Aruba
Earning My Ears
- Joined
- Jan 29, 2002
What a wonderful cruise.. we flew down the Friday night before.. best advise! We stayed in the Hyatt and it was a lovely hotel! we spent a wonderful night there.. got up and walked around the airport watching all those people leave and we were just beginning 
. We met our town car (Tiffany Town Car) in the valet area of the Hyatt and off we went at 10:00 am... the ride over was great and THEN we were stopped at PC.. we were left off with all the other arrivees in a lot next to the boat..Thank god it was a beautiful day... we were ALL just sitting there and a few members from the Carnival boat were with us and said it may be a bomb scare and they will make us wait here could be up to 3 hours!! No one was talking with info though.. Everyone was pushed into this lot - so we stood there with luggage for about 30 minutes, then the PC people came over with water - now i got nervous.. but within 10 minutes we heard them say to the officers directing traffic that Disney just openned up again, so we all took off. Thank god for wheels on the luggage! They disney people were just coming down the road in a golf cart and they were very concerned for us.. wanted to know if the DCL bus dropped us off, we said no we took a town car and they moved on. Yikes! But another disney member told us that there was an unclaimed bag on the carnival boat and when that happens they close the road down. He was very nice and offered to pull my bag0 but I told him I better start the exercize session right now! We proceeded to the boat and got group 7...now at this point I am a little worried.. we have not started out good. I am thinking Gorup 7 we will be here all afternoon.. Don;t worry we were on board with in 25 minutes. they just group them every 3-4 minutes so that there is not a mad rush... it went by very fast. We checked in thru the Castaway Club line and we were off!! We ate at Parrot Cay and it was wonderful... we were thrilled. We strolled around a bit, since we were travelling with just our oldest, as a HS graduation gift we had no children to sign in at clubs. We got to go to our stateroom 7123 at 1:30... I had ordered the Bon Voyage Package so it was in our room waiting.. Champagne was great and chocolate covered strawberries were delightful! DD loved all the little items for her scrap book! The best was I had taken the advise here and shipped down some flavored water ( our favorite) and it was waiting in the room for us! Great idea!!!! Sail away party was great and off we went! We were lucky and had the 6:00 dinner time. Thank goodness any earlier it would have been a rush to eat! We were nervous about our who we would be seated with.. since the other 2 times we sailed we had a table of 5 ( just us) and a table of 9 ( our friends came with us!) so we were delighted to have 2 other great people to chat with all week. Jerry and Louise thank you!
Key West:
Key west was a beautiful day in the morning and early afternoon. Most excursions were cancelled due to a cold front coming thru.. we had planned ot just walk around and go to the southern point.. We started off fine, but by mid afternoon it was spitting rain and just before we got back to the boat the sky oppened up.. we were wet! But we had fun. I am glad I saw Key west but would not go back in a hurry. I found it just a bit run down and touristy... just shops everywhere... But we got to see it and that was the point. I have to say I loved when the docking time was later - we docked at noon and we were able to get up do our walk and eat and then watch the docking process I felt not as rushed as with the days that we docked first thing in the morning!
SEA DAY
We just hung around .. it was another sunny day and we were up on deck 10 by the adult pool for awhile. but the wind was wild.. so we went down to the secret deck 7 veranda ( which is why we picked the inside cabin on deck 7) and we sat and read and could not believe the sun we got that day!!! some red souls that night!
GRAND CAYMANS
This was the tendure place.. Now I think know one should board or leave a ship in the middle of the ocean by a little boat on a big boats side.. Yikes! But it was an adventure. the ocean was calm enough for us all to get out and do excursions. We had planned on going to Sea Grape beach and just enjoy the view and sea... it was easy enough to grab a taxi an go there- everyone else was there too.. it was not bad, we had intended to just sit, but do to the beaches incline and the wind we were sand belted and HAD to purchase a seat to sit on - we stayed for 3 hours and then decided to go back to the boat area and do some shopping. I really wanted to bring back family gifts and especially for my 2 other DD's that were staying with their grandparents. But I have to be honest- shopping for family was a nightmare. Unless I wanted jewelry there was nothing else here... diamonds, diamonds - I love them but they were not getting diamonds. We tendured back to the boat around 3 and found a place at the pool and had a wonderful afternnoon.
COSTA MAYA
this was the best. again another great day of sun. WE pulled in around 9-ish and the other 2 boats ( Carnival and RC) were already there.. it was great fun to see us come in. We had made reservations for the ruins with Naice Choice - other wise knows as David and Ivan... I chanced it and I was glad we did they were wonderful giving us more history and info than I could have asked for... We were to meet one hour after we docked.. so we got off and got our ticket to the fishing village which was a scream! I was so glad to be able to show and experience this village with my DD. It was a flash in the past and a simply time that we do not get to see. They only got electricity 3-4 years ago! We were off seeing Mexico and the ruins in no time and it was the highlight of the cruise. It did not disappoint me. Doing the ruins with our oldest DD was great and our other DD's would not have had a great time as we did.. it was alot of listening and learning and walking.. Not really for the young. Although I am sure they looked and said wow and then it was over.. There was a couple with a young child in a stroller and I felt bad because she ended up sitting down and not climbing up to see the next level with her child. I am sure she enjoyed it, but being able to invision this society was wonderful... We were brought back to the dock area, which by the way was wonderful they have a pool right there for all the ships to use... The shopping here was not that wonderful many little stores and all the same stuff. no prices anywhere you just tell them how much money you have..no kidding that was what they asked us everywhere we went. I would say, this is nice how much and they would say how much you have to spend... I just walked away... other than that jewlery stores again!!! Yikes!
CASTAWAY CAY:
Hey another beautiful day... oh yea the best day! we made all our ports and with sun! We were able to do the adult beach this time and it was lovely... just lovely. I wish I had taken the bike ride, but sitting reading a book at this lovely location was perfect. We stayed there for 3 hours and then decided to eat at Cookies instead of the adult beach so we left - we ate and then shopped .. again not may little sizes like SMALL... either Larges in adult sizes or tiny sizes for babies... but we managed to pick up small items for the girls.
OVERALL
1. We had an inside stateroom and although it was fine...I found I missed the light! I don;t think I would do this again. For 3 of us it was ok... but I need to see outside and I missed the split bathroom!
2. FOOD... well it was ok, I ate and ate..so it could not have been that bad. Some things were better than others. I have to admit, some of the items either I read them wrong or prepared a little differently than what was said. I just can't figure that out. Our servers were fine... They made the week fun. The pizza was the best and it served us well all week! I have never eaten so much fruit! Pinapple was great! We lunched in parrot cay and found that better than topsidders buffet.. that was not good at all. we left there one day and had a burger at mid deck!
3. SHOWS... oh they were great.. I loved going to them each night. Gary Delana was wonderful and we even went to see him one night in Rockin D's... we went there a few times but left - I do not like people pulling me up to dance, if I want to dance I will...
I will take another cruise, but I will be taking the 4 day. I think that is just the right size. You get a chance to do everything. I know we will return with our other 2 DD's and they will get a chance to experience the new items.. the DIve in Movie screen is GREAT and I love the new Ocean Quest space they have for 10-14 year olds.. this was a great plus and needed! SO we will return! OVer all a very good time and how thankful we were for good weather! That makes 3 trips with great weather! Now if only the room would stop swaying
..
. We met our town car (Tiffany Town Car) in the valet area of the Hyatt and off we went at 10:00 am... the ride over was great and THEN we were stopped at PC.. we were left off with all the other arrivees in a lot next to the boat..Thank god it was a beautiful day... we were ALL just sitting there and a few members from the Carnival boat were with us and said it may be a bomb scare and they will make us wait here could be up to 3 hours!! No one was talking with info though.. Everyone was pushed into this lot - so we stood there with luggage for about 30 minutes, then the PC people came over with water - now i got nervous.. but within 10 minutes we heard them say to the officers directing traffic that Disney just openned up again, so we all took off. Thank god for wheels on the luggage! They disney people were just coming down the road in a golf cart and they were very concerned for us.. wanted to know if the DCL bus dropped us off, we said no we took a town car and they moved on. Yikes! But another disney member told us that there was an unclaimed bag on the carnival boat and when that happens they close the road down. He was very nice and offered to pull my bag0 but I told him I better start the exercize session right now! We proceeded to the boat and got group 7...now at this point I am a little worried.. we have not started out good. I am thinking Gorup 7 we will be here all afternoon.. Don;t worry we were on board with in 25 minutes. they just group them every 3-4 minutes so that there is not a mad rush... it went by very fast. We checked in thru the Castaway Club line and we were off!! We ate at Parrot Cay and it was wonderful... we were thrilled. We strolled around a bit, since we were travelling with just our oldest, as a HS graduation gift we had no children to sign in at clubs. We got to go to our stateroom 7123 at 1:30... I had ordered the Bon Voyage Package so it was in our room waiting.. Champagne was great and chocolate covered strawberries were delightful! DD loved all the little items for her scrap book! The best was I had taken the advise here and shipped down some flavored water ( our favorite) and it was waiting in the room for us! Great idea!!!! Sail away party was great and off we went! We were lucky and had the 6:00 dinner time. Thank goodness any earlier it would have been a rush to eat! We were nervous about our who we would be seated with.. since the other 2 times we sailed we had a table of 5 ( just us) and a table of 9 ( our friends came with us!) so we were delighted to have 2 other great people to chat with all week. Jerry and Louise thank you! Key West:
Key west was a beautiful day in the morning and early afternoon. Most excursions were cancelled due to a cold front coming thru.. we had planned ot just walk around and go to the southern point.. We started off fine, but by mid afternoon it was spitting rain and just before we got back to the boat the sky oppened up.. we were wet! But we had fun. I am glad I saw Key west but would not go back in a hurry. I found it just a bit run down and touristy... just shops everywhere... But we got to see it and that was the point. I have to say I loved when the docking time was later - we docked at noon and we were able to get up do our walk and eat and then watch the docking process I felt not as rushed as with the days that we docked first thing in the morning!
SEA DAY
We just hung around .. it was another sunny day and we were up on deck 10 by the adult pool for awhile. but the wind was wild.. so we went down to the secret deck 7 veranda ( which is why we picked the inside cabin on deck 7) and we sat and read and could not believe the sun we got that day!!! some red souls that night!
GRAND CAYMANS
This was the tendure place.. Now I think know one should board or leave a ship in the middle of the ocean by a little boat on a big boats side.. Yikes! But it was an adventure. the ocean was calm enough for us all to get out and do excursions. We had planned on going to Sea Grape beach and just enjoy the view and sea... it was easy enough to grab a taxi an go there- everyone else was there too.. it was not bad, we had intended to just sit, but do to the beaches incline and the wind we were sand belted and HAD to purchase a seat to sit on - we stayed for 3 hours and then decided to go back to the boat area and do some shopping. I really wanted to bring back family gifts and especially for my 2 other DD's that were staying with their grandparents. But I have to be honest- shopping for family was a nightmare. Unless I wanted jewelry there was nothing else here... diamonds, diamonds - I love them but they were not getting diamonds. We tendured back to the boat around 3 and found a place at the pool and had a wonderful afternnoon.
COSTA MAYA
this was the best. again another great day of sun. WE pulled in around 9-ish and the other 2 boats ( Carnival and RC) were already there.. it was great fun to see us come in. We had made reservations for the ruins with Naice Choice - other wise knows as David and Ivan... I chanced it and I was glad we did they were wonderful giving us more history and info than I could have asked for... We were to meet one hour after we docked.. so we got off and got our ticket to the fishing village which was a scream! I was so glad to be able to show and experience this village with my DD. It was a flash in the past and a simply time that we do not get to see. They only got electricity 3-4 years ago! We were off seeing Mexico and the ruins in no time and it was the highlight of the cruise. It did not disappoint me. Doing the ruins with our oldest DD was great and our other DD's would not have had a great time as we did.. it was alot of listening and learning and walking.. Not really for the young. Although I am sure they looked and said wow and then it was over.. There was a couple with a young child in a stroller and I felt bad because she ended up sitting down and not climbing up to see the next level with her child. I am sure she enjoyed it, but being able to invision this society was wonderful... We were brought back to the dock area, which by the way was wonderful they have a pool right there for all the ships to use... The shopping here was not that wonderful many little stores and all the same stuff. no prices anywhere you just tell them how much money you have..no kidding that was what they asked us everywhere we went. I would say, this is nice how much and they would say how much you have to spend... I just walked away... other than that jewlery stores again!!! Yikes!
CASTAWAY CAY:
Hey another beautiful day... oh yea the best day! we made all our ports and with sun! We were able to do the adult beach this time and it was lovely... just lovely. I wish I had taken the bike ride, but sitting reading a book at this lovely location was perfect. We stayed there for 3 hours and then decided to eat at Cookies instead of the adult beach so we left - we ate and then shopped .. again not may little sizes like SMALL... either Larges in adult sizes or tiny sizes for babies... but we managed to pick up small items for the girls.
OVERALL
1. We had an inside stateroom and although it was fine...I found I missed the light! I don;t think I would do this again. For 3 of us it was ok... but I need to see outside and I missed the split bathroom!
2. FOOD... well it was ok, I ate and ate..so it could not have been that bad. Some things were better than others. I have to admit, some of the items either I read them wrong or prepared a little differently than what was said. I just can't figure that out. Our servers were fine... They made the week fun. The pizza was the best and it served us well all week! I have never eaten so much fruit! Pinapple was great! We lunched in parrot cay and found that better than topsidders buffet.. that was not good at all. we left there one day and had a burger at mid deck!
3. SHOWS... oh they were great.. I loved going to them each night. Gary Delana was wonderful and we even went to see him one night in Rockin D's... we went there a few times but left - I do not like people pulling me up to dance, if I want to dance I will...
I will take another cruise, but I will be taking the 4 day. I think that is just the right size. You get a chance to do everything. I know we will return with our other 2 DD's and they will get a chance to experience the new items.. the DIve in Movie screen is GREAT and I love the new Ocean Quest space they have for 10-14 year olds.. this was a great plus and needed! SO we will return! OVer all a very good time and how thankful we were for good weather! That makes 3 trips with great weather! Now if only the room would stop swaying
..
