A WONDERful Christmas on the Mexican Riviera. 12/18/2011 Complete TR

[Dchachos]

Before I left on my cruise I found this amazing website and learned so much valuable information about Disney Cruise Line and about traveling to the Mexican Riviera. I vowed to write a trip report when I got back. I was going to take a notebook everywhere on the ship so I could take copious notes and report back to others. I never wrote a single letter in the book. So you are at the mercy of my memory. For that I apologize.
The cast of characters are: me Dianne, my two sons James(9) and Brendan(went on as 7 came off as 8) and our fairy Godfather who shall remain nameless. I adopted my guys about five years ago and they both have some special needs James more so than Brendan. I know it is customary to refer to my sons as DS and not by their name but that gets too complicated for me so I am just going to use their names.
I have been battling cancer since 8/2009, I had a very short remission period (6 months) once my remission was over I was told there is no cure and that I would be fighting this disease the rest of my life. After learning that I decided that I was going to try and travel as much as possible. I wanted to take my boys on amazing vacations and let them see as much of the world as possible. I do however have a small problem I was forced to leave my job in February and have been living off of my savings and the well is getting dry.
I did however promise myself that for Christmas I was going to take the boys on a Disney Cruise. If I had to settle for sleeping on a lounger on deck by the pool, then that’s what I would do. I want my boys to have an amazing Christmas memory while I still feel well enough to travel.
Enter my Fairy Godfather. I have a friend who I have known since Jr. High School who has done very well for himself financially. He has always spoiled me and the boys. He had told me he wanted to send us on a vacation. I told him that was very sweet yet I did not ask for the cruise, I felt that was too much to ask for. Well a few months later he ended up insisting to pay for our cruise. He told me to go online and pick the cruise I wanted. So I went in a picked and chose the least expensive inside stateroom I could find. He of course upgraded us to a deluxe family stateroom with a verandah. I was blown away and I am incredible grateful to him for giving my guys the most exciting, fabulous adventure of our lives.
The cruise was booked at the end of September. I had only been on one cruise before and it was a four day Carnival to Mexico when I was much younger. That cruise was more about drinking much alcohol and partying than it was about family time, heck I didn’t even have a family then. So I started looking for as much information as I could. That is when I stumbled upon this website and let me tell you it had everything I needed to know. I found the link to my cruise and started chatting with people and gathered information. I learned about fish extenders and signed up for that as well as a Secret Mickey exchange. I looked and saw what kinds of gifts others put in their FE and decided to make all my gifts, after all I no longer worked and had lots of free time. On days that I felt well I worked on my gifts. I made paperbag scrapbooks for each cabin, scrabble tile necklaces or keychains, for each person. I burned a Disneymania CD for the teens and tweens and a holiday CD for each cabin. It took me about 2 months to finish all the items, and it was so much fun.
I know I know here we are and I still haven’t told you anything about the cruise yet, and after all that is what you came here for.

 

[Dchachos]

I haven't had much luck posting pictures so I am going to give it a try.

Yeah Me it actually worked.

On the Left is James and the right is Brendan. By the looks on their faces you would think they are on their way to prison not a cruise. Trust me there are plenty of smiles later.

This is at the Crowne Plaza Hotel

 

[Dchachos]

On December 17, 2011 we left Las Vegas and flew to Long Beach. I made the choice to fly in the day before because my oldest son is challenged and being out of our normal routine messes with him. He had never flown before and the excitement of that combined with the cruise could be too much. He also is obsessed with Limos. I booked a limo to pick us up at the airport; it wasn’t a stretch but a Escalade. That was a big jump from cab fare as it was. I booked through VIP/Five Star Limo of LA. I recommend them. It cost $115.00 for 3 of us and our luggage from the airport to the Crowne Plaza. From what I read a cab is a flat $45.00 one way. The driver was really nice and the service was excellent. We checked into the hotel and we were given room #923. We get to the room put the key in the slot open the door and there on the other side of the door is a really tall really, surprised man that looks like he is getting ready to punch who ever walks in the door. I apologized for walking in and went downstairs and asked for a room without another guest in it. The funny thing is it was another person who was not only booked on the same cruise as we were but was a “friend” from the DISboard. After getting another room and locking the door we waited for the time to go by so we could get to the cruise. The Crowne Plaza only had 5 channels and no movie channel so we were really bored. We didn’t have a car to go anywhere and there was nothing close enough to walk to. I brought a travel mobility scooter to help me get around but I didn’t see anything near enough to go do. We played some games and just hung out until bedtime.
December 18th had finally arrived! We have been counting down to this date for months and it was finally here!!!!!! The next morning we got up showered packed up our few things, went to breakfast and headed to the port. We took the shuttle from the hotel which was no charge.
Once we got to the port we found a porter to take our 5 suitcases to check in and then made our way through the check in process. First we were directed to a counter where a very nice lady had me stay at a counter and the boys go sit in a chair: they could not stay with me. I found that odd but it wasn’t a big worry. She had me fill out a health information form. Basically the form asked if anyone had a cough or a communicable disease. Then we were directed to another counter where another very nice lady checked our passports, gave us our key to the world cards and then sent us to another area. There was not a long line at any time during this process. We went to see another lady who gave us our boarding # ours was 5. After that I went straight to Children’s activities, the line was going to open in a few minutes. The nice lady there directed me to where the line would form when they did open it so I did not have to maneuver through the maze. As soon as the line opened a very rude man pushed his way in front of me and went to the counter. This happens often to me. I am not sure if it’s because I am in a scooter or because I am not assertive enough but people often walk right past me in my scooter and “cut” in line. I was pleasantly surprised when the young lady at the counter told him that I had been there first and he would need to get back in line and wait for the next available CM. I got the boys all set up and their wrist bands on. As soon as we got out of that line and right next to that area another line was forming…..Mickey was coming! Brendan wanted a picture with Mickey big time. James wanted no part of it. Part of his disorder, which mimics autism a lot, is he gets frustrated by waiting and not in the impatient way he shuts down and gets angry at me because I cannot make the time move. He will refuse to participate in activities or pretend to be afraid of things that he normally is not. I used to cater to his worries and I would often sit with him and miss out on doing things because I wanted to be near him. Then I realized it is not fair to Brendan that he either doesn’t get to do something or he does it alone so I can sit with James. I also learned that James often faked so of his fears to keep the attention on him. So I told him he could sit over on my scooter but I was going to have my picture with Brendan and Mickey. Brendan waited in line and I walked over once it was our turn. Score we have a fantastic picture of the two of us with Mickey.

 

[Amber74]

Waiting to hear more. We are thinking of taking this cruise. Sorry to hear about your battle. What a great Mom to make sure they have plenty of happy memories with you.

 

[Dchachos]

Waiting to hear more. We are thinking of taking this cruise. Sorry to hear about your battle. What a great Mom to make sure they have plenty of happy memories with you.

Thank you so much. I have written my TR about halfway through so I will be posting a little something everyday. I have figured out the photobucket thing so I can add as I write (I hope).

I was new to this board before the cruise so I am not really sure about trip report etiquette. It seems that you don't add it all at once. I can't wait to long or my memory will be fried lol.

I am already trying to figure out how to get on another cruise as soon as possible. I believe it is the most magical vacation I have ever had.

Thank you again

Dianne

 

[Dchachos]

We went and got some sodas and snacks from the vending machine and looked for our DIS group. We found then quickly it was kind of easy to spot us a single woman on a scooter with two boys. It was nice to be able to put faces to names. We talked to a few other people who were waiting one such couple was a Mother and daughter they were really nice and they talked to the boys about what it was like on a cruise. We ran into them almost every day and had quick little chats. We even saw them during disembarkation. I never got their name but they were truly a pleasant part of my wandering around the ship. We waited for about 30 minutes before the announcer called the concierge level and platinum level guests to board, then it was group one……two….three….four….finally FIVE.

We went and got in another short quick moving line and started up the gangway. This gangway felt like it was 5 miles long, we were so anxious to board the ship and although it was relatively short it seemed to take forever to get onboard. We got to the door and they asked us our family name. I told them and they introduced us. “Now boarding the Di Ciaccio family”. There was some clapping and a very nice CM came over and welcomed us onboard. He asked if we had any questions or if we had registered at Children’s Activities. Then he told us we were free to look around but we could not go to our stateroom until 2:00. Then he told us how to get to Beach Blanket Buffet.

Our first stop was at Guest services to get tickets for the gingerbread house building party. Then we made our way to the buffet to eat lunch. This is where I first experienced the extra amazing Disney service. I was asked if I wanted someone to carry my tray through the buffet while I rode on the scooter. I said no that I can walk just not for long distances. They took me to a table so I could park my scooter. I went back to the buffet and a very nice man followed us through and helped carry the boy’s tray to the table. I was impressed he was going to stay with us until we were seated and had everything we needed. The food was pretty good and better than some buffets I have eaten at.

Remember I live in Las Vegas we have tons of buffets as well as fine dining, it’s hard to impress us. After we ate we decided to go look around and see what we could see. The first thing we found right outside the buffet was the drink station. Then the pool we went around deck nine. Next we went to deck five to see the Oceaneer’s Lab and Oceaneer’s club. The boys immediately wanted to stay and play. They were having open house and wouldn’t be accepting children until 7:00pm. By now it was 2:00 so we went to see our stateroom. OMG this room was huge. The closet alone was big enough to be a small room. I was pleasantly surprised. The verandah was fabulous and quite large as well. There was a couch that folded into a twin bed, a bunk bed in the wall above the couch, a Murphy bed in the wall across from the couch, and a king size bed with fantastic linins and pillows. I fell in love with the pillows and even tried to figure how I could sneak on off the ship.

At 3:00 the DISboard was meeting in the promenade lounge. I called my sister before we went to the meet just in case I didn’t get a chance later. We have spoken to each other at least once a day every day since I got my first cancer diagnosis. It was going to be weird to not talk to her for eight days. We went to the meet and had a fantastic time meeting all the others from the board that I hadn’t all ready met. We finally met the family whose hotel room I walked into the night before and shared the story with the others and we had a good laugh at the irony of it all. What was ever more unusual is they were right above us and could look down on our verandah from theirs. I had the Mom and James had the son in the Secret Mickey. Their son had Brendan in the Secret Mickey and they ate two tables away from us in the dining room. It’s a good thing they were so nice because we sure were connected in many ways on this cruise.
Now it was time to go to the safety drill our location was S which was in Animators Palate/ They did their ”lesson” and then let people in wheelchairs and people with strollers go first so we did not get stuck trying to get an elevator. That turned out to be a challenge at times.

 

[Silly Little Pixie]

Dianne I'm thrilled to be reading your TR! The cruise was a blast. I'm glad to relive it through your TR.

Your boys are so sweet and it was fun to run into you onboard!

Christine

 

[Dchachos]

Dianne I'm thrilled to be reading your TR! The cruise was a blast. I'm glad to relive it through your TR.

Your boys are so sweet and it was fun to run into you onboard!

Christine

CHRISTINE!!!!

Hello! I loved running into you too. I am having fun writing the TR it helps with the post cruise blues.

Thank you so much for the Secret Mickey gifts your daughter was so sweet to go to the reveal. She is such a nice young lady you are really lucky to have such a nice teenager.

I am jealous you got to go back to the spa. Hopefully we will cruise again and maybe get lucky enough to be on the same cruise again.


So far I am up to day one in Cabo. I am going to post a little each day.

Dianne

 

[Dchachos]

We made our way to the sail away party on deck nine. Because we were let go early we also got a good spot to see the show. The only down side is the best spot was up three stairs I parked at the bottom of the stairs. CMs came out and danced and got everyone all “pumped up” and then the characters made their way out to dance more. James stood very still and just watched everything. It was just too much for him. Brendan on the other hand danced like crazy and had so much fun. He learned to do the YMCA and bounced and wiggled and smiled like crazy.

James kept asking have we started moving yet? Where do the people who work sleep, when do they see their family? These questions were repeated through the cruise for eight days. When we get off are new people getting on? He was genuinely concerned for the well being of the crew and truly confused by the fact that they live on the ship for six months or more. The concept of time is something he has difficulty with. After day six I stopped answering those questions and told him I had already told him that answer and it wasn't going to change. He is a very sweet boy to be so concerned for the CM. After the party we went back to our room. Most of our luggage hadn't arrived so we could not change for dinner. We were wearing matching t-shirts. The front was a sentence when you put us together. Mine read: When you wish….James’ …upon a star… Brendan’s…dreams do come true. They had Mickey and Minnie holding hands and looking at the stars. The back had a few characters and it said Our first cruise. Mexican Riviera December 18th – 26th 2011. We also had jeans on. I called Guest Services to see if was ok and they said of course.

Our rotation was PTAPTAPT table 67. We made our way to Parrot Cay (pronounce key) there we met Aaron (pronounce RN) from the Philippines and DeDe from Indonesia. They turned out to be our favorite people on the ship. It took one night for them to learn about us and then after that it was royal service all the way.

I apologize for all the food porn people out there I did not keep very good track or take good pictures of our food. Again I live in a city where quality food is easily found so I was not knocked out by the food. I wasn't disappointed either. The boys ordered chicken tenders, and I cannot for the life of me remember what I ordered. That night I drank coffee and we brought dessert back to our room. I ordered a chocolate torte and it was so good. I take medication at night and need to eat before taking it, so I used that as a convenient excuse to bring dessert back to my room.

After dinner I brought the boys to the kids club and went back and unpacked. It was so nice to be able to get the work done without any interruptions or arguments. My cancer is in my spine and hip and spine, but for some unknown reason when I am near the ocean I feel better and my pain level is lower. I was able to get everything unpacked and the room decorated for Christmas in two hours. The other bonus was all the gifts I brought with the exception of one fit into the safe along with my tablet and our passports. The other present fit in the laundry bag and I hid it under my folded clothes. There are lots of nooks to put things on and cupboard to store things in. This room was just right for us. Two of the suitcases fit under the bed and the other I put in the closet. After I got everything situated I went and got the boys and we went to bed.

 

[cdunn03]

Loving your trip report! We are traveling on the Wonder next month and I love to read and see the various pics. My son who is 12 also has special needs so I love to read the reports to get hints on how to make it special and easier for him.

 

[suzanneaz]

Great trip report! What a wonderful gift of memories for you and your boys. I want to hug your fairy godfather!!! We are leaving soon so I don't think there is a rule that you have to space out your trip report...I really want to read it.

 

[Dchachos]

Loving your trip report! We are traveling on the Wonder next month and I love to read and see the various pics. My son who is 12 also has special needs so I love to read the reports to get hints on how to make it special and easier for him.

Thank you I have found that it works better for us if I plan extra time so that we both get stressed out. If I am not stressed I am better at handleing his needs and still remembering Brendan needs attention too. You will love the Wonder we did.

 

[Dchachos]

Great trip report! What a wonderful gift of memories for you and your boys. I want to hug your fairy godfather!!! We are leaving soon so I don't think there is a rule that you have to space out your trip report...I really want to read it.

Suzanne I am so grateful to him and he acts like it is not that big of a deal. It's funny because we have known each other since I was 12. We both come from poor families he just worked hard and created a product that he could market and now is a millionaire but you wouldn't know it. He took us to Disneyland a few years ago and Legoland last fall. And now the cruise. He is so good with my boys. I wish I could re-pay him some how. He says that fact that I am there for him is payment enough.

Well being as you are waiting I will post some more tonight. I love reliving the cruise by posting.

 

[Dchachos]

After dinner I brought the boys to the kids club and went back and unpacked. It was so nice to be able to get the work done without any interruptions or arguments. My cancer is in my spine and hip and spine, but for some unknown reason when I am near the ocean I feel better and my pain level is lower. I was able to get everything unpacked and the room decorated for Christmas in two hours. The other bonus was all the gifts I brought with the exception of one fit into the safe along with my Galaxy tablet and our passports. The other present fit in the laundry bag and I hid it under my folded clothes. There are lots of nooks to put things on and cupboard to store things in. This room was just right for us. Two of the suitcases fit under the bed and the other one fit put in the closet. After I got everything situated I went and got the boys and we went to bed.

 

[Dchachos]

Day two we pre-ordered room service for breakfast. They provide door hangers that you can fill out the night before, what time do you want your food delivered and what do you want. They made the best wake-up call. I brought $30.00 in one dollar bills so I could tip room service. Room service only does a continental style breakfast so if you want eggs or pancakes this won’t work for you. My oldest loves donuts so he was in heaven that he was allowed them every morning. Brendan played monkey see monkey do. They both got juice and I got coffee. I am a Starbucks freak so I was worried about the coffee. It was pretty good. This morning I ordered a bagel and cream cheese. They brought two sliced and toasted bagels. So much food was wasted and I really didn’t like that part of it. I tried to keep our food wasting to a minimum.
We were scheduled to make a gingerbread house at 10:00 am at Studio Sea. We went in and they had very wisely covered all the tables with plastic. Each table had the gingerbread pieces and bags of decorations. They had dropped some of the bags of icing and had to remake it. Our table was one without icing. The chef that was teaching us how to assemble the house came over and put icing on our walls so we could start. When we got the icing we had so much fun. I think our house was pretty darn cool if I do say so myself. James loves to line things up; it’s the onthing that he does that will help him get centered when he is feeling out of his element. I piped icing on the top of the roof where the two pieces met. He took the really tiny candy beads and put them on that seem one by one and he made sure there was a pattern. I don’t have the patience for that I would have dropped them on top and whatever stuck, well great. Not my guy he put them on individually, but by the end his attitude was fantastic and he lost some of his anxiety. I wanted to order about 50 more houses so that we could have them at the ready.

You aren’t allowed to bring it off the ship so you either have to eat it or throw it away. Ours was a decoration until the end of the cruise and then it went into the trash.

 

[Dchachos]

After we were done I brought the boys to the Oceaneer’s Lab and I explored the ship. I went at lunch to get them. It was cold so we got burgers and fries from deck nine and went to our room to eat. After that I brought them back to the club and went to another DIS meet in the Cove Café I ordered a latte. If you are a Starbucks regular you will be very disappointed or at least I was. It was nice to talk to my fellow DIS members and I got to know Monica better, we both had some stressful events on the first day and both had come to the conclusion that if he changed our expectations the remainder of the cruise would be better. She was dealing with teenagers and then she remembered it was their vacation too. Just as I realized James will calm down I just need to give him some time. We both lowered the food expectation and found things went much more smoothly. Even with the little stressors we still were having the time of our lives.
Nothing eventful happened during the day a lot of exploring and learning about the ship. I also picked this day to drop off my fish extender gifts. That was fun because I got to learn the layout of the ship.
I had made a lot of homemade fish extender gifts. I don’t work so I had plenty of time to make things.

Fish Extender Gifts

I hope my fellow DISers like them as much as I liked making them.

Our Door Decorations

Our Fish Extender

Throughout the cruise I received new magnets to add to the door. Bottle cap magnets, name tag magnets, and all kinds of décor: there were even some that someone drew on magnet paper with a marker. I think it was Jake the nine year old in the door next door. They were so cute. On Christmas Eve Santa realized he brought and extra bag of Legos so I put them in a little gift bag with some candy and a candy cane and left them on his door.

Tonight dinner dress was formal night we put on our Sunday best and headed to dinner. When we arrived the boys booster seats were already in their chairs and a glass of water and another with Sprite with their names on the lids were in there spot. On my side a chair was removed for my scooter and a cup was ready for coffee. I switched to tea that night. Every night after there was an Earl Grey tea bag and a cup at my setting and DeDe would ask if I preferred coffee or tea this evening.

We clean up pretty nice if I do say so myself.

For an appetizer we all got the crispy cheese ravioli……yum yum. The bread was also fantastic and it came with a garlic rosemary olive oil. I wish we could have had that every night. Good thing no one was going to be kissing because this garlic was strong just the way I like it. The boys got chicken tenders again. I got the roasted turkey. I didn’t care for the stuffing but the rest was very good. For desert we got the golden chocolate award milk chocolate mousse with chiffon cake and chocolate ganache.

Some food porn

Ketchup art

We planned on going to the Golden Mickey Show but the food did not sit well with me. Not a reflection of the food a side effect of the many different chemo treatments I have endured. We did however watch it from our room. So far we were always in our room when our host Alex (from the Philippines) came to turn down the bed so we did not get a towel animal or chocolates.

We used magnetic clips to keep our key to the world cards and information on the inside of the door.

I also made a list sorted by day and time of activities that we had planned, it made things simple oh today is Tuesday so we have gingerbread making at 10:00 etc.

 

[Dchachos]

Day three: Today I have my Palo brunch. I brought the boys to the lab again and headed of to be dazzled. On the way to Palo my scooter got stuck on the threshold. That was a re-occurring problem not just for me but other disabled people. I am fortunate enough to be able to get up and move the scooter if I need to. I watched and tried to help another passenger who was trying to push a man in a wheelchair over a threshold and it got stuck. She was trying with all her might but it was clearly difficult. Finally another passenger came along and helped her. I never used the public restrooms so I so I don’t know how they were but the thresholds were not very handicap friendly.
I digress. Palo is heaven for a single Mom. First of all I love my boys with every fiber of my being but every now and then it is nice to be a grown-up and to have a grown-up experience. I parked my scooter by the front desk and was walked to my table right by the window with an amazing view of Cabo San Lucas. We were passing it on the way to Manzanillo and then working our way back. My server Selcuk from Turkey I am almost positive I spelled it wrong. He took me on a tour of the buffet and the food that could be ordered. There was cold shrimp and crab, caviar, roasted veggies, salmon, cheeses, danishes and breads and a little bloody mary with baby shrimp in it.

I didn’t even taste the alcohol in the bloody mary. Pizzas, frittata, and so many other things I can’t remember. You could have champagne or a mimosa unfortunately I could have neither so I ordered iced tea. The tea was old so I stuck with water. I got a brioche with mascarpone and strawberry jam, a piece of saffron bread and lots of shrimp and crab with cocktail sauce. I tried the caviar on Melba toast I was pretty ambivalent on it. I had roasted veggies and port wine cheddar cheese. I also had Boursin cheese and crackers and a small frittata. They had so many deserts I tried the tiramisu and some fruit. I was stuffed when I left and wished I could have gone to dinner there once. But I wanted to eat every night with my kids I believe dinner is family time. Even at home unless I am ill we eat dinner together.
After Palo I went back to the room and took a nap. Yes ladies a nap that did not get interrupted by “Mom!!!!! he …….or stoooooop I’m telling”. Got to love those little moments. Then I went to deck 4 and did a little shopping. I was surprised some of the prices were actually good and some were way too high. I bought myself a travel cup. Santa had forgotten to pack a gift for my stocking so I helped him out: Silly Santa. I also needed to get some batteries and some cold medicine for James. That was when the prices were pretty high. My travel cup was $14.95. The 4 pack of AAA batteries and bottle of Nyquil were $27.00 together. After enjoying the rest of my time just exploring the ship I went to get the boys from the Lab to get ready for dinner.
Tonight we have dinner in Animators Palate. I was so looking forward to this nights dinner show. They only do it once per cruise. When you go in the room is all in black and white. As you eat different color lights will be added and the pictures on the walls will be colored. The pictures rotate and start over black and white and then become color. If you leave too soon this will be a disappointment to you because that is all you will see. I truly can’t remember what we ordered that night. It must night have been too impressive. I think I got the filet mignon with an Asian sauce. We finished our meal but Aaron made sure to tell me not to leave because there was a show. Then the lights went down almost out all the servers were nowhere to be seen. Then they came out and their black and white vests were brightly colored there was an announcer talking about how it all started with a mouse and the next thing you know here was the MOUSE, Mickey was dresses in his wizard hat and robe. He was almost skipping around the room to the music; the servers were clapping to the beat. Mickey was right there in front of our table and he even gave Brendan a high four.

As I sit here and write this it doesn’t sound so exciting but believe me it was worth the wait. For dessert I got a bowl of strawberries and James got his bowl of donuts again. I had read on this board that this show was not impressive I believe those people left before the real show began. Was it a Broadway quality show? No but it was cute and the kids really enjoyed it. My kids are more than aware that the characters are just costumes with people in them, they really don’t care they love the characters. Heck I have known for a really long time and I still love them too. Funny huh.


I took the boys back to the lab and on my way out I ran smack dab into Peter Pan. So far he was the character the boys have been seeking out with no luck. I snapped a picture and asked him if he was going to be at the character breakfast. He said no but that he would be at the Pirate Night Party.

This night when we got back to our room Alex had left us our first towel animal: a cobra. Yeah! James loves snakes (ewe) and the cobra is his favorite. Along with the snake were three chocolate square wrapped in foil with a picture of sleepy on it. I was so glad that the boys got to finally experience the joy of towel animals and turn down service.

 

[Dchachos]

Day four: Our first port, Manznillo Mexico. We woke up and looked out the window and saw an amazing view of the city. There were buildings terraced in the mountains. I could see the gangway and a line of people getting off the boat.

I had decided that we were not going on an excursion there were not many to pick from and between the ages of the boys and my limited mobility there was only one to choose from and it wasn’t something I really wanted to do. It turns out that excursion was not a very good one. Several people complained but Disney being the customer service superstars they are reimbursed people who complained. We did our regular morning routine. I dropped James off at the lab and Brendan and I headed to the laundry.

I know it doesn’t sound very exciting but there was an accident that required laundry and heck if I am going to do one load I may as well wash everything. I ran into Monica again one of my DISboard friends and we chatted about the cruise so far. I would run into often and we would have little hallway chats. She is a very nice person and I really enjoyed meeting her and her family. After laundry I brought Brendan to the lab and went to the spa.

Let me just tell you the spa experience was one of the best I have ever had. One of the first things I picked to do on the cruise when it was very first booked was the Alone Time treatment in the Spa Villa for One. I arrived at the spa 15 minutes earlier to fill out the health and information sheet that is typical of any spa I have ever been to. After filling out the paperwork I was taken to the locker room and given a robe to change into. The locker room was typical. The robe was only one size. I am a plus size lady and I carry most of my weight in my hips. The robe fit but in the hip area it did not close to my satisfaction. I had brought my swim suit with me and chose to leave it on under my robe. I am also not comfortable in a regular bathing suit so I wear men’s swim trunks with a ladies tankini top. My masseuse met me in the locker room and took me to my villa. I parked my scooter outside the door and passed through the doorway to heaven. In the room there were two different types of tables: a massage table and a table that is used for scrubs. Emily and I sat down and chatted about what parts were tender and what my concerns were. She gave me a brief overview about what the treatment included and then we began. On the back wall of the room were French doors that led to a verandah that was enclosed with windows and a sliding glass door. The French doors had bamboo blinds that were pulled for privacy. We went out to the verandah which had a daybed, a hot tub and a shower with a rain head and a regular head. I was asked to sit on the day bed and put my feet in the large wooden bowl then Emily did a ginger and lime salt scrub on my feet and calves. This alone was fabulous but it was just the beginning. Next she added some soaks and additives to the hot tub, to soften my skin and to help me relax. Emily left me alone to enjoy my soak. I have always been a bather I love soaking in a nice hot tub and to just relax however since the cancer moved into my spine and hip bones I have not taken a bath, for almost a year now. I am very weak and if I was to fall I could easily break one of those bones. I am also worried that I may not be able to get out and then what. I really don’t want to have the firemen come rescue my naked bootie from the tub. So knowing that if I couldn’t get out there was someone to help me get out and I was wearing a swimsuit, another bonus. I sat there soaking in the hot tub just relaxing and enjoying the peace looking out the sliding door at the boats and town below. The weather was perfect and Manzanillo was a beautiful view. It was ironic that I could hear a dog barking in the distance because I have a neighbor whose dog barks all the time. I thought that darn dog followed me to Mexico. Emily knocked on the window to warn me that there was only five minutes left in my soaking time. I got out of the tub and showered off, because I was wearing glue on lace wig I couldn’t enjoy the rain shower head but it was still a nice shower. I laid my suit out to dry wrapped myself in the super large towel (which covered more than the robe) and lay down on the massage table inside. Emily came in and started massaging my with warmed massage oil and gave me the best massage I have EVER had in my life. After my time had elapsed (NOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!) she asked me to go out to the verandah again and sit on the daybed which I did. I was wrapped in the towel and had the robe on ever it. I sat on the daybed covered with the light throw blanket; Emily came back with a pot of Earl Grey tea and some skewers with melon and pineapple. I sat there for about 20 minutes and just relaxed. I might have fallen asleep if I was there for another five minutes.
I had read about the high pressure sales pitch that comes along with every spa treatment. Emily told me about each product she used: what it was good for and what some of the ingredients were. No one ever asked me to purchase a product or even told me those products were for sale in the spa.
For Dinner tonight we are back at Parrot Cay. The first night wasn’t their regular menu it was the welcome aboard menu and all of the restaurants served the same thing, tonight will be the regular one. James got the jerk chicken appetizer and Brendan got the crab dip. I got the Mango Papaya soup; it was good but a little too sweet to eat all of it. James ate half of it for me. My James cracks me up, he is four foot tall and weighs 48 pounds he is so thin, but he eats like a grown man. He can easily eat a large pizza by himself. The doctors are concerned but not overly that he is so thin.
He ate all of his appetizer, half my soup and three pieces of bread before his entree. I got the turkey dinner and it was really good. I didn’t care for the stuffing but everything else was fantastic. James got the Pork chop and Brendan got chicken tenders. James ate half of my dinner too. Again the food was good but not impressive. For dessert James got his bowl of donuts and Brendan and I got nothing. Just in case I didn’t tell you this, Aaron and/or DeDe cut the boy’s food that needed to be cut or they would take the shells off of the shrimp. The typical things that I do were done for me. It was such a treat to be able to eat my food while it was hot. To be given a plate of food and to not have to put it aside was a huge treat.
I brought the boys back to the lab and I went to the show in the Walt Disney Theatre and I am so sorry I cannot remember the name of the comedian/juggler but he was really funny. The one complaint I had was in all of the theatres handicapped seating was right inside the door as far away from the stage as you could be. For this show they had the show on two big screens so I was able to see the act.

That night we ordered room service and got the all hands on deck which is a fruit and cheese platter: we liked it. I am sure James got French fries again too.

 

[Dchachos]

Day Five. Welcome to Puerto Vallerta and Happy Birthday to Brendan. We woke up already docked.

The great thing about this cruise is my little night owl was actually sleeping. At home Brendan is up with the sun even if he went to bed late he is up early. And if Brendan is awake EVERYONE is awake. I don’t know if it was the blackout drapes, or the rocking of the ship but he was always the last one up and this particular morning I had to wake him up. First thing we did was celebrate his birthday, I brought two gifts, a t-shirt that I made that said it was his birthday and a Star Wars throw blanket. We celebrated before we left home and he got his big presents then. We did the in room breakfast as usual and got ready for our excursion.

Port adventures had called me concerned that my scooter might be a problem with the vendor. I had signed us up for the Paradise Beach Party. It is an all inclusive day at the Paradise Resort. The lovely people at port adventures thought it would be best if someone from the cruise picked me up in a wheelchair and push me to the bus. Then I could walk from the bus to the beach and they would pick me up when we returned. We got dressed and called for the wheelchair. The CM shows up with the wheelchair and he is going to leave. I said someone was going to push me to the bus. He was not able to do that because he had other deliveries to make. His brilliant suggestion was to have one of the boys push me. I already told you that James weighs 48 pounds and Brendan is the same just three inches shorter. I wear a size 22, so them pushing me is not an option. I said never mind I will take my scooter. He tells me NO you wait and I will call and see what to do. I said thank you but no thank you, I am not going to be late to the excursion, I don’t want to wait thank you anyway. He again said very firmly NO you will wait while we sort this out. Excuse me, do you work for Disney, because this is certainly not the superstar customer service we have been getting. I hoped on my scooter told him thank you and went on my way. I’m not sure what he did but I left. As many things in my life do, this particular hiccup in the plan turned out to be a good one. We went down to the gangway showed our ID and went through the security screening. Once we were off the ship we saw a few little booths set up, one that caught our eye was a lady who had a parrot and for a donation you could have the parrot sit on your shoulder for a picture. The money was to help support the wildlife in the area. I gave her $5.00. Brendan aka Mr. Adventure was the first one. James wanted nothing to do with the parrot touching him, I was next and I did pretty well. I wasn’t too sure I wanted it on me either but I did it anyway.

Now we need to find our tour I didn’t read the tickets very well because if I did I would have noticed that we were supposed to meet in the lounge. I also did not bring a watch, a wave phone, nothing that told time. I saw a group of tour guides and asked them if they know what time it was and where I was supposed to go. The nice man told me they were the tour guides for that tour and that I was supposed to meet in the lounge but no worries. They would bring me directly to the bus so we could get the scooter stowed away and get me on without rushing. Another nice man walked us to bus #6. When I get there it was like a greyhound bus. The driver can put my scooter in the luggage bay easily we don’t even need to fold it up. Before the trip I bought this scooter for traveling, if you have a disability and need a good travel scooter this one is called a luggie. It folds up to the size of a baby stroller and can be wheeled like a piece of luggage. I take it to the airport and gate check it, so I don’t have to wait for wheelchair assistance. Sorry I got of the path for a minute. I folded it up the driver very carefully placed it in the bay and we got on the bus. Brendan and I sat in the front row and James sat behind us. Then the others joined us and James was sitting with a stranger. He doesn’t always do well in this kind of situation. He did fabulous this time and I was so proud of him. I also appreciate that the nice man made sure he was comfortable and pointed things out to him as we made our way.

Our tour guide was Victor and his English was pretty darn good.

The ride was about 20 minutes and he spent that time explaining why PV was a good place to live and to visit. It was obvious that tourism has taken a hit because of the economy and the violence in Mexico. I must say I felt safe the entire trip. We entered the gates of the resort and still drove about another 5 minutes or so. Once we parked the driver got my scooter and helped me set it up and off we went. Victor took us to the area that we were to use. It was quite a walk so I was glad I had my scooter with me. The other mistake I made besides not brining a watch was I did not bring towels. As you exit the ship they provide towels for you to take with you. I did not notice them. At the resort they wanted me to leave my key to the world card to have a towel. No thank you. We found a covered area on the beach near a concrete pad where I could park my scooter and keep an eye on it.

Before my but hit the chair there were vendors selling things, hats, dresses, jewelry, hair braiding, no towels though lol. One after another I said no thank you a million times. Okay maybe not a million. We ordered mango smoothies (included) and looked around for a place to change. The restroom was far away and if we went we would lose this spot. Hey I was wearing a peasant skirt, which quickly became a changing tent of sorts. I slipped my swim shorts on under the skirt, pulled it up over my shoulders and used a hairclip to hold it loosely around my neck. I changed into my swim top. Then I held it up while the boys changed under it right there on the beach. I thought this was funny because we are all pretty modest. One of my DIS friends came by with her little girl and they were looking for a place to sit. I invited them to sit with us. I asked if she would keep an eye on my backpack while I took the boys to the ocean for a few minutes. That was a life saver for me. The boys and I went down and romped in the ocean and got nice and wet. After I got tired I brought them to an area that they could play in the mud and sand but not in the ocean. Neither of them swims very well and Brendan thinks he swims better than he does which scares me. I walked back up to our spot. Whew the walk back up was pretty tough and I had to dodge a bunch of vendors.

I did buy a pretty straw wide brim hat with fabric calla lilies on it. I surprised myself and bartered, I didn’t think I would be good at it. She started at $25.00 I said $10.00 she said no I said okay and started walking away, she said $15 I said $10 she said no and again I walked away. She came back and said $10.00. I guess it helped that it was something I didn’t really care if I got or not. I liked it but could easily love without it. It was like a little victory for me, I know so silly.

After a while my friend Betsy went back to sit with her husband at the pool. Not long after I gathered the boys, brought them to the beach shower, they were covered in mud, and went to look for a spot by the pool. There wasn’t one to be found. We decided to go eat lunch. Included in this tour was transportation access to their private beach, use of boogie boards, towels, and beach toys (if you leave your KTTW card) unlimited beverages alcohol and regular, and a buffet.

The food was pretty good typical buffet food and hamburgers, fries, chips and salsa. I ate a lot of salad with salsa for the dressing. The boys ate hamburgers and fries. We went all the way to Mexico to eat a burger.

After lunch we found a seat by the pool. I went in with Brendan for a while. James didn’t want to swim. There were some fake rocks that marked the 2 ft section of the pool. The pool was really bug it had a bridge that went over and a huge alligator slide. The kids came out of the mouth into the water. It was in the deep end and my hair would get wet so there was no sliding for us.

After I was comfortable with Brendan in the pool I showed him how far he could go I went back and sat with Brendan. Another Mom and her two kids were looking for a place to sit. We had an extra seat because Brendan was in the pool so I told her she could sit by us. We spent a while chatting with her and her daughter who was the same age as James. Her son who was the same age as Brendan went into the pool. She was also on our bus and we had a nice time chatting with her. I am so sorry I forgot her name. If you are reading this it was nice chatting with you lol.

The ride back to the ship was a lot quieter. The driver helped with my scooter again so I gave him a little tip.

We stopped and bought some vanilla and got back on the boat. After a shower and a snack we vegged out on the verandah until dinner.

The weather was beautiful and the boys loved watching the two pirate ships that were in the harbor with us. They also were looking for seals, whales and dolphins. Before we left I found some binoculars for $3.99 at Bed Bath and Beyond: they weren’t super strong but they were decent and if they fell off the ship it would not be a tragic event. I think the boys looked over every inch of that port with those binoculars.

Tonight we have dinner in Tritons we all got the jumbo shrimp appetizer. It came with horseradish mayo, I did not like the dip I would have preferred good old cocktail sauce. I love cold shrimp! Brendan got the Lobster macaroni and cheese, James got chicken tenders and fries, he got fries with everything. I got the beef tenderloin. The food was pretty good.

For desert they brought Brendan a chocolate desert and sang Happy Birthday. Our Head Server Palo from Portugal sang loud and with gusto, he also was so very off key. I think every night there was a birthday and he would sing along with the other servers and every night he would be loud and proud. It cracked me up.

I don’t know if the video works on this if so enjoy:



Brendan and I also got the Grand Marnier Soufflé: I don’t eat sugar too often so that might be the reason, but dang this was sweeeeeeeeeeet. I ate two bites and was done.

We ran into some characters tonight:

The atrium was decorated for the holidays:

When we got back to our room our towel animal was an elephant sorry I don’t have a picture. Shame on me lol. Have I been putting too many pictures? I try and post the ones I think you will enjoy and that will help you get the feel of the cruise. I took almost 500 pictures.

On our way to Cabo we hit some pretty rough seas it woke me up in the middle of the night. I took some anti nausea medication that I get for chemo, see having cancer gives me a perk every now and then. The medication helped. Because of the rough seas it sounded like thunder when the deck furniture on the deck above us moved. I had hung some clothes on the verandah the night before and Alex took them in and hung them on the clothesline in the bathroom. Thank goodness he did because our furniture was all piled in one corner in the morning. I forgot to mention that earlier each bathroom has two lines that pull out of the wall and hook on the other side. I brought clothes pins so it came in handy. The bad part is the clothes in there took forever to dry. The other thing I neglected to tell you earlier is there are only electrical outlets by the TV and vanity, none by the bed. I brought a power strip so I would have more outlets but I should have brought an extension cord or two. I usually sleep with a heating pad but not on the cruise. I also had to recharge my scooter in front of the vanity. There were so many other places that would have been more convenient. It all worked out but if I had to do it again more extension cords.

 

[Tehanna]

This is a wonderful trip report, and you most certainly are NOT posting too many pictures!

Thank you for all of the insights on travelling with a scooter. We are planning someday on taking my MIL on a cruise, and your information is extremely helpful.

Looking forward to the next installment!