Disney Fantasy Eastern Feb 8th - 15th - Cupids in the Caribbean cruise! Update 5/16

[Cheerio]

Where did you get the cute DCL red sweatshirts the kids had on for embark?

Thanks

We bought them onboard our Jan 2012 cruise, they only had 3 left, hence why one child isn't wearing one!

Working on the next installment now!

 

[Cheerio]

Tuesday February 11th - St Maarten - Pirate Night!

We had no excursions booked for St.Maarten, our plan was just to explore and grab some chairs by the beach and that's exactly what we did! We knew it would be another late night for the pirate party so we wanted to take it easy.

Woke up about 8am, it wasn't long after that when they let us know people could disembark, it was sunny, warm, blue skies - gorgeous day ahead! We had a quick breakfast at Cabana's and then walked off the ship with no wait at all. We wandered around the port area before heading into downtown Philipsburg.

We had decided to walk into town, about halfway there I regretted it as there's nothing to look at and it's very crowded (and lots of people selling water, asking you if you want a taxi) we should have taken the water taxi.

We shopped a little bit, I was on the hunt for a new ring as a Valentine's day gift but didn't find anything I liked. It was nice to pop into the stores for their air conditioning, kids were already whining about heat so I knew my time was ticking. Walked up the boardwalk looking for chairs to rent, they have plenty of people bartering asking if you want chairs - feel free to ask them for a better price.

We ended up getting two chairs, wifi and an umbrella for $15.00. It was just down from a restaurant that had a bathroom we could use too, 6 pops and ice/cups cost me $10. I realized after that bartenders come around and could have gotten them for us.

The kids had a blast swimming, there was a steep drop off and plenty of waves for them to jump around in. The one thing we hated, was the vendors who came by every 20 minutes asking if we wanted a wrap or hair braiding, massage, it was the same people over and over. At one point, one vendor asked DH if he wanted braids (hah he has no hair) he took off his hat and said "good luck" they also approached DD (7) at one point and asked if she wanted braids, so just keep an eye out.

About 12:30pm we decided we had enough of the beach (er, the vendors) and made our way back to the ship via the water taxi.



We got back on board and had lunch at Cabana's, kids headed into the pool for a little bit, there was barely anyone on board. At 2:30, DH took DD to go to the Frozen sing-a-long in the theatre, apparently she loved it, it's her fave movie so any chance to sing along to it works for her. Once they took off, DS decided he wanted to go check out the kids club for a bit - so I took advantage of the kid free time and had a nap. Dinner tonight was in Enchanted Garden, pirate menu - I love the short ribs, so that's what I had tonight. After dinner, kids went to the club to pirate party prep so we went and hung out up on deck 13 enjoying the breeze and warm air.

We picked up the kiddos in enough time to secure a great spot on deck 12 for the party, the two older boys stayed with Edge friends to watch with them. Fireworks were great as usual, then we grabbed some buffet snacks to take back to our room. The kids knew we'd be in bed early tonight since we had a 7:45am meet up time for our excursion in St Thomas, so showers and bed for everyone without arguing - great day!!

Up next, swimming with turtles and closed for 5 minutes - island time.

 

[kittymamma]

Cheerio, how much was the was the water taxi in Phillipsburg, per person and what currency did they take ?

 

[WhitGB]

Thanks for the sweatshirt information. One DD has a cute one from our Oct cruise but the other opted to purchase a Dumbo pillow pet, while cute was a treat on an airplane.

I was hoping we could get two of the same before we go again. I like the idea if I lose a kid I can just point to the other and say, she is dressed like that!

Would you go to the same beach again? I was looking at ones where the travel time is a lot longer. I don't like all the travel but I could do without the vendors hassle.

 

[MrsJames]

Subscribing...
great TR...can't wait to hear/see more!!!

 

[Linda67]

Great update
Does the water taxi take long to get to downtown and are they pretty regular?

 

[Cheerio]

Cheerio, how much was the was the water taxi in Phillipsburg, per person and what currency did they take ?

It was $7 round trip and $5 one way, we paid USD hindsight we should have just paid for round trip

 

[Cheerio]

Great update
Does the water taxi take long to get to downtown and are they pretty regular?

Took maybe 5mins tops, including loading up - they run every 15 - 20 minutes, fairly often

 

[Cheerio]

Thanks for the sweatshirt information. One DD has a cute one from our Oct cruise but the other opted to purchase a Dumbo pillow pet, while cute was a treat on an airplane.

I was hoping we could get two of the same before we go again. I like the idea if I lose a kid I can just point to the other and say, she is dressed like that!

Would you go to the same beach again? I was looking at ones where the travel time is a lot longer. I don't like all the travel but I could do without the vendors hassle.

They do have some pretty neat sweatshirts in the store at the orlando airport
We would totally go back to the same beach, the vendors weren't a deal breaker, just irritating but couldn't beat the price and the fact my kids just wanted to swim for a while, shop and we could be back on the ship 10 minutes later for lunch.

 

[Pappert]

Do you know the name of the beach?

 

[Cheerio]

I don't but when you see the shopping map it's the huge below the shopping area.

 

[Pappert]

Thanks!

 

[Cheerio]

Wednesday February 12th - St.Thomas

We woke up at 7am, the kids were so excited they bounced out of bed. We went up to Cabana's for breakfast and then loaded everyone up with sunscreen, it was at this point I had to grab a 3rd can of sunscreen since we were going through it like crazy. I love the coppertone spray on, gets you everywhere. We had to meet our excursion group for the Sea Blaster in D-Lounge, we were the last group to leave since we didn't need to take a bus to get on our boat. A short walk down the pier and we got right on board, you couldn't beat the location.

We got off the ship about 8:15 and were down the pier and on the excursion boat by 8:30, they passed out masks, flippers, gave us "high tech dry bags" for our stuff aka, garbage bags and off we went. Lots of people got wet, so my advice is to wear your mask so you don't get salt water in your eyes, it's not too pleasant, so look funny and wear them. We arrived at Turtle Cove, and while they took a few minutes to explain how to use the gear, we spotted turtles coming up for air. Then it was time to jump in, we saw lots of turtles - took the kids a bit of time to get used to the gear but they had a blast.

After about 45 minutes we got back onto the boat and moved to our 2nd location to snorkel near great st.james island. Another quick, wet ride but this time most people didn't care because we were already wet. This time we got to see coral reef, stingray's, turtles, various fish, eels, sea urchins - lots to look at. We were there for about 45mins again, and then got out of the water, rinsed off with their showers on the back of the boat and then had a few cups of rum punch. The 'problem' was they made enough punch for 130 people and only 84 were on board, so we had to drink up, they had juice for the non-drinkers and kids. We didn't take many photos in the water but Gary got a ton of cool video on his GoPro camera!

We were back to port just after 12pm, which for us was perfect. We took the kids back on the ship, instructing our oldest to feed the kids lunch and take them to the club - and then we headed to the shopping area right beside the port.

The shopping in St Thomas was decent, I didn't want to stray too far from the kiddos so we stuck close to port and shopped for souvenirs. I found a nice ring, cover up, keychains for friends but didn't get to the cigar shop, why? It was closed sign said "be back in 5 island minutes" the lights never went on in the store I saw lots of people walking around with Senor Frog's frozen drinks but didn't get all the way down to the end to partake in the fun. We got back on board about 2pm, headed to grab some burgers and wraps for a late lunch and then grabbed some drinks from the bar. We picked the kids up from the club and took them to swim for a little while as the pools weren't too busy and the aquaduck had a smaller line. Cars was playing on funnel vision and we love this movie, so it was fun to watch it while they were swimming.

It wasn't long before I felt the engines start up so we walked up to deck 13 to watch us sail away before heading down for showers before dinner.

Tonight we ate in Royal Court, Prince and Princess menu which is Lauren's fave because she loves turkey. We had the steak and Kevin the turbot which he said was fantastic - the seabass from earlier this week remained his top fave though.

After dinner we went up onto the pool deck to walk off some of our dinner, we had planned to take all four kiddos to go see Buckets and Boards but the oldest two decided to go swimming with some friends and Dylan wanted to go to the club so it was a date with Lauren only. She was so tired from our big day that she barely stayed awake, so after the show we rounded up the boys, dropped them all off in the room and once the younger two fell asleep we left them with Kevin who was doing some homework. Lauren passed out in no time -

We decided to go up to the tube for a bit to have some beverages, watched the scoring of 80's music challenge and then went up to sit outside of Meridian for a while. It really was one of our fave places on the ship. We got back to our room about the same time Ryan was rolling in from edge karaoke

Up next, Valentine's crafts for everyone...

 

[Linda67]

What a lovely day in St Thomas

 

[JulieODC]

What a nice St. Thomas day!!

 

[JacksonFamily]

I love reading about your experiences! We will be taking our third cruise in July 2015, which is identical to this one...too long to wait!! I have a few questions for you. 1. What were the names of the cities you ported in at St. Maarten and in St. Thomas? 2. We will have my husband's 83 year old grandmother with us, is it a long distance to walk from the ports to shopping and/or excursions? Thanks! Can't wait to see more of your trip!

 

[Cheerio]

I love reading about your experiences! We will be taking our third cruise in July 2015, which is identical to this one...too long to wait!! I have a few questions for you. 1. What were the names of the cities you ported in at St. Maarten and in St. Thomas? 2. We will have my husband's 83 year old grandmother with us, is it a long distance to walk from the ports to shopping and/or excursions? Thanks! Can't wait to see more of your trip!

Thanks!! You will love it

In St Maarten, we were at AC Wathey Cruise and Cargo Facilities - this one is about a 20min walk at least to downtown. There is a small shopping area right near port but the decent area for deals is downtown. You'd want a taxi for sure.

In St Thomas, we were right beside Havensight Mall, this area is very walkable, lots of shopping, we liked it a lot there and was back on board 5 minutes after deciding to head back to the ship.

 

[Cheerio]

Thursday February 13th - Day at Sea

I was very excited about our last sea day, I love having lazy mornings on the ship with coffee and breakfast but today was going to be different because we were going to Palo brunch! Took the kiddos up to Cabana's for breakfast while I snacked on some fruit. Like most other mornings they wore their bathing suits so once food was done, they got some sunscreen on and headed for the pools and aquaduck.

They only got about 45 mins to swim before I dropped Dylan and Lauren off at the Lab so I could go get ready with a promise we'd return to get them right after Palo. Our reservation was for 10:30am and we loved being in an aft room because it took us all of 2 minutes to get from our room to deck 13. They weren't quite ready for us so we went into meridian to wait for a few minutes until they came to get us. I had requested a window seat but since they were pretty busy that morning and all they had were 6+ table seating by the window, we took a booth seat. I know everyone loves Palo, and the food was fantastic, as was the service but I don't think we would go again. I'm pretty easy to please, so I think a breakfast in one of the regular restaurants would be fine for us. I did take a large plate of chocolate covered strawberries back to the room for us to snack on - that was my special Valentine's day treat.

After brunch, we went to pick up the kiddos for lunch, they had chicken and pizza before heading back into the super crowded pools again. Lauren had requested to go do Valentine's day crafts in La Piazza so we went to do that while the boys hung out and rode the aquaduck. Once crafts were done, we got back into our bathing suits and headed up to deck 12 where we met up with our friends and the boys, who were not letting us down and continuing to eat their body weight in ice cream. We had brought up all our sundae toppings, soooo yummy! I set up camp, just in time for the server to come around with happy hour 2 for 1 drinks - talk about awesome timing. We made a few trips downstairs to grab some food to snack on, we needed something to soak up the liquor

I'm not sure if it was all the fun we were having, but suddenly the sky was very dark, sun had disappeared and before we knew it - the skies opened up. There was a mad rush of people heading down to deck 11 under some form of shelter, we thought of it as a sign to sober up and get ready for dinner.

Tonight would be our "show" night in Animators Palette, I had Fettuccine with Parmesan-Crusted Chicken and Warm Chocolate Lava Cake which I loved on our last cruise. Kevin tried the lobster tail but didn't love it, so he had something else - I was still proud of him trying it. The show was super cute, the kids really loved it and crush spoke to Ryan, who out of all our kids is the quietest and most reserved.

I tried to get the kids to go see the show after dinner, but they wanted to swim of course. So tonight I decided to hit up the aquaduck with them. There was no line up because of course everyone was either at the show, or having dinner still.

After swimming, the bigger boys took off for their club with a promise to return at 10:30 so we could go see the adult version of Buckets & Boards which didn't disappoint. We all had showers, got the two younger ones into bed and they crashed very quickly. Once the boys came back and got started on homework, we took off for some adult time. The show was really funny, we really enjoyed them this cruise. After that, we headed to the Tube for some drinks with our friends - kind of our last chance to have late night fun because Friday night would be packing After quite a few drinks and dancing, we went up to Meridian, it's so beautiful and quiet up there. Once in a while you'd spot lights from an island or another ship but it's so cool to be the only ones out there in a gigantic ocean.

Up next, Castaway Cay and the big surprise!!

 

[jilliusc]

Your daughter has such beautiful eyes! Love that your older boys were doing homework. You are a tough mom!

 

[Cheerio]

Your daughter has such beautiful eyes! Love that your older boys were doing homework. You are a tough mom!

Thank you My boys are in grade 9 and 7, here in Ontario Grade 9 is the first year of high school so he had no choice but to keep up