First time DCL--Just back from Fantasy 6/30

[pjzkent]

Sunday arrived, and we had nothing but the ocean to look forward too!

Started out with breakfast at Cabana's. They had almost anything you could imagine for breakfast, except Starbucks

I packed some Via iced coffee and some Via mocha packets and took one with me so I could get some morning joe that was more my speed.

We had gotten a call that we had a spot for Palo for brunch that day, so I gladly accepted.

DS 8 wanted to hit the Lab to see Stitch, DD 8 went along too. DS 10 went with DH over to check out the Edge. He will be 11 in November and the Lab crew suggested he go check it out during Open House to see if it was a good fit.

I hit Deck 4 to take a run. I started running at the end of May because I want to RUN the Race for the Cure in Oct, and thought the CC 5K would be a good try it out race. At took a little to get the hang of running on the waves, but I managed to run 1 full lap around the boat. I definitely prefer running on deck to running on the treadmill though. Even if it is warm, one side the wind is blowing and cooling you off, and the best part on the other side is the wind pushing you forward. I logged 2 miles total for the day.

Headed back to the stateroom, got a shower, and it was almost time for brunch. Kids were in the Lab, DS 10 was still at the Edge.

DH explained to me that the counselors at the Edge said he could be there but he couldn't have a Mickey band if he was there, and part of the rules were that he had to be able to sign himself in and out. I felt like I was dangling off a cliff, but I figured he is going to grow up eventually, and a little freedom in an albeit large confined area seemed like an ok place to start.

We headed to Palo, for what I hoped was one of many chances we would have on vacation for some couple time.

The food was amazing!

Bread table


Seafood table


More food choices:




My personal favorite: Dessert table


DH Dessert:


My Dessert:


and of course, I glass of champagne to wash it all down

We picked up the kids, found DS 10 and headed for the Midship Detective Agency for awhile.

Found Pepi's door, if you get the chance, call his number, it's a funny message.




DS 10 and DD 8 wanted to see the Aladdin show, and I don't know if this is the norm or not, but there were afternoon matinees of the shows each day. We headed off with our Walmart movie candy to find the show.



The show was good, but Aladdin is not my favorite movie anyway. After the show we picked up DS 8 from the Lab and headed to the pool. Aquaduck started to clear out, and the kids hit the Eye Scream for yet another snack.

It was formal night, and I had made a reservation for DD to go to BBB. This was a first for her, she is a bit of a tomboy, but when we were getting ready for the trip, she found some girly girl and picked up a few dresses for each nights dinner.

This was her first trip to BBB, and her stylist was Sophie from England. I didn't realize they weren't allowed to accept tips, so she was our first Thank You gift bag receiver. We put in some Oreos, 2 packs of gum, some Junior mints, Reese's mini-cups and a small back of pretzels.

 

[pjzkent]

Can't wait to hear about the rest of your cruise! We are taking our first cruise ever in May! I am excited to hear about your rental car experience as this is what we are thinking of doing as well.

Kelly, it just occurred to me you meant the rental car on St. Maarten!

 

[pjzkent]

We had a lovely dinner, and ran over to get a family photo done during dinner, since we were at Royal Court and the photographer was right there.

I can't find my photo CD, but will add the pics when I find it. The kids actually asked to take a picture with just the 3 of them.

When we arrived at dinner, the kids all had Shirley Temples waiting, and of course, they all wanted something different to drink

I couldn't tell you what we had, I remember it was good, and really liking the bread course.

The kids went for Kids Play or whatever it is called, DS 10 headed for the Edge, and DH and I got to have a leisurely dessert.....

We then headed to Ooh LaLa as that is the only club that really appealed to me, DH isn't much of a dancer, and I don't like to dance alone. It was fairly empty when we arrived. The was a group of 4 sitting across from us, and one of the men kept saying "Have a magical day" to everyone that walked by. It was funny to see the reactions, and all I wanted to do was start telling every one "Welcome Home".

My only complaint is they charge an automatic gratuity and it took almost 45 minutes for our server to come back around after our drinks were delivered.

We picked up kids and tried to head off to bed. When we arrived in our room, the murphy bed had not been put down. Now my issue here is that it seems like our room host made up the beds the first night, and all the beds were made up. So here it is the second night, and one bed wasn't made up. Wouldn't they have a passenger list, and know there are 5 people in the room? We only had 4 chocolates as well. It took 2 calls to Housekeeping and a visit to the Cruise Desk to finally get the bed made up. by then it was well after midnight and the kids were exhausted.

The towel animal for the night-

 

[jenpink]

great report

 

[pjzkent]

More of the same, breakfast at Cabanas, kids woke up kind of early.

DS 10 wanted to see the Avengers, DS 8 did not. The 8 yo went off to the lab and DD and I tried to meet up with DH and DS at the movie--it was packed. We stayed about 5 minutes, so DD and I went to do the Midship Detective agency again. She hadn't been able to do much on the previous adventure because her big brother won't let her

We went to EG for lunch, kids did nothing but complain that they wanted to go to Cabanas

After lunch, I went to the spa to hit the treadmill, because I wanted to try out the locker room...Definitely worth it for the products and the elbow room!

Let me tell you, running on the treadmill while looking at the ocean is definitely a challenge. It has its perks though (air conditioning), although a run on the deck is something I won't soon forget.

After a shower, we all went off to see Wishes. I enjoyed this a lot more than the Aladdin show, and the kids seem to like it a lot as well.

After Wishes, we wanted into O'Gills Pub for Giant Jenga, my kids love any kind of game, and that was right up their alley.

One of these days I am going to build one of those!

Back to the AquaDuck for a few runs during the early dinner time, still not that crowded. Also still a little windy.

I think that also was the day we had a medical evacuation, and at some point after lunch the ship came to a dead stop to rendezvous with the US Coast Guard.

Before dinner, we stopped by The Tube for the family dance party. I have to say Disney does throw a good dance party. DS 10 had gone off to the Edge, and was meeting us for dinner. DD 8 is just starting to be shy about having any attention on her, so she completely refused to dance. DH isn't much of one either, but DS 8 and I had a great time. DS 8 is what one of my friends would call an "old soul" and he does what he wants when the mood hits him, and doesn't care what anyone thinks. I did not realize he could bust a move quite so well. Pic is a little blurry, but you get the idea. Doing the robot.

Off to Animator's Palate for the Crush show, the restaurant was well done in Mickey-ish decor. We were seated next to the main entrance, and my only disappointment was the post in front of the monitor. It would be someplace we would frequent at home if it existed. The art on the walls was actually TV screens, and the change to the show was somewhat subtle. Then all of a sudden, Crush was there!



Once again, we had really good food, not that I could tell you what I ate.....
DS and DD8 went to Kids Play after dinner, and DS 10 went back to the Edge. DH and I got to eat our dessert in peace, almost like a real date.

We did get the third degree from the Head server about our meal service, then the third degree from our server about the beverage service. So far, none of our feedback had made any difference in the service. the timing seemed to be a little off, like the table next to us would arrive after us, but their food would come out first, and we would just be getting our dinner as their dessert was being served, even though the service team was the same

DH and I were trying to decide what to do for the rest of the evening, when DS 8 comes running up to us in the lobby all upset because some activity in the Edge scared the pants off of him and he was worried something had happened to us. So much for our date night

We gathered the rest of the kids and went off to bed. Tuesday was a big day! St. Maarten and Pirate Night!

 

[pjzkent]

We arrived in St. Maarten early that morning and headed off to breakfast at Cabanas.

It was hot, muggy, somewhat overcast and windy when we arrived.



We decided to rent a car and tour the island. I did get tickets to the Butterfly Farm because I had read it was better than the one in St. Thomas. I had also read about all the interesting things in St. Maarten, like Maho Beach for the planes and Marigot for shopping.

I reserved with Hertz St. Maarten before we left home. I wanted to rent a sedan, but of course they didn't have any, so we had a Jeep, for about twice the price of the sedan. But it was still cheaper than getting a taxi for all of us. I had read a lot about renting a car, and was worried about our safety. On the St. Maarten side, the cars have a T on the license plate, but not on the French side. The Hertz location was at the end of the pier, so we walked over. The entire walk there the kids are complaining, "I'm hot, I'm thirsty, why can't I just go to the Lab?"

I love to visit new places, and the whole day was supposed to be an adventure. But dragging 3 whiny kids through the July heat in the Caribbean was probably not my best thought out plan....

We get to the rental window, they have my paperwork all ready, and then a guy comes out with a huge key ring of keys, and says, here is the van I will take you to the lot.

DH and kids were lagging behind, and I was not sure if I would be able to figure out how to get back to get them, so I made him wait. No way was I going alone with this guy.....

We go over to this dirt lot that is full of Jeeps, I look, and I see one that is from the French side. I said--I want this one (tourist license plate problem solved). We checked it over, and he hands me the paperwork. "No water in the Jeep" Must not be wet or $250 cleaning fee. That was about the time I realized with all the complaining going on that we were eventually headed to the beach, and forgot to grab towels as we got off the boat

He also said not food or sand. yikes!

Finally get on the road, and boy was I glad we had a Jeep. The roads are in pretty rough shape, I kind of remembered that from the trip we took was back in the 90's that the Dutch side was not as well maintained as the French side. Remember, we weren't using our cells phones because we had really high roaming charges, so we were navigating using an actual MAP!

but we finally made it to the French side-

We made it to the Butterfly Farm just as the Disney Excursion bus did. Oops.
then DS 10 decided that butterflies freaked him out so he stayed inside in the store the whole time.

The other 2 kids loved it. The girls working that day were so good with the kids, and showed them how to attract them with the sugar water. The Disney excursion left after a little while and we mostly had the place to ourselves.





Next stop--THE BEACH!