2/14 7-day Western, Part 4

[Magic_Fan_Bruce]

Cast: Myself (Bruce-43), DW(Sandy-39), DD(Amanda-11), and DD(Jennifer-8).

Now were starting our first full day on the ship. It’s Sunday and the port-of-call is Key West, but not until noon. I awoke at my regular time (6am) and couldn’t go back to sleep. I normally love to sleep in on weekends, but knowing there’s an empty ship to walk around in at this time of the morning, and a sunrise at sea happening within the half hour, I decided to get up for a stroll. Amanda (DD11) was awake and wanted to come along when I told her I wanted to be topside for the sunrise. On your list of things to do, be sure to include watching a sunrise. I know waking up that early while on vacation seems insane, but it’s great walking around an empty ship, and the sunrises are often more breathtaking than the sunsets, and as it turned out this was very much the case for this cruise because of the weather.

Amanda and I walked around, visiting the Deck 10 Forward area which Amanda loves because of the high wind that is usually there while underway. We took pictures of her and empty areas of the ship that are normally very crowded. Then watched and photographed the sunrise. Topsiders didn’t open until 7:30am but the coffee station had Danish out so I snacked on that (that’s cruising for you, it’s only 7am on our first full day, and I’m already snacking!). We headed back forward on deck 9 and when we were passing the Goofy pool the area music started up. Well Amanda saw an empty stage, and heard good dancing music, so she went up on the stage and started her one person show/party. Now being our daughter, she inherited the sum of her mothers and my dancing abilities, and put tighter our dancing abilities equals zero. But she was having fun, and I really had no place to go, so I stayed (for the first 45 minutes anyway). For those of you who were on our cruise, yes that was my daughter on the Goofy stage every morning, rain or shine, dancing. She would run up the stairs beside the stage between songs, so when the next one started, she could make an “Entrance” onto the stage. Guests started to awake and would walk-by and smile, and stop to watch and smile (or was it laugh), and everyone was having a good time, but I was getting hungry (I’m cruising and it’s been over 30 minutes since I’ve had anything to eat) so I went to the breakfast buffet while Amanda danced. She was still dancing when I came back by after breakfast, so I told her I was going back to the cabin. 30 minutes later when I came back up with the rest of the family, she wasn’t on the stage, I thought she might be getting something to eat, but then I noticed it was between songs. Sure enough, the next song started and Amanda made her entrance to the stage skipping to the beat down on of the side stairs. She saw me with her Mom and sister, waved, and kept dancing. I waved back, and went with the rest of the family for breakfast (okay, I’ve had one snack and two meals and it’s only 9am, cruise eating schedule is back on track!).

While walking back to our cabin after breakfast, we went through the Atrium and I decided to stop by Guest Services to check on something. I’ve noticed on past cruises the CM’s have “Mini-Navigators” they refer to when ever they need to know what’s happening. I asked the CM there if she had any extra, and she promptly pulled her mini-Navigator out of her shirt pocket and handed it to me. After she assured me she could get another one for herself, I thanked her and left with my new helpful and easy to carry “Mini-Navigator”. The “Mini” is a one quarter scale copy of the Personal Navigator, clearly printed and easy to carry. I thought it was great and I’d have to get one of these each day for the rest of our cruise. Then my eyes reminded me that I’m over 40 and sometimes bigger is better. Even though the “Mini” is clearly printed, the print is still ¼ the size of the original which has some small type in it to start with. So I didn’t get any more copies of the “Mini”, but for those of you with excellent eyesight, this could be very handy.

I played Pictionary that morning with my DD’s. Each team takes a turn, if you guess right with 60 seconds you get a point, if not all the other teams get a chance to guess and whoever gets it right gets the point. We played three rounds and our grand total of points was 0. My mind works nothing like either of my daughters, even though my wife promises we are actually related. Of course DD11 was convinced our loss was totally the fault of DD8 (as all things are), but we had a good time, and if you have a large group this would be great fun.

After the ship had docked at Key West, we had an activity planned before heading to shore, The Bridge Tour. We didn’t start sailing with DCL until after 9/11 so we have never had the chance to do the bridge tour. It’s free and schedule every 30 minutes on days the ship is tied up. You just have to schedule your tour with the Excursion desk. I thought the tour was good, but I wonder if guests had been allowed to walk along the Bridge Overlook at all times before 9/11, that would be great to be in there while the ship was underway.

Having grown up in Florida I’ve been to the keys and Key West many times, usually for dive trips. I’ve never been much into the party scene, so the other keys have always been more attractive to me, but Key West is a great stop over for conch fritters and key lime pie (or key lime anything). In my opinion the weather for a visit to Key West was perfect. For those of you that have been there know it can be unbearably hot most the year. Today it was overcast, cool (low 70’s) and breezy, perfect for strolling around.

That night was “Who Wants to Be a Mouseketeer”. We didn’t go, but someone did win the 7-day cruise!

That night: Rough Seas!!!


Bruce

 

[DMOMof3]

Bruce

For those of you who were on our cruise, yes that was my daughter on the Goofy stage every morning, rain or shine, dancing. She would run up the stairs beside the stage between songs, so when the next one started, she could make an “Entrance” onto the stage. Guests started to awake and would walk-by and smile, and stop to watch and smile (or was it laugh),

I was on of those early morning risers also, I did smile as I walked by. Your daughter seemed to be thoroughly enjoying herself.

Lynn

 

[Magic_Fan_Bruce]

Lynn,
Sorry we didn't get a chance to meet up with you and the other Dis'ers. With the sail-away party being washed indoors, I missed everyone. I did see the hats on occassion during the cruise, but always at a distance.

How was your first cruise with DCL?

Bruce

 

[cjsbmiller]

Was your daughter the cute one with the blond hair- I think she might have a future in show biz- If it was her anyway- the one I am thinking of was dancing every time I walked by that stage in the morning. My daughter actually had her seat chosen at Who wants to be a mouseketeer- of course she is 7 so I went up with her. We were right after the cruise winner We made it to question 6 and then got one wrong- but my daughter did walk away with $80 which she shared with her 6 year old brother. They spent it all on board no problem!!

 

[Magic_Fan_Bruce]

Amanda would love to be in entertainment some day, but she has little rhythm and can’t carry a tune (both of which she inherited from her mother and I). We hope to get her into piano lessons soon so she can hopefully develop some musical skills. Her sister, Jennifer has a nice singing voice and can somewhat dance, but she is shy and has little desire to get up in front of people (unless her sister is going to be up there with her).


Bruce