kjohnson63
Earning My Ears
- Joined
- Jul 14, 2004
- Messages
- 15
Traveled to Orlando via Southwest Airlines. Traveling with mother and two nephews (6 and 11). Our flight was early so we waited a few minutes for the driver from Happy Limo. He was very courteous and got us to Port Canaveral with no problems other than traffic due to construction.
Complete the paperwork before arriving at the Disney Terminal. It just saves time. The lines were long, but move quickly. After check-in we boarded the ship. I'd pre-ordered baskets from Shirley at The Perfect Gift. She's awesome! Easy to work with and found a couple of special items for the nephews. Our stateroom was next to one of my Aunt's and extended family.
We headed up to Topsider's for a quick bite to eat, then off to explore the ship. Checked in at the Oceaneer's Club with the 6 year old nephew convinced that he would not be going, so we told him we were just going to get information. Not a good start since the adults were planning on free time.
The sailaway party on Deck 9 was lots of fun!
Dinner the first night was at the Animator's Palate. We met our servers German and Anina. They were both very nice. The dinner was not too bad. Over the next several days we would make jokes about the sirloin on the menu. It seemed that no matter how it was ordered that it came out well done. They only changed the sauce from day to day. We went to the welcome show. It was very cute! After the show, we headed up to Decks 9 and 10 to explore a little more. The seas were a little rough that night. I remember walking and having one foot cross in front of the other quite by accident.
It was easy to fall asleep.
Day 2 up early for some exercise. Walked six times around Deck 4, then headed up to the spa for a short workout on one of the elliptical trainers. Cool thing about the fitness center is that when you're on the cardio equipment you look down onto the Captain's Bridge.
Took a tour of the Rainforest and immediately signed up. My 6 year old nephew was not being as cooperative as hoped, so I knew that I would need a break. Back to the room, to hookup with the family, then off to Topsiders for breakfast. Lots of choices including lots of healthy stuff, plus to the delight of my nephews, Krispy Kreme donuts!
Our first stop was Key West. I'd been there before on a prior cruise and really enjoyed the time. It was VERY hot! My aunt and I arranged to take the Conch Train Tour before leaving home through Disney. I'm not a big fan of the gather and wait process, but that's how it works. It seemed a little disorganized, but we made it off the ship. Again, it was really hot! We could choose between the mostly enclosed trolley or the open train. So off we go on the train. Maybe it was just out guide, but for most of us it was a real sleeper. In fact, the 6 year old nephew fell asleep several times. I was happy for that to end.
We quickly headed to Margaritaville. Afterward, I did some shopping at Fast Buck Freddies. Found several really cool things that I had shipped home. Back to the ship. I quickly made my way to the Rainforest. This is a must. I paid for the week and it was worth every cent. My favorite was the Citrus Steam.
Dinner this night was at Parrot Kay. It was good to see German and Anina. Anina had one more cruise, then she was headed back to South Africa to open a bistro. She'll do great!
Tonight was Tenderloin. I was a little hesitant after the sirloin, but it was tender and delicious.
I had so many good desserts on this cruise that I can't possibly name them all. I highly recommend the Grand Marnier Souffle and the Warm Chocoate Lava Cake.
Day 3 was a day at sea. Again up early for exercise around Deck 4 and the spa. After breakfast at Topsiders, my cousin and I head for Jackpot Bingo. It was a little disorganized. Just seemed to take a long time to get going. I loved Que and Ang though, they did a great job together.
While we were at Bingo, my mother took the 6 year old to the Oceaneer's Club along with my Aunt. Apparently, it got ugly. They had to pry his hands off the hand rails. So, the hope of having free time without a whining 6 year old dimmed.
I learned that my youngest nephew is very spoiled and commonly throws fits and trantrums. I was embarassed for my brother. The 11 year old was doing fine on his own or hanging out with my 15 year old cousin.
I think we watched Pirates of the Carribean in the afternoon. Jeez, I should have done a better job of journaling while I was on the cruise. It all seems to be a blur now.
This night was our formal night at Lumiere's. I only brought a shirt and tie as I knew the rest of the family would not dress up. I normally don't turn down a chance to wear my tux. Oh well.
After dinner, was the Golden Mickey's. A fun show. They have some very talented folks in the cast.
After the show we headed up to deck 9 for some pizza and coke. Yes, the soft drinks, juice, tea is great! I only encountered lines a couple of times. Seemed that folks had a hard time grasping the two people could be at the soda machine together.
Day 4 got up early to check email and exercise. I chose the internet option for the week. I like to stay connected, plus had to keep up with things at work.
We tendered onto Grand Cayman as a group. I didn't really see any great deals on stuff, but I don't really wear jewelry. i'm also not a big souvenir kind of guy.
Then it was time for the Stingray City tour. This was arranged through Disney, so more gather and wait. Not fun in the heat! While in line the 6 year old starts inquiring more about our activities. I explained we were going to a turtle farm then to swim with stingrays. He asked how deep the water was and I told him it was waist deep. He then said he was scared and couldn't swim in water over his head and he didn't want to go. I tried to calm him down since the rest of the family headed out for 7-mile beach. Seems as though things were running late with the tour operator. 30 minutes later we walked to where the buses were located. We drove to the Turtle Farm. I actually enjoyed this as did the nephews. They both live on farms and love animals. Yes, they have different mothers and both are divorced from my brother. Anyway, you can pickup young turtles, so they both were thrilled with that. Then it was off to Hell. It's really a hole in the wall with a field of lava like stuff. I quickly sent off a postcard from there to my brother. The postcard said I survived Hell. My notation said I'm there!
I told my nephew that if we had some cheese we could open up a buffet to go along with his whining. Off we go to Stingray City. We hop on the boat and head out about 30 minutes. The three of us get in and the 6 year old is scared of the waves and the stingrays. So, he gets back on the boat. Our handler (Ron) and photographer (Baker) were really cool. After a while, the 6 year old decided to get back in. This time we did much better. He did snorkel and thought it was cool until he got salt water inside his mask and it burned his eyes. So it was back to the boat.
My 11 year old nephew and I did the photo thing. They let you hold and kiss a stingray. Being the good uncle, I went back to the boat and got the 6 year old for a picture session. It turned out okay. Then it was back to land and back on the bus to return to the dock. The tender line was long as it was late in the day. I was happy to be back on board. We did not have lunch, so we quickly headed up to Deck 9 for burgers. Yum! Not your typical assembly line burger. Very tasty and thick. We had to have a treat at Scoops too.
As a 40 year old single male, the day with 2 kids wore me out, so I headed to the Rainforest. We skipped the restaurant dinner. After dinner we hooked up with the rest of the gang and headed to Hercules. I was looking forward to this show, but honestly was not too impressed. Just a very silly show. The two sidekicks for Haddes were hilarious.
A couple of us stopped in the 80s night for a bit. My cousin was a little ticked that I didn't feel like dancing. I didn't dance to a lot of the music in the 80s, so I didn't feel like starting. I did tell her that I was actually in a dancing frenzy in my seat. She was not amused.
Complete the paperwork before arriving at the Disney Terminal. It just saves time. The lines were long, but move quickly. After check-in we boarded the ship. I'd pre-ordered baskets from Shirley at The Perfect Gift. She's awesome! Easy to work with and found a couple of special items for the nephews. Our stateroom was next to one of my Aunt's and extended family.
We headed up to Topsider's for a quick bite to eat, then off to explore the ship. Checked in at the Oceaneer's Club with the 6 year old nephew convinced that he would not be going, so we told him we were just going to get information. Not a good start since the adults were planning on free time.
The sailaway party on Deck 9 was lots of fun!
Dinner the first night was at the Animator's Palate. We met our servers German and Anina. They were both very nice. The dinner was not too bad. Over the next several days we would make jokes about the sirloin on the menu. It seemed that no matter how it was ordered that it came out well done. They only changed the sauce from day to day. We went to the welcome show. It was very cute! After the show, we headed up to Decks 9 and 10 to explore a little more. The seas were a little rough that night. I remember walking and having one foot cross in front of the other quite by accident.
It was easy to fall asleep.
Day 2 up early for some exercise. Walked six times around Deck 4, then headed up to the spa for a short workout on one of the elliptical trainers. Cool thing about the fitness center is that when you're on the cardio equipment you look down onto the Captain's Bridge.
Took a tour of the Rainforest and immediately signed up. My 6 year old nephew was not being as cooperative as hoped, so I knew that I would need a break. Back to the room, to hookup with the family, then off to Topsiders for breakfast. Lots of choices including lots of healthy stuff, plus to the delight of my nephews, Krispy Kreme donuts!
Our first stop was Key West. I'd been there before on a prior cruise and really enjoyed the time. It was VERY hot! My aunt and I arranged to take the Conch Train Tour before leaving home through Disney. I'm not a big fan of the gather and wait process, but that's how it works. It seemed a little disorganized, but we made it off the ship. Again, it was really hot! We could choose between the mostly enclosed trolley or the open train. So off we go on the train. Maybe it was just out guide, but for most of us it was a real sleeper. In fact, the 6 year old nephew fell asleep several times. I was happy for that to end.
We quickly headed to Margaritaville. Afterward, I did some shopping at Fast Buck Freddies. Found several really cool things that I had shipped home. Back to the ship. I quickly made my way to the Rainforest. This is a must. I paid for the week and it was worth every cent. My favorite was the Citrus Steam.
Dinner this night was at Parrot Kay. It was good to see German and Anina. Anina had one more cruise, then she was headed back to South Africa to open a bistro. She'll do great!
Tonight was Tenderloin. I was a little hesitant after the sirloin, but it was tender and delicious.
I had so many good desserts on this cruise that I can't possibly name them all. I highly recommend the Grand Marnier Souffle and the Warm Chocoate Lava Cake.
Day 3 was a day at sea. Again up early for exercise around Deck 4 and the spa. After breakfast at Topsiders, my cousin and I head for Jackpot Bingo. It was a little disorganized. Just seemed to take a long time to get going. I loved Que and Ang though, they did a great job together.
While we were at Bingo, my mother took the 6 year old to the Oceaneer's Club along with my Aunt. Apparently, it got ugly. They had to pry his hands off the hand rails. So, the hope of having free time without a whining 6 year old dimmed.
I learned that my youngest nephew is very spoiled and commonly throws fits and trantrums. I was embarassed for my brother. The 11 year old was doing fine on his own or hanging out with my 15 year old cousin.
I think we watched Pirates of the Carribean in the afternoon. Jeez, I should have done a better job of journaling while I was on the cruise. It all seems to be a blur now.
This night was our formal night at Lumiere's. I only brought a shirt and tie as I knew the rest of the family would not dress up. I normally don't turn down a chance to wear my tux. Oh well.
After dinner, was the Golden Mickey's. A fun show. They have some very talented folks in the cast.
After the show we headed up to deck 9 for some pizza and coke. Yes, the soft drinks, juice, tea is great! I only encountered lines a couple of times. Seemed that folks had a hard time grasping the two people could be at the soda machine together.
Day 4 got up early to check email and exercise. I chose the internet option for the week. I like to stay connected, plus had to keep up with things at work.
We tendered onto Grand Cayman as a group. I didn't really see any great deals on stuff, but I don't really wear jewelry. i'm also not a big souvenir kind of guy.
Then it was time for the Stingray City tour. This was arranged through Disney, so more gather and wait. Not fun in the heat! While in line the 6 year old starts inquiring more about our activities. I explained we were going to a turtle farm then to swim with stingrays. He asked how deep the water was and I told him it was waist deep. He then said he was scared and couldn't swim in water over his head and he didn't want to go. I tried to calm him down since the rest of the family headed out for 7-mile beach. Seems as though things were running late with the tour operator. 30 minutes later we walked to where the buses were located. We drove to the Turtle Farm. I actually enjoyed this as did the nephews. They both live on farms and love animals. Yes, they have different mothers and both are divorced from my brother. Anyway, you can pickup young turtles, so they both were thrilled with that. Then it was off to Hell. It's really a hole in the wall with a field of lava like stuff. I quickly sent off a postcard from there to my brother. The postcard said I survived Hell. My notation said I'm there!
I told my nephew that if we had some cheese we could open up a buffet to go along with his whining. Off we go to Stingray City. We hop on the boat and head out about 30 minutes. The three of us get in and the 6 year old is scared of the waves and the stingrays. So, he gets back on the boat. Our handler (Ron) and photographer (Baker) were really cool. After a while, the 6 year old decided to get back in. This time we did much better. He did snorkel and thought it was cool until he got salt water inside his mask and it burned his eyes. So it was back to the boat.
My 11 year old nephew and I did the photo thing. They let you hold and kiss a stingray. Being the good uncle, I went back to the boat and got the 6 year old for a picture session. It turned out okay. Then it was back to land and back on the bus to return to the dock. The tender line was long as it was late in the day. I was happy to be back on board. We did not have lunch, so we quickly headed up to Deck 9 for burgers. Yum! Not your typical assembly line burger. Very tasty and thick. We had to have a treat at Scoops too.
As a 40 year old single male, the day with 2 kids wore me out, so I headed to the Rainforest. We skipped the restaurant dinner. After dinner we hooked up with the rest of the gang and headed to Hercules. I was looking forward to this show, but honestly was not too impressed. Just a very silly show. The two sidekicks for Haddes were hilarious.
A couple of us stopped in the 80s night for a bit. My cousin was a little ticked that I didn't feel like dancing. I didn't dance to a lot of the music in the 80s, so I didn't feel like starting. I did tell her that I was actually in a dancing frenzy in my seat. She was not amused.
but will you ever have children of you own??? 
for that!
