21 day trip report LIVE from Amtrak, Disneyland & EB Repo through the Panama Canal!
- Thread starter poohmomof5
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poohmomof5
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Jan 3, 2007
- Messages
- 1,610
Since we left the canal a little bit late, it looked as if we were going to be a little late pulling into Cartagena and when I woke up, it was pouring rain. I didnt wake the kids up until about 8:30 as we were supposed to be at our excursion meeting place at 9:30am and it did look as if the weather was clearing a bit. They had breakfast and I got all our stuff put together for the excursion. We did the Las Americas Resort excursion. This is the only Disney excursion we had planned and were really looking forward to it. We did split up though as Jay and Andrew wanted to do a more historical tour and the rest of us thought a day at the beach would be more fun.
We passed some islands and pulled into port. We waited around the meeting place for about 30 minutes before they cleared the ship. We peaked out the windows as we headed out and saw an awesome display from the Columbian people. I couldnt wait to get outside. All of the excursions we trying to leave as once and it was a little hectic trying to get off the ship and stay with our tour group. Once we got off the ship we were greeted with such warmth, it was amazing. They had people lined up with fruits, balloons, pinwheels, fans and all sorts of free things to give to us. There were at least 30-50 reporters and camera people taping everything. They had dancers and school children lined up as well. It was a fun feeling and a fantastic greeting. We were put on a small bus and given a driving tour of the city on the way to the resort. The city is beautiful and very old. We did see some interesting sights, one was a taxi driver peeing in the bushes. The other was a person giving us the bird as we drove by. He was yelling something too, but I couldnt hear and I am sure I dont want to know what he was saying. Otherwise, most people were waving and seemed happy to see us. The fort was HUGE and awesome and they even let us get out and take a few pictures. There were lots of vendors selling everything from Columbian coins to hats, sunglasses, jewelry etc. One guy was even walking around with a sloth to take pictures with. It was only supposed to be a 1 minute picture stop and I got a little carried away by the beauty and the people and almost missed getting back on. YIKES! I figured they didnt want to be with 4 of my kids without an adult, so they probably would have come back for me. We then drove past the mangroves and really old homes. There were lots of flowers and vines and all in all it is a pretty and historical city. One thing we all noticed was the amount of dogs everywhere, along with vets and pet stores. They clearly like their pets here!
We then got to the hotel and unloaded. At the hotel they had a fruity welcome drink and more dancers and people to greet us. They had a huge pool and an immense beach with umbrellas and perfect waves. The sand was black, that surprised the kids and they were a little hesitant at first, but then they just jumped in and swam in the waves and really seemed to enjoy it. The water was so warm!
We basically had about 4 hours to spend here, so we moved back and forth between the pool and beach. We brought Jessicas little floating inner tube thingy and she loved floating around the pool in it. She also tried it in the ocean and enjoyed bouncing around in it. We found lots of little shells and there were hundreds of sand dollars. The difference though, was that they were ALIVE! I didnt even realize that sand dollars were living creatures, so that was a treat. We of course left them all there and just took pictures. One even crawled about 4 inches while we watched in amazement.
The kids were really helpful with Jessica and I got to walk around the resort for a bit by myself. I watched the little oyster shaped creatures bury themselves in the sand; I looked in the shops and checked out the animals they had. There were some giant parrots and a small talking parrot (he only spoke Spanish though). They also had fish and turtles in little ponds. They also had tons of things for kids and you could tell it was a very family friendly resort.
The tour included a huge lunch buffet. The food was excellent. They had steak, chicken, fresh fish (my favorite) and lots of fruits and even plain noodles for the kids. They had water, lemonade and coke to drink. Before I got to the table, Emily had drank a full glass of water and I was a little worried about water quality, but it was too late and I hoped that Disney would have warned us if we shouldnt drink it. During lunch they had some dancers perform to live music. That was really interesting and some of the dancers were fantastic!
We basically just chilled out for the rest of the day, Casey and Sarah played water polo for at least 90 minutes and really enjoyed that too. We also found a little 18 inch deep kiddie pool, Jessica loved that!
Then we were early at our meeting point for the end of the day as this was one place I really didnt want to get left behind at, especially without Jay. This part was a little crazy as there were so many people on this tour. We had to find our guide and wait for our bus. It probably took a good 30 minutes before we were on our way. Our tour guide and driver were really very kind and seemed to be happy to answer questions and were very knowledgeable. On the way back, we went past the old walled city. It was beautiful! The wall is super thick and the one bit of history that stuck with me was the fact that it took 194 years to build. I bet they had a super huge celebration when that was finally done! They dont allow busses in the old part of the city, so we just drove around the outside and looked in where we could. The architecture was inspiring! As we got closer to the port, you could tell we werent always in great neighborhoods, there were a lot of gates and barbed wire and even some upside down broken glass bottles on the tops of walls.
All in all, I am really glad we did the excursion and really glad that Disney chose to stop here. I am sure there will be people who complain about the port. It certainly isnt Disney perfect, but it is a very unique and different place and was stunning. The welcome we got was a great unexpected surprise to me. They seemed truly happy that we were there. The only negative for me was that the vendors seemed pretty aggressive. I will have Jay report on his excursion, but he did mention that his tour guide said we were the first ship of the season, so that may be why!
When we got back to the ship we must have arrived at the same time as every other excursion, both doors were open and there were lines going hundreds of feet from both entrances. Christian came on our bus and apologized and said we could wait on the bus, but no one took him up on that offer and we just got in line and waited. I am sure some people will complain about that, but we didnt mind and the line moved quickly.
The kids went and got some food and Jessica and I went to the room and she had some quiet time. No nap, but she was in a good mood and had a nice day.
After we boarded, the kids and Jay went to Diversions to play Clue and Life and Jessica and I were treated to the most beautiful sunset I had even seen. The backdrop of the sunset was the new city of Columbia. The sky turned more and more deep orange and red as we pulled out of the Cartagena area and sailed past hillsides glittering with lights and into open water. It was amazing!!!!
We did some pin trading and visited characters and had a really nice evening. The kids and Jay went to the show, it was 2 people from the Broadway version of Beauty and the Beast singing and telling about their experiences. Andrew and Sarah actually left early and the others said they didnt really enjoy it. I am sure they werent the target audience for the show, but I was surprised to hear the negative comments. Oh well, not a big deal. We all met for dinner and shared stories of the day. It was a really fun dinner together and we laughed a lot! It was a Mouseketeer dinner and at the end of dinner, Mickey and his buddies came and marched around the dining room. The kids got to join in and march around with the characters and everyone seemed to be having fun. It was also the Tropicalifragilistic Deck Party after dinner. We went up to that just in time to see the characters dancing and having fun. I love the deck parties, there is just something fun about dancing around on the top of a cruise ship at 11:00 at night being warm and happy. After the party, we all went back to the room and crashed, well, except for Casey and Sarah, they went to see PS, I love you. I think they have seen at least one movie a day. But hey, they love doing that and as Sarah said, it is saving her lots of money.
We passed some islands and pulled into port. We waited around the meeting place for about 30 minutes before they cleared the ship. We peaked out the windows as we headed out and saw an awesome display from the Columbian people. I couldnt wait to get outside. All of the excursions we trying to leave as once and it was a little hectic trying to get off the ship and stay with our tour group. Once we got off the ship we were greeted with such warmth, it was amazing. They had people lined up with fruits, balloons, pinwheels, fans and all sorts of free things to give to us. There were at least 30-50 reporters and camera people taping everything. They had dancers and school children lined up as well. It was a fun feeling and a fantastic greeting. We were put on a small bus and given a driving tour of the city on the way to the resort. The city is beautiful and very old. We did see some interesting sights, one was a taxi driver peeing in the bushes. The other was a person giving us the bird as we drove by. He was yelling something too, but I couldnt hear and I am sure I dont want to know what he was saying. Otherwise, most people were waving and seemed happy to see us. The fort was HUGE and awesome and they even let us get out and take a few pictures. There were lots of vendors selling everything from Columbian coins to hats, sunglasses, jewelry etc. One guy was even walking around with a sloth to take pictures with. It was only supposed to be a 1 minute picture stop and I got a little carried away by the beauty and the people and almost missed getting back on. YIKES! I figured they didnt want to be with 4 of my kids without an adult, so they probably would have come back for me. We then drove past the mangroves and really old homes. There were lots of flowers and vines and all in all it is a pretty and historical city. One thing we all noticed was the amount of dogs everywhere, along with vets and pet stores. They clearly like their pets here!
We then got to the hotel and unloaded. At the hotel they had a fruity welcome drink and more dancers and people to greet us. They had a huge pool and an immense beach with umbrellas and perfect waves. The sand was black, that surprised the kids and they were a little hesitant at first, but then they just jumped in and swam in the waves and really seemed to enjoy it. The water was so warm!
We basically had about 4 hours to spend here, so we moved back and forth between the pool and beach. We brought Jessicas little floating inner tube thingy and she loved floating around the pool in it. She also tried it in the ocean and enjoyed bouncing around in it. We found lots of little shells and there were hundreds of sand dollars. The difference though, was that they were ALIVE! I didnt even realize that sand dollars were living creatures, so that was a treat. We of course left them all there and just took pictures. One even crawled about 4 inches while we watched in amazement.
The kids were really helpful with Jessica and I got to walk around the resort for a bit by myself. I watched the little oyster shaped creatures bury themselves in the sand; I looked in the shops and checked out the animals they had. There were some giant parrots and a small talking parrot (he only spoke Spanish though). They also had fish and turtles in little ponds. They also had tons of things for kids and you could tell it was a very family friendly resort.
The tour included a huge lunch buffet. The food was excellent. They had steak, chicken, fresh fish (my favorite) and lots of fruits and even plain noodles for the kids. They had water, lemonade and coke to drink. Before I got to the table, Emily had drank a full glass of water and I was a little worried about water quality, but it was too late and I hoped that Disney would have warned us if we shouldnt drink it. During lunch they had some dancers perform to live music. That was really interesting and some of the dancers were fantastic!
We basically just chilled out for the rest of the day, Casey and Sarah played water polo for at least 90 minutes and really enjoyed that too. We also found a little 18 inch deep kiddie pool, Jessica loved that!
Then we were early at our meeting point for the end of the day as this was one place I really didnt want to get left behind at, especially without Jay. This part was a little crazy as there were so many people on this tour. We had to find our guide and wait for our bus. It probably took a good 30 minutes before we were on our way. Our tour guide and driver were really very kind and seemed to be happy to answer questions and were very knowledgeable. On the way back, we went past the old walled city. It was beautiful! The wall is super thick and the one bit of history that stuck with me was the fact that it took 194 years to build. I bet they had a super huge celebration when that was finally done! They dont allow busses in the old part of the city, so we just drove around the outside and looked in where we could. The architecture was inspiring! As we got closer to the port, you could tell we werent always in great neighborhoods, there were a lot of gates and barbed wire and even some upside down broken glass bottles on the tops of walls.
All in all, I am really glad we did the excursion and really glad that Disney chose to stop here. I am sure there will be people who complain about the port. It certainly isnt Disney perfect, but it is a very unique and different place and was stunning. The welcome we got was a great unexpected surprise to me. They seemed truly happy that we were there. The only negative for me was that the vendors seemed pretty aggressive. I will have Jay report on his excursion, but he did mention that his tour guide said we were the first ship of the season, so that may be why!
When we got back to the ship we must have arrived at the same time as every other excursion, both doors were open and there were lines going hundreds of feet from both entrances. Christian came on our bus and apologized and said we could wait on the bus, but no one took him up on that offer and we just got in line and waited. I am sure some people will complain about that, but we didnt mind and the line moved quickly.
The kids went and got some food and Jessica and I went to the room and she had some quiet time. No nap, but she was in a good mood and had a nice day.
After we boarded, the kids and Jay went to Diversions to play Clue and Life and Jessica and I were treated to the most beautiful sunset I had even seen. The backdrop of the sunset was the new city of Columbia. The sky turned more and more deep orange and red as we pulled out of the Cartagena area and sailed past hillsides glittering with lights and into open water. It was amazing!!!!
We did some pin trading and visited characters and had a really nice evening. The kids and Jay went to the show, it was 2 people from the Broadway version of Beauty and the Beast singing and telling about their experiences. Andrew and Sarah actually left early and the others said they didnt really enjoy it. I am sure they werent the target audience for the show, but I was surprised to hear the negative comments. Oh well, not a big deal. We all met for dinner and shared stories of the day. It was a really fun dinner together and we laughed a lot! It was a Mouseketeer dinner and at the end of dinner, Mickey and his buddies came and marched around the dining room. The kids got to join in and march around with the characters and everyone seemed to be having fun. It was also the Tropicalifragilistic Deck Party after dinner. We went up to that just in time to see the characters dancing and having fun. I love the deck parties, there is just something fun about dancing around on the top of a cruise ship at 11:00 at night being warm and happy. After the party, we all went back to the room and crashed, well, except for Casey and Sarah, they went to see PS, I love you. I think they have seen at least one movie a day. But hey, they love doing that and as Sarah said, it is saving her lots of money.
poohmomof5
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Jan 3, 2007
- Messages
- 1,610
We didnt have a lot planned today and I was looking forward to a day at Sea. When I woke up this morning, I was treated to beautiful views of the mountains in Columbia. It even appeared that there were a few snow capped mountains. It was very fantastic scenery. We enjoyed a quite morning and ate brunch at Lumieres. I was surprised that the menu was different than the last time we ate there. I guess you would think that the menu for brunch would be the same.
The girls went to see WallE and Jay and I went to a Wines of Germany tasting. I enjoyed that as it was all Rieslings and I dont know much about them. The ones I have had in the past were so sweet and I didnt like that, but now I know there are many different dryness/sweetness levels and I will be a little more open to them in the future. There were 2 that I really liked.
I left a little bit early as the kids had Jessica for quite awhile and then Jay went to a tequila tasting. Yikes 2 tastings in a row. He said that they had 2 shots of tequila to start, and then they tried 2 margaritas and had another shot of nicer tequila. He came back to the room a little happy, but not out of line or anything. He and the kids went to Diversions and played Clue. They really enjoy doing that. Jessica was sleeping so I was stuck in the room and they didnt come back, they went straight to the magic show. The show was touted as being really good, but the older kids didnt really like it. They said the guy did a lot of singing and little magic. I dont really know as I wasnt there. Emily (11) did like it.
We went to dinner after more pin trading and character pictures. It is fun being on the ship this long as everyone seems to know little Jessie. The photographers especially know her since it seems to be her goal in life to meet every character possible. She really enjoys meeting them and hugs and kisses them and plays around with them. They seem really receptive to her hugs and I think they can see how happy they make her. She has the ship down pretty well and even knows which floors the shopping, pins, lobby and characters are.
We called it a night after dinner as we are going to Aruba tomorrow.
Oh, one more thing about today, the ship was going soooooooooooooooooooooooooooo slow! We didnt have very far to go between Cartagena and Aruba, so we just puttered along. We were going about 9-10 knots all day. The kids were kind of disappointed as it felt like we could swim faster. They thought we should anchor and let everyone jump in and swim for awhile. I think that would have been a fantastic idea as the water was a beautiful calm blue and looked very inviting. Ill have to ask Captain Tom if he could arrange that next time. Ha Ha!
The girls went to see WallE and Jay and I went to a Wines of Germany tasting. I enjoyed that as it was all Rieslings and I dont know much about them. The ones I have had in the past were so sweet and I didnt like that, but now I know there are many different dryness/sweetness levels and I will be a little more open to them in the future. There were 2 that I really liked.
I left a little bit early as the kids had Jessica for quite awhile and then Jay went to a tequila tasting. Yikes 2 tastings in a row. He said that they had 2 shots of tequila to start, and then they tried 2 margaritas and had another shot of nicer tequila. He came back to the room a little happy, but not out of line or anything. He and the kids went to Diversions and played Clue. They really enjoy doing that. Jessica was sleeping so I was stuck in the room and they didnt come back, they went straight to the magic show. The show was touted as being really good, but the older kids didnt really like it. They said the guy did a lot of singing and little magic. I dont really know as I wasnt there. Emily (11) did like it.
We went to dinner after more pin trading and character pictures. It is fun being on the ship this long as everyone seems to know little Jessie. The photographers especially know her since it seems to be her goal in life to meet every character possible. She really enjoys meeting them and hugs and kisses them and plays around with them. They seem really receptive to her hugs and I think they can see how happy they make her. She has the ship down pretty well and even knows which floors the shopping, pins, lobby and characters are.
We called it a night after dinner as we are going to Aruba tomorrow.
Oh, one more thing about today, the ship was going soooooooooooooooooooooooooooo slow! We didnt have very far to go between Cartagena and Aruba, so we just puttered along. We were going about 9-10 knots all day. The kids were kind of disappointed as it felt like we could swim faster. They thought we should anchor and let everyone jump in and swim for awhile. I think that would have been a fantastic idea as the water was a beautiful calm blue and looked very inviting. Ill have to ask Captain Tom if he could arrange that next time. Ha Ha!
poohmomof5
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Jan 3, 2007
- Messages
- 1,610
The day started out a little quiet so Emily, Jessica and I decided to go to the breakfast buffet at Parrot Cay. Everyone else was sleeping and we havent had breakfast here yet. We had a very nice breakfast and started to head back to the room, we walked past a few people heading in and I didnt think anything about it, but Emily grabbed me and said, mom, that was them. Them who? ALY AND AJ! She was so excited. In case you dont know who they are, they are teen age sisters that sing several popular songs and star in some Disney Channel shows and movies. They were walking into the restaurant, so I told Emily to go to the room, wake Sarah up and go get breakfast again. So she did
The singers and their family were seated on the other side of the dining room in an area away from everyone else. Jay and I went down to check on the girls and he wanted to eat too. The girls kept peeking over in the direction of the singers and were pretty excited. The big show is tonight. Then our Officer friend that arranged for Jessica to meet Chip and Dale walked by. We talked to her for a little bit and said how excited the girls were to meet Aly and AJ and she said that they were going to do a picture and autograph session later in the cruise. How exciting! She came back later and said that the signing would be tomorrow. I love the Disney staff, they are really great at customer service. The girls and Jay finally were done eating, so we left to get ready for Aruba.
Aruba is a port that we think can be pretty easily done on our own, so we didnt book any excursions. I had done some research ahead of time and spoke to several of the crew members about what they did last time and decided that we would just grab a taxi and wing it. Last boarding call is at midnight, so we didnt rush and we left the ship at about noon. We walked into the cruise ship terminal building and discovered some cute little shops, we checked them out and they had some pretty nice stuff and reasonable prices. Then we headed out and asked an information person which beach we should go to. She said that Palm Beach was nice, calm and had water sports etc that we could do. So we walked out and they had a Security Guard calling cabs over and no vendors. That was a nice change. They also had the prices posted for the taxis and all the rules listed. That was so nice, now we could feel comfortable knowing how much to pay and not worry about being taken advantage of. The only problem is that they only allow 5 people in a cab, so we would have to split up. Not a big deal as the beach was only a $10 fare.
We waited a few minutes and then a taxi driver came, the security guard had stepped away and we asked the driver if he would take us to the beach. He asked how many we were and I said 7, and I told him that we would split up. He looked around and said just get in; I will take all of you, but dont tell anyone. Yippee! So we got in and drove for a few minutes and asked him about doing a short tour, he said he would get into too much trouble will all of us in the cab. We said, that was fine, we certainly didnt want him to get into trouble. Then after a few more minutes of chatting, he said he would take us to a few quick places as he didnt want us to not see anything. He was a very good tour guide and very pleasant. He was also knowledgeable and I felt very lucky to be able to do this together. He took us to a Lighthouse, Windmill, along some pretty views and through some neighborhoods of beautiful homes. He also talked about the climate and how it is a desert climate even though it is surrounded by water. He said they could go 5 months without rain! There were lots of cacti and exposed coral reef. It was very unique and we all agreed that we liked it. We saw some goats and lots and lots of lizards and iguanas. Big ones, dark one, bright green ones, teal ones, small ones. That was fun.
Then he took us to the beach and charged us only $40 for a one hour tour. I gave him $50 and then he introduced us to Claude who would help us out at the beach. Claude got us some beach chairs and told us what we could do and where to go. He charged $5 for each chair. We were fine with that and settled in and the kids played in the sand and ocean for a few hours. We each got a beer, they were expensive! We paid $6.80 each for a Corona and a 10oz Miller Lite. Where we were on the beach was between the Hyatt and an all inclusive Occidental resort. They were both beautiful and had excellent beach front and views. We used the restroom in the Hyatt and noticed how awesome their resort was. There were cute little and medium lizards everyone. One even jumped out of a tree and landed about 4 feet in front of us and then scurried away. That was a little startling! (We couldnt use the Occidental because we didnt have their wristbands on.)
We didnt do any water activities and decided to head back because the girls wanted to get in line early to see the Aly and AJ show that night. I thought the easiest place to catch a cab would be at the front lobby of the hotel, so we walked through the Hyatt and saw their shops and Casino. (That would be fun, but no kids allowed of course.) Then the bellman said he would have to find 2 cabs that would take us when we were wet, I guess only certain cabs will do that. He also said we could take the bus and stay together and the busses run every 5 minutes. So I said, Lets go. We walked to the bus stop and sat for a few minutes, and then a local said that there was some construction, so we should walk to the next stop about 2 blocks up. That was so nice! So we started walking to the next stop but the kids were drooping a little as it was quite hot. Then a taxi drove by and I flagged him down and asked if he would take half of us and told Jay to grab the next one, but he looked around and said jump in, I will take you all for $15. That is kind of funny that both taxis we had took all of us, but we really appreciated it as we of course prefer to stay together! He was also very nice and talked about how unusual it was that there was no wind. He said this was an unusually hot day because of that. He blamed hurricane Gustav and said that the hurricanes steal the wind.
We got back to the ship and the girls got ready and immediately headed to get in line for the Aly and AJ show. They were so excited!!!! The concert was fun and fantastic. My girls were right up in front and shook hands and high fived the singers a lot. Even the boys and Jay watched the show and they really seemed to enjoy it. What a nice surprise for the tweens and teens. I heard some people complaining that they didnt know who Aly and AJ were, but so what the show was obviously for the kids and the kids really really enjoyed it! Jessica fell asleep during the concert while sitting on my shoulders, it was pretty cute, so we went to take some pictures with the characters while she was sound asleep, the photographers and characters loved it! My neck didnt though
After dinner, Sarah went to see the show again and the rest of us just chilled out and played some shuffleboard etc.
The singers and their family were seated on the other side of the dining room in an area away from everyone else. Jay and I went down to check on the girls and he wanted to eat too. The girls kept peeking over in the direction of the singers and were pretty excited. The big show is tonight. Then our Officer friend that arranged for Jessica to meet Chip and Dale walked by. We talked to her for a little bit and said how excited the girls were to meet Aly and AJ and she said that they were going to do a picture and autograph session later in the cruise. How exciting! She came back later and said that the signing would be tomorrow. I love the Disney staff, they are really great at customer service. The girls and Jay finally were done eating, so we left to get ready for Aruba.
Aruba is a port that we think can be pretty easily done on our own, so we didnt book any excursions. I had done some research ahead of time and spoke to several of the crew members about what they did last time and decided that we would just grab a taxi and wing it. Last boarding call is at midnight, so we didnt rush and we left the ship at about noon. We walked into the cruise ship terminal building and discovered some cute little shops, we checked them out and they had some pretty nice stuff and reasonable prices. Then we headed out and asked an information person which beach we should go to. She said that Palm Beach was nice, calm and had water sports etc that we could do. So we walked out and they had a Security Guard calling cabs over and no vendors. That was a nice change. They also had the prices posted for the taxis and all the rules listed. That was so nice, now we could feel comfortable knowing how much to pay and not worry about being taken advantage of. The only problem is that they only allow 5 people in a cab, so we would have to split up. Not a big deal as the beach was only a $10 fare.
We waited a few minutes and then a taxi driver came, the security guard had stepped away and we asked the driver if he would take us to the beach. He asked how many we were and I said 7, and I told him that we would split up. He looked around and said just get in; I will take all of you, but dont tell anyone. Yippee! So we got in and drove for a few minutes and asked him about doing a short tour, he said he would get into too much trouble will all of us in the cab. We said, that was fine, we certainly didnt want him to get into trouble. Then after a few more minutes of chatting, he said he would take us to a few quick places as he didnt want us to not see anything. He was a very good tour guide and very pleasant. He was also knowledgeable and I felt very lucky to be able to do this together. He took us to a Lighthouse, Windmill, along some pretty views and through some neighborhoods of beautiful homes. He also talked about the climate and how it is a desert climate even though it is surrounded by water. He said they could go 5 months without rain! There were lots of cacti and exposed coral reef. It was very unique and we all agreed that we liked it. We saw some goats and lots and lots of lizards and iguanas. Big ones, dark one, bright green ones, teal ones, small ones. That was fun.
Then he took us to the beach and charged us only $40 for a one hour tour. I gave him $50 and then he introduced us to Claude who would help us out at the beach. Claude got us some beach chairs and told us what we could do and where to go. He charged $5 for each chair. We were fine with that and settled in and the kids played in the sand and ocean for a few hours. We each got a beer, they were expensive! We paid $6.80 each for a Corona and a 10oz Miller Lite. Where we were on the beach was between the Hyatt and an all inclusive Occidental resort. They were both beautiful and had excellent beach front and views. We used the restroom in the Hyatt and noticed how awesome their resort was. There were cute little and medium lizards everyone. One even jumped out of a tree and landed about 4 feet in front of us and then scurried away. That was a little startling! (We couldnt use the Occidental because we didnt have their wristbands on.)
We didnt do any water activities and decided to head back because the girls wanted to get in line early to see the Aly and AJ show that night. I thought the easiest place to catch a cab would be at the front lobby of the hotel, so we walked through the Hyatt and saw their shops and Casino. (That would be fun, but no kids allowed of course.) Then the bellman said he would have to find 2 cabs that would take us when we were wet, I guess only certain cabs will do that. He also said we could take the bus and stay together and the busses run every 5 minutes. So I said, Lets go. We walked to the bus stop and sat for a few minutes, and then a local said that there was some construction, so we should walk to the next stop about 2 blocks up. That was so nice! So we started walking to the next stop but the kids were drooping a little as it was quite hot. Then a taxi drove by and I flagged him down and asked if he would take half of us and told Jay to grab the next one, but he looked around and said jump in, I will take you all for $15. That is kind of funny that both taxis we had took all of us, but we really appreciated it as we of course prefer to stay together! He was also very nice and talked about how unusual it was that there was no wind. He said this was an unusually hot day because of that. He blamed hurricane Gustav and said that the hurricanes steal the wind.
We got back to the ship and the girls got ready and immediately headed to get in line for the Aly and AJ show. They were so excited!!!! The concert was fun and fantastic. My girls were right up in front and shook hands and high fived the singers a lot. Even the boys and Jay watched the show and they really seemed to enjoy it. What a nice surprise for the tweens and teens. I heard some people complaining that they didnt know who Aly and AJ were, but so what the show was obviously for the kids and the kids really really enjoyed it! Jessica fell asleep during the concert while sitting on my shoulders, it was pretty cute, so we went to take some pictures with the characters while she was sound asleep, the photographers and characters loved it! My neck didnt though
After dinner, Sarah went to see the show again and the rest of us just chilled out and played some shuffleboard etc.
poohmomof5
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Jan 3, 2007
- Messages
- 1,610
Hi everyone,
Thanks for being loyal readers, I haven't finished the rest yet, I promise I will, but we got home at 10pm on Monday, Sept 1st and the kids started school the next morning at 7am. That was a little crazy but they all did GREAT!
We are home now and getting used to back to school etc and had 2 birthdays (Sarah and Jessica) and also had 2 students from Germany stay with us for a few weeks. They just left last week. They were wonderful kids and we really enjoyed time with them and now we feel like we have a hole in our family!
Then this weekend the 2 older girls and I put on 600 miles driving to all parts of Illinois for cheerleading competitions. The girls and their teams did GREAT and it was fun, but again, BUSY!
Needless to say, things have been completely insane! I do thrive off of insanity though and the more I have to do, the more I get done...I have always been like that though. Thanks for hanging in there and reading along on our adventures!!!
I promise that I will finish up sometime soon!!!
Thanks for being loyal readers, I haven't finished the rest yet, I promise I will, but we got home at 10pm on Monday, Sept 1st and the kids started school the next morning at 7am. That was a little crazy but they all did GREAT!
We are home now and getting used to back to school etc and had 2 birthdays (Sarah and Jessica) and also had 2 students from Germany stay with us for a few weeks. They just left last week. They were wonderful kids and we really enjoyed time with them and now we feel like we have a hole in our family!
Then this weekend the 2 older girls and I put on 600 miles driving to all parts of Illinois for cheerleading competitions. The girls and their teams did GREAT and it was fun, but again, BUSY!
Needless to say, things have been completely insane! I do thrive off of insanity though and the more I have to do, the more I get done...I have always been like that though. Thanks for hanging in there and reading along on our adventures!!!
I promise that I will finish up sometime soon!!!
travelgirl06
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Jun 25, 2006
- Messages
- 989
Thanks for the Updates!
I have been enjoying your TR a lot. DBF and I did an Amtrak-Cruise combo in June as a graduation present to each other. We took the Coast Starlight from Central CA to Seattle, then spent some time with a friend there, and proceeded on to Vancouver for our Alaska cruise. The train is a great way to get in relaxation mode before your cruise (so much less stressful than the airport!). We had a roomette, which was great, since it meant we always had somewhere quiet to go hang out and read or chat.
I have been enjoying your TR a lot. DBF and I did an Amtrak-Cruise combo in June as a graduation present to each other. We took the Coast Starlight from Central CA to Seattle, then spent some time with a friend there, and proceeded on to Vancouver for our Alaska cruise. The train is a great way to get in relaxation mode before your cruise (so much less stressful than the airport!). We had a roomette, which was great, since it meant we always had somewhere quiet to go hang out and read or chat.
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