about an hour and a half I went back to the kids’ club to pick up DS. He was playing on one of the computers when I went in there and the look on his face when he saw me was priceless. And not in the way to make a mommy’s heart melt. I do believe if looks could make people disappear, I would have, lol. He was not happy I was there and he was not ready to leave! It was getting close to lunch time though so I told him he could come back another time and he was happy with that. We went back to the room for a few minutes to meet back up with DH and to hear about DS’s time in the kids’ club. He said he got to play in Andy’s room, in the Monsters Inc room, on the light up dance floor and on the computers. He was particularly happy he got to play on a computer just for him. I was glad he enjoyed his time but I missed him while he was gone (and checked the Wave phone every few minutes, lol). I’ll add that the Wave phones are the best thing ever!! Why we’ve never seen them on other cruise lines is beyond me!

Once we were all back together we went up to Cabanas to grab lunch. Again, I don’t remember what we had but it was all good (nothing spectacular but all yummy and we found plenty to our liking). I believe we walked around the ship a little more after lunch. We headed back to our room so DS could get a nap and I’m pretty sure I took one as well, after all, relaxing was the only thing on today’s agenda.

After nap time, we changed into swim wear and went to go play. DS played some more in Nemo’s Reef area and loved it. We also went up to the Aqua Lab spray area for a little bit. This was fun but he preferred Nemo’s Reef (and I did too since it is covered). I also took my first ride on the Aqua Duck. I wasn’t sure what the ride was going to be like but the first half is faster and you get kind of a water slide feel, then the second half is more relaxed and you are able to look around to take in the great view (and it sure is pretty up there!). Being pregnant I was a little concerned about riding it (I can’t remember if it says not to but I rode it a after DH said it wasn’t bad) but it was overall an easy ride and very fun. DH took another ride down it as well. DS wanted to go on the Mickey kids’ slide so my husband walked him up the steps and gave him a little push. Well, that “little” push wasn’t enough and DS didn’t even make it around the first corner completely. He sat there looking at DH and couldn’t figure out what to do. While DH was trying to explain to him how to push himself down another kid went down knocking DS down the rest of the way. DS was not happy about this and did not want to go again! Then despite being told not to (he later said he never heard the cast member), DH went down the slide. He got yelled at by the cast member once at the bottom, I found this funny. Not a great start to the slide for DS and he quickly went back to Nemo’s Reef to go down Mr. Ray’s slide (which was short but fast and he loved it).





After a few hours of playing around in the water we went back to the room to change and get ready for dinner. Tonight was formal night and we were in Royal Court. Before going down to the Royal Court we waited in line to see Mickey. We were all dressed up and wanted a good picture with Mickey (the one we bought turned out better than this but I haven't scanned it in, for whatever reason our camera decided to take a lot of blurry pictures this trip, we might have had it on the wrong setting but we are searching for a new camera now).



My first glimpse of the Royal Court and I was impressed. It is a beautiful restaurant! The mosaics on the walls were stunning, the chairs and light fixtures all added to the great ambiance of the room. With my love for Disney Princesses, this was easily my favorite of the 3 rotational restaurants. I had the double baked cheese and spinach soufflé to start with; DH had the iced lobster and jumbo shrimp. We both enjoyed our starters. Then I had the Royal Market Green salad that came with goat cheese. I wasn’t as fond of this; turns out I don’t like goat cheese unless it’s melted on something. I can’t remember what DH had, probably more shrimp though. For our main course, we both had the aged angus grilled beef tenderloin topped with garlic shrimp (I quickly gave my shrimp to DH, I’m a meat girl, I don’t like anything that comes out of the water) and marquis potatoes. Steak was tender and juicy and the cognac reduction sauce served with it was nice. For dessert I had the grand mariner soufflé, which was very good. DH had the strawberry shortcake sundae and he enjoyed it. DS had spaghetti and meatballs and he ate a lot of it. Our assistant server was nice and cut it all up for DS (DS got a kick out of them cutting his food for him instead of mommy).

I have a lot of pictures of the Royal Court, I'll try to put a few here and a few in another post.

I thought the bread basket was too cute!



These are the plates on the wall near our table.









After dinner we went back to the room for a little bit before the show. We went to see Aladdin tonight. DS loved this show and now watches Aladdin at home all the time. DH and I enjoyed the show but thought a few things could have been done a bit better (why no Abu?!). They did have some very life like horses (or at least they looked that way from our seats in the balcony, lol) and we had to do a double take before realizing there was no way a horse could live on a cruise ship, lol. And it was much better than entertainment shows we’ve seen on other cruise lines. Once the show was over we went back to the room and it was bath and bed time for DS. DH and I did not stay up much longer either. Tomorrow was our first port stop, Grand Cayman, and we were going to the beach.

[jenseib]

Looks like a fun day. I am laughing that DS wanted to stay in the club.
I know what you mean about writing TR's...it takes forever!!!

[lsenquiz]

can't wait for more updates!

[acceber32]

Day Six: Our first port day! Today we woke at a normal time for us. DS woke up around 7, I put some cartoons on for him to watch and I showered and got ready. DH slept in, again. Once I got DH up, I got DS ready and we all headed to Royal Court for breakfast. This was a great time to walk around the restaurant and take pictures of the mosaics.







I had eggs benedict for breakfast, DH had an omelet and DS had the kid’s plate (I think it had scrambled eggs, a Mickey waffle, sausage and some fruit). They brought around pastries and donuts while we were waiting for our food to be made and we all got a donut (we knew they would be good because I had read online previously that they were Krispy Kreme donuts, yumm). DH and I enjoyed our breakfast a lot, DS just picked at his (again, all he wanted was cereal, crazy kid!). After breakfast we went to meet some characters before heading out. We wanted to meet Jake (DS's favorite character); however, the line was already super long. We knew he’d be out again later so we stood in line to meet Buzz, first.



After meeting Buzz we went up stairs to meet Jake. DS was so excited!!!



We went to say hi to Woody and Jessie next and then back upstairs for pictures with Captain Hook and Mr. Smee. We did have to stand in some lines for a little bit but our wait wasn’t awful for any of the characters that we met the whole cruise (maybe 20 minutes max).





After our character meets, we went back to the room to grab a few things, we went upstairs to Cabana’s and grabbed some cereal for DS to munch on and headed down to get a tender. All ashore for Grand Cayman was at 10:45 but I think they let people start tendering a little earlier than that. We didn’t want to stand in a long line so we waited a little while and headed off the ship a little after 11. We did not have an excursion booked for Grand Cayman and just planned on going to the beach. Once off the ship we got on a bus/van to taxi to 7 mile beach and asked to go to the public/Sea Grape beach. We had a full van and they let off a few people on the way but we were at the beach within 15 minutes. It was already a little busy and I had to stand in line for probably about 10 minutes just to pay for a chair and umbrella. It was $15 for the taxi and then we spent $12 on one chair and an umbrella. DH was not happy we’d already spent so much on such a simple day and we knew we’d be spending another $15 for the ride back. We enjoyed playing in the sand and splashing in the water with DS. The beach view is nice but honestly, it wasn’t as nice as I was expecting it to be. Next time I think I’ll make sure we book thru a private hotel or something and plan to stay the full day.





We stayed for a few hours but got hot and hungry so we headed back out to get a taxi. One of our fellow cruise passengers lost his wedding ring in the van and was searching frantically to try to find it. Other passengers were trying to help him but the driver was getting really mad that they were looking and kept yelling at all of them, it was crazy! Unfortunately, he never did find his wedding ring. The driver drop us off across from the port and we had to walk across a busy street to go back thru security (I only point this out because it made DH mad that we had to pay $15 for a 15 minute ride and didn’t even get dropped off at the port, I explained it was probably due to security but he still didn’t like it). We started walking back to the dock to catch a tender and enjoyed a bit of the Disney extra. They had cold wet towels for us to use and cold water to drink. This was so refreshing and so nice! We’ve been on two other cruise lines and they’ve never done anything like this. When we were able to catch a tender quickly and were back on the ship by 2:30.

We stopped by the room dropped off our bags and headed upstairs to get something to eat. Unfortunately, Cabanas had stopped serving lunch by this time so we had to grab food from Fillmore’s and Luigi’s. We got a mixture of hamburgers, chicken tenders and fries and pizza and I made a salad. Plus, they have sandwiches and fruit you can get. The food was good and we were all so hungry that we filled up. After our late lunch we went back to the room to relax. I knew there was no hope in getting DS a nap this late but wanted us all to rest up a bit before dinner. We relaxed in the room, showered and cleaned up then went to meet a few more characters before our dinner in Animator’s Palate. We stood in line to meet Peter Pan and DS could barley stand his excitement. He has really liked Peter Pan ever since our trip in January to Disney World when Captain Hook scared him. DS liked that Peter Pan could beat up Captain Hook, lol. He was shy when he met Peter Pan but did carry on a little bit of a conversation with him. Next, we had our picture taken with Tinker Bell. I thought the Peter Pan character was really reaching to look like Peter Pan but this was a good Tinker Bell. DS thought she was pretty and very nice.





After having a few pictures taken we went to Animator’s Palate for dinner. We were excited to see what this place was all about after reading so many reviews online. Tonight would be the Crush show, DS loves Finding Nemo and Crush so we knew he would like this. And sure enough he was just mesmerized by everything about this restaurant. The walls are decorated with animation art, the chairs are fashioned after classic Mickey, the silverware is even in the shape of a paint brush; it’s all very neat.



Tonight for dinner I had the black truffle pasta purseittes to start and DH had the mushroom risotto. I had read online about this pasta dish and since nothing else seemed to call to me I ordered it. It was pretty good but not as good as the reviews led me to believe. DH enjoyed his risotto. We both had the baked potato cheddar cheese soup next and weren’t impressed. It was ok but we’ve had so much better else where. I did; however, enjoy my entrée. I got the marinated angus beef tenderloin served with wasabi mashed potatoes. The wasabi in the mashed potatoes was subtle but added a nice kick, they were very good. DH had the white shrimp pennette pasta and he really enjoyed it. For dessert I had the chocolate brownie cheesecake and DH had the cookies and cream sundae. We both enjoyed our selection. DS had fettuccini with chicken and veggies. He was a little too busy watching the Crush show and looking around the restaurant to eat and barley ate much this night. Plus, he was full from lunch still and pretty tired from our beach day. He did have a Mickey ice cream bar to end his meal though, it is vacation after all.

As for the Crush show, it was neat but very much like the show at EPCOT. We were a bit too far away from anyone of the screens for us to get to talk to Crush. It was cute though and DS enjoyed it. After dinner we headed back to the room. DS got his bath and then went to bed. DH probably didn’t stay up much longer either, lol. I stayed up and read a bit on my Kindle and enjoyed the quiet time to myself.

[Sparrow78]

Great job! Dh would be the same annoyed about the cab and such!

[jenseib]

I have all of those appetizers too..I like them all. and now my mouth is watering. LOL

[acceber32]

I thought I had posted our Costa Maya day (but clearly didn't) so today there will be two posts.
Day Seven: Today the ship was docking at Costa Maya; however, we were not getting off. I love venturing out to the ports and seeing new places (we’ve never been to Costa Maya); however, DH loves staying on the ship and really wanted to try to take advantage of the ship today. We had agreed well before going on vacation that we would stay on the ship this day. I didn’t see much to do at Costa Maya besides a beach day or to see some of the pyramids (I didn’t think I could get my 3 year to sit still on the bus ride long enough to get there, plus we weren’t in port long so we ruled that out) and we knew Castaway Cay would top any other beach so I gave in and we stayed on ship. We had booked a brunch reservation at Palo for this day and were very excited about it. DS slept in a little for him this morning and when he woke up we did our morning routine. He and I did go upstairs to have breakfast together while DH got ready though, he wasn’t hungry. DS and I enjoyed our cereal breakfast together very much. He’s a mommy’s boy and loves to spend time with me. After breakfast we went back to the room to meet up with DH. I got dressed for Palo and we told DS that he got to go back to the kids’ club, he was so excited!

We dropped DS off and went to Palo. When we first went in there were not that many people there (we had a 10am reservation). This place is very nice and romantic.

Light fixture at the entrance to Palo




We got a nice table, it was a booth set in the back kind of by itself with a great view looking out at the ocean. This is the closest thing DH and I have had to a date since DS was 7 weeks old so we were glad we got a great table.

Flowers on every table.



Our view looking out.




Our server, whose name I can’t remember and I feel awful about, was amazing. She showed us around the buffet and explained how to order entrees. She did not want us to feel rushed at all so she said she would wait to take our order after we had a chance to sample some of the wonderful pastries and appetizers they had. They had all kinds of pastries, cheeses, fruits, cold seafood, etc. to fill up on; you could really make a meal out of this and be pleasantly full. But don’t! You need to save room for the entrees and desserts. We ordered a pizza to split, half margarita and half grape (sounds weird but it was really good!). I ordered the strawberry soup and while it was good I don’t like mint. The mint wasn’t strong so I did enjoy a little of the soup but after a few bites I couldn’t get past the mint flavor and wanted to save room for the chicken parmesan I had ordered. DH also ordered the chicken parmesan dish. We both really really enjoyed it. The chicken was nice and crispy but not overly cooked. The cheese melted on top was the right amount, the red sauce was very tasty and the risotto it sat on was so good!! This was by far the best dish I had on the cruise the entire time. If you go to Palo for brunch you have to order this!!! By the time dessert came we were both so full but if you know me you know I have a second stomach just for sweets.  We filled our plates from the dessert buffet and enjoyed everything we got. We both found a few things that we really enjoyed and got seconds on those. By the time we left Palo we were both stuffed and almost needed to be wheeled out, lol. Honestly, if you are going on a Disney cruise you have to book Palo. It was so good! I wish we had booked more than one meal there.
After Palo we went to go get DS. He had been in the kids’ club for almost 2 hours but it was getting close to lunch and I knew he’d be hungry. When we picked him up he wasn’t as reluctant to leave this time but was still all talk about how much he enjoyed it. Peter Pan had come in and read them a story, he loved that!! We promised him that he would get to come back at least once more before the cruise was over. Neither DH nor I was hungry but we had to feed DS so we went to lunch. I believe we just got him some chicken tenders and fries and I probably tried to get him to eat some fruit and veggies as well. After lunch we went back to the room for a nap.
We didn’t stay in the room long; DH was itching to take advantage of the ship with a lot of people at Costa Maya. We decided to go play a game of mini- golf (or as my son said he played Mickey golf because he was a boy and I played Minnie golf since I’m a girl). It was a fun game and we enjoyed our time. DS is finally getting the idea of hitting the ball with his club, it was so cute watching him (wish I had my camera with me ). After, we played the mystery game and DS chose to do the “Missing Puppies”. This is an interactive art game and is nothing like anything I’ve ever seen. The art looks so real; however, it’s really not a painting but an interactive screen that you hold your detective card in front of and it plays you a clip with a clue and then you have to move your card around to do different things. We really enjoyed this and DS was glad we caught bad Captain Hook and returned those puppies! He loved putting Captain Hook in jail. We also swam, played in Nemo’s Reef, rode the Aquaduck and DS rode the Mickey slide again.
After we played around the ship for a few hours we went back to the room to get ready for dinner. We were back in Enchanted Garden and the theme was Prince and Princess Dinner. I had the Beast’s Potato and Sausage Casserole soup; which I wasn’t fond of and only ate a few bites and DH had the duck and cheese quesadilla, he did not care for this but I had a bite of it and thought it was good. I also had a caesar salad, I do not remember what else DH had to eat. For my main entrée I had the peppercorn crusted New York strip with sautéed green beans and corn and potatoes with a brandy sauce. I enjoyed my entrée. DH had the oven roasted turkey and enjoyed it as well. I believe DS just had chicken strips, mac & cheese and fries (I did say he ate this often). For dessert I had the chocolate soufflé, which I liked and DH had the sundae. I think this was his favorite sundae of the cruise because it had rocky road ice cream, his favorite. DS had a Mickey bar, of course.
After dinner I wanted to go see Wishes; however, DH was tired and didn’t want to go. So we just went back to the room and relaxed. I didn’t keep DS up too late because I knew he wouldn’t get a nap the next day. I know I stayed up and read more of my book, it’s hard to get this much time to read at home and I was loving “my time” to myself even if it was in a small room with DH watching tv or sleeping and DS sleeping. The next day we were going to Cozumel and I wanted everyone to be rested because we had a big day planned, swimming with the dolphins.


(Sorry for the lack of pictures this day, not sure why I didn't take many. Guess I was busy having fun!)

[acceber32]

Day Eight: The morning was like most other mornings, DS and I woke up first and then DH. Once we were all ready we went upstairs to Cabanas to get breakfast. We enjoyed breakfast here the most because we could get a variety of things we liked, get DS cereal and it was casual enough that I didn’t feel bad if DS was being loud. We took our time enjoying our breakfast and getting ready this morning because we didn’t have anywhere to be early. We arrived in Cozumel and all ashore was at 8am; however, we didn’t have our dolphin excursion booked until 1:00 so we had plenty of time. We did make it off the ship a little after 10 and made our way to Chankanaab national park. Our taxi driver was nice enough and got us there without any problems. DH was a bit freaked out because the car didn’t have a working speed odometer (which might explain why the trip back seemed to take longer, lol). Once we were there we showed them our reservation ticket and they told us to come back to the desk ten minutes before our reservation. The dolphin excursion includes entrance into the national park so we decided to walk around and enjoy it. I wanted to walk around the botanical garden and look at the iguanas, plants and flowers.









We did this for a few minutes but DH was in a foul mood so we turned around and went to find a chair on the beach. We changed and DS and DH got in the water. DH was disappointed that the water didn’t get very deep in the lagoon and that there were no waves.





After a little while of this we decided we would just go play in the pool. The park has a fresh water pool right near the dolphin area so this was convenient. We played in the pool for awhile, had a snack and played some more. DS was enjoying swimming by himself with his puddle jumper.



Once it was time for our dolphin encounter we checked back in at the desk and they told us where the lockers where and to then sit on the benches for instructions. We put all our stuff away and waited and waited and waited. It was after 1:30pm before they finally came over to give us instructions. There was a large group of people waiting and unfortunately, all did not speak one language. So, the instructors had to give the instructions in both English and Spanish. This took awhile to get thru. Once they were finished they split us up into smaller groups and led us to the dolphin area. We were paired with another family of five and again, they spoke Spanish so everything had to be said twice. I hate saying this but honestly it was so annoying. I felt as though we missed out on a lot of interesting facts just because the instructor didn’t want to say it twice, plus it took a lot longer to go thru. We were let into the water and stood on a platform. The life jacket I was wearing kept me just to the point I couldn’t stand flat footed on the platform so it was very hard to keep my balance. But I was in the water with a dolphin so this was exciting. DS wanted me to hold him and I did my best but eventually had to give him to DH because I couldn’t keep my balance enough for the both of us. The first dolphin we tried to swim with recently had a baby and was nursing the baby. It was very cute to see them swimming together; however, she didn’t want to do any tricks and ignored the instructor. They had us get out of the water and move to another enclosure with a different dolphin hoping he would be more cooperative. Thankfully he was! His name was John and he was great. DS still talks about him. He did tricks for us, swam close to us and then each person got to do a few tricks with him (dance, kiss, etc.). The interaction with the dolphin was a lot of fun. It lasted for about 45 minutes. DS loved it and smiled and laughed the whole time. It really was a neat experience.

This is the area where they do the dolphin swim.




Once we were done with our dolphin encounter we were led to the picture shop to look at our photos. We only bought one because they were $30 a picture. But I’m glad we got one since they don’t let you take your camera with you. We quickly changed and headed to get a taxi. We were tired and hungry and by now it was 3 pm. There are taxis waiting for you to leave so getting one was no problem. We got back to the port, tried to pay the taxi driver but he didn’t have change for a $20. The taxi was only $10 so he went to go see if he could get some change. After several minutes he did come back and gave DH back a $10 bill. We usually tip but this guy didn’t get a tip since he didn’t bring us any small bills. Oh well, not a smart move on his part for not getting smaller bills. We walked back thru security, got a cold towel (love Disney!) and boarded the ship.


We were all very hungry so we dropped our stuff off in the room and headed to the grill to get something to eat. I believe we had a mixture of pizza, burgers, chicken fingers and fries. After our late lunch we went back to the room to clean up and relax. Tonight was Pirate night and it was going to be a late night. I had DS lay down to get some quiet time (even though I knew he wouldn’t sleep I thought him resting would help a little). Much sooner than we were ready for, it was dinner time. DH and I had looked at the menus before our cruise and neither of us were looking forward to tonight’s menu, it just didn’t seem appealing. We were back in Royal Court so that was a plus. When we sat down DS noticed that the kids sitting at the table next to us had flashing color pirate cups and he had to have one. It was only $6 so we got him one. He loves using it at home! For a starter, I had the mozzarella sticks off the kid’s menu and then Mr. Smee’s bibb lettuce salad. DH had the crab cakes and a jerk chicken salad, neither of which he was crazy about. For my entrée I had the marinated beef short ribs with mashed potatoes. I’m not sure if it was just that I wasn’t hungry or what but I didn’t really care for this dish, it was just ok. DH had shrimp pasta that he thought was ok. I’m assuming DS had chicken tenders and mac n cheese but I can’t remember what he ate anymore and honestly he had that a lot so it’s probably a safe assumption. I know he had a Mickey bar for dessert and so did DH. I had a sweet temptation of fruit cobbler, some type of meringue and a rum soaked chocolate cake with raspberry sauce. The chocolate cake and the fruit cobbler were pretty good. After dinner we walked around the shops a bit and bought DS a pirate sword.




Tonight was also the preimer for Finding Nemo 3D. We went to watch this but only stayed for the first 10 or 15 minutes. We’ve seen Nemo so many times. 3D effects are not something that I really see well, plus we were sitting in the balcony where the bar was hitting the screen so it was obstructing my view (driving me crazy). We went back to the room again for a little bit. I was worried that DS might fall asleep but he seemed to be just fine playing my Kindle. We didn’t stay in the room long though; we went up to the pool deck to begin the festives for the pirate party. We danced around for a little bit to the music, watched the Mickey pirate stage show and enjoyed ourselves. DS loved it! After a little while we moved spots to get a better view for the fireworks and waited and waited. They made an announcement that the Captain was trying to get us out into clear skies but there was a storm approaching and they weren’t sure if we were going to be able to see fireworks. About 20 minutes later, the show started! It wasn’t a long fireworks show and honestly, it wasn’t anything spectacular but there is something about fireworks out at sea that is so cool! And we all love fireworks anyway so we really enjoyed this. Right after the fireworks, they have a large buffet at Cabanas. We quickly went in there to get something to eat. We filled our plates with tacos, desserts and other goodies and then headed back to our room. It was really late and we needed to get DS to bed. Once back in the room, it was bath and to bed for DS (after a few bites off my plate to sample). DH and I enjoyed our buffet items (it was a nice change to have tacos). DH even got a turkey leg but didn’t get the thrill of eating it and actually found it gross. With full bellies we went to bed right before midnight, definitely our latest night but staying up for pirate night was worth it.

[bitlerzx4]

Love this trip report.

[acceber32]

Thanks bitlerzx4! I'm hoping to finish up in the next couple days.

[jenseib]

I can't wait to do Palo brunch. I did dinner and was not impressed, but brunch looks more my style.

I had a turkey leg too, it was good, but so hard to eat.