What a day. We did our normal thing of being first off the boat. We literally were the third family on the ground. The wind was extreme. With temps in the sixties when we got off the ship, it was cold. We got chairs and a hammock in front of the kids play area. We did not wait for a shuttle, but hustled to get their on foot. Now here's a lesson learned, about a hundred yards further down the family beach it was pretty calm and on the beach and in the water. This area is near bathrooms and the volleyball net. It was high tide so the kids had to swim to the play area. They were pretty content playing in the sand as dry was one key to staying warm. We checked the kids into club about 11:00 for two hours. I ate dw did not. I chowed down on the ribs and chicken (DCL is great for carnivores!). DW and I gave snorkeling a shot. We brought our own stuff. Between rougher water than I like, a leaking snorkel and fewer fish than I expected it was a bit of a bust. We shared our hammock with neighbors when we left so when we got back I decided not to take it back and checked in with the kids. I loved having dcl take care of feeding them! Two of three dd's wanted to come back so we told the third one more hour and then we would go biking. Paranoid dw made us reserve floats and bikes ahead of time can I tell you DON"T do that. You'll get'em if and when you want them without having to reserve them. Jim was filming all day and I went and checked that out for a while. I watched Jim with his own son he was pretty neat with him. We got set to bike and decided it would be better if dd 5 rode behind me rather than having her try to keep up with us with training wheels. We had a fun little ride that took about ifity minutes. We came back to LOW tide and it was fun for the kids to see the dramatic difference. By this time the weather was very pleasant. we hung on the beach for another forty minutes then did some quick shopping on our way back to the ship. We had to hustle as our surial appointment was @ 4:00. We got everyone showered. Another glitch. Clubs are closed from 3:00 to 4:00. I showed up right at 4:00 and found myself in line to check kids in that was tren people long. As usual the club ran a little behind and did not open to take kids until at least five after. I was missing my FUN!! Finally got kids in. Hurried to the surial. The key to the surial is to listen and remember the DIRECTIONS. Seriously, if I want to maximize the experience I would bring something to write on as your hear about everything available. I was disapointed that they have got to just one mud. Needless to say we expreiemented with a variety of things and in a variety of ways, nuff said. I think it is a must for that alone. We tried to contain our mud and water, but that is a bit of a trick. After our time was up we huried to watch the kids show which was cute and our girls loved it and having us in the audience. After that we picked the kids up for dinner. I have to tell you as we ate that night I was feeeling emotions I thought I never would. We had had such a delightful experience and now, it was ending. We loved those CM that we had come to know and would miss all that they were. After dinner the kids went to the two of three kids went to the variety show with us. After the show the kids went to clubs and got GREAT hats for being in the clubs. They spent some time taking pictures of their friends and then came back for bed as we had an early morning. PAcking and getting everything ready for debarkation was quite an undertaking and a bit stressful
The next day we forced ourselves up and got ready. We hit the early breakfast which is one reason to have late seating so the last day you get one more hour on the ship whether it be in bed or not. Anyway we took our carryons with us to breakfast. Breakfast was our fianl good-bye to our EXCELLENT serving staff. I was amazed at the fact that we literally went from breakfast to outside the terminal in minutes! Customs was practically a joke. I am not complaining, but it certainly didn't accomplish anything for the US government besdies paying a few people to take our declarations card adn say OK. I didn't have to show ID or anything. We then had to wait at least a half hour, becasue we weere so early off, for our limo driver Chris then off to the airport. The worst part of DCL IS LEAVING. THE SECOND WORST IS THE FIRST REAL MEAL AFTER YOU LEAVE CUZ IT AIN'T QUITE UP TO PAR. tHANKS FOR ALL THE HELP PREPARING FELLOW DISERS AND I HOPE I HAVE BEEN ABLE TO HELP A FEW MYSELF.
The next day we forced ourselves up and got ready. We hit the early breakfast which is one reason to have late seating so the last day you get one more hour on the ship whether it be in bed or not. Anyway we took our carryons with us to breakfast. Breakfast was our fianl good-bye to our EXCELLENT serving staff. I was amazed at the fact that we literally went from breakfast to outside the terminal in minutes! Customs was practically a joke. I am not complaining, but it certainly didn't accomplish anything for the US government besdies paying a few people to take our declarations card adn say OK. I didn't have to show ID or anything. We then had to wait at least a half hour, becasue we weere so early off, for our limo driver Chris then off to the airport. The worst part of DCL IS LEAVING. THE SECOND WORST IS THE FIRST REAL MEAL AFTER YOU LEAVE CUZ IT AIN'T QUITE UP TO PAR. tHANKS FOR ALL THE HELP PREPARING FELLOW DISERS AND I HOPE I HAVE BEEN ABLE TO HELP A FEW MYSELF.
