drise
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Mar 5, 2001
- Messages
- 392
Wednesday - St. Thomas
Wake up call at 6:45 for immigration. Went at 7:00 to Walt Disney Theatre. Took 15-20 minutes. Had coffee and danish in the lobby before you enter. Went to sit down breakfast at Lumieres-nice, had eggs over easy for something different. Took our time getting ready to go ashore in St. Thomas. Left the ship about 9:40. Took an open air cab to Sapphire Beach, cost $40/6 people (he said 2 kids were free and 4 adults). He stopped at Coki Beach/Coral World first-looked small and crowded on the beach. Not a very nice entrance road either. I'm glad we decided to skip Coki. Sapphire Beach was another 15 minutes. It is the actual resort/hotel. You can rent chairs, no umbrellas, but there are trees for shade. Very calm water, no big waves. Some snorkeling on a reef. We had access to the hotel bathrooms, bar, restaurant and small store. There's also a pool we could have used but we never saw it. We thought this was a great beach and enjoyed it alot. We packed up to get a taxi at 2:30, there were plenty available and waiting. We went in an enclosed van that charged $50 for the 6 of us. But we went directly back to the ship without any stops and it only took 25 minutes. Boarded the ship and got showers. I stayed in the cabin with the boys we watched cartoons and ate pizza, they needed some quiet time. Dh went back to the pier shops to buy liquor. We went up to the arcade at 4:15, the minimum card you can purchase is for $10, ds didn't even use it all. We went out on deck at 4:30 for the sailaway party. It was dark and cloudy over the mts. of St. Thomas. We had alot of wind and some minor sprinkles. We had dinner at Lumiere's, ds7 was antsy so I took him to the club. They were making Flubber so that was perfect. Ds3 was falling asleep in his plate, we got his stroller and walked around after dinner but he just wanted to go to bed. Dh took him down to the cabin at 8 and both got ready for bed. I got Devin out of the club at 8:15 to see the ventriloquist show. He wanted to sit up front again. He was picked as the volunteer to go up on stage with a little girl. He loved it. We went down to the cabin and he went to bed at 9:30. I decided to do laundry since all day the machines had been busy. I met my parents in the hallway, and they said did you hear were making an emergency medical stop in San Juan? I hadn't paid attention to the announcement. So I went up on deck with them to watch us pull in. We arrived about 11pm. A woman went off on a stretcher sitting up with 2 young girls and maybe 2 other adults. We didn't even tie up, they put the gang plank down held the ship against the dock with the thrusters and pulled away as soon as they were off. Alot of people were up and watching from deck 10 and 4. Still don't know exactly what happened with her.
Thursday - Day at Sea
We had rough swells today 8' to 14' they said. The pools were just sloshing back and forth. They closed the Mickey pool, I don't know if someone got sick or it was too rough. We had Character breakfast at Parrot Cay. We were 30 min. late. We still had all the characters come over to the table. Then we went to Ocean Quest simulator with friends from Atlanta,the kids had met in the dining room earlier in the week. After that we went to kite making in AP to decorate kites for CC. Then we put the kids into clubs. DH went up on deck to sun, too windy for me. Mom and I went to Art of Entertainment, and Disney trivia show. Dad went to navigators series. They talked about the emergency stop. He learned the Captain makes the decision of stopping or not, it cost alot of money to dock or even pull in. They don't have it happen often but they have stopped 3 times in the last 3 weeks I think he said. We took the kids out of clubs for lunch-seafood buffet at Topsiders. The we went to Ventriloquist demonstration in Rockin Bar D, similar to his show. I left early and Devin convinced Grandmom to buy him the tape and one trick for $45. We took the kids back to clubs. The 4 adults met at 2:45 for the galley tour. This was interesting and the head chef answered alot of questions. Then we did jackpot bingo, didn't win. The jackpot was $3700.00 - could have paid for the next cruise!! We showered and went to kids Graduation Show at 5:00. It's nice they moved this to Thurs. night. Last year it was Fri. night and very hectic coming off of CC to go to it. Then of course the rush to pick them up and get them changed for dinner-semi formal night. We went with them to dinner, but had our reservation for Palo that night. I think I would have preferred Palo on Wed. since they were serving lobster in the main dining rooms on Thurs. But Palo was still wonderful, I had a bellini drink (champagne with peaches) that was delightful. I was able to order lobster and filet - both were excellent and I couldn't finish them. Dh had tuna -cooked rare - perfect and tortellini. We were stuffed but tried chocl volcano dessert, we're not big choc. fans so it was ok like a dense brownie. I also had the pistachio dessert and something else. After champagne and wine I couldn't remember it all. Then she brought us a complimentary dessert drink, it was champagne, lemon sherbert and vodka in a short skinny glass served slushy. That was yummy
We were done at 9:30 and met GP with kids coming out of show, Disney Dreams. Sorry I missed it, but we did see it last year. I thought we might finish at Palo in time for it, but no sense rushing that. I stopped at the rebooking desk while dh took kids down to bed. We rebooked for 11/07, and may move it back to 2008 when those dates are released. I hope by then they have different entertainment. It's be nice to have new ports as well. Dh loves Disney but thinks we should try another cruise for comparison. He and I have been on RCL Explorer and liked it. I looked into it since we've been home and there is a great deal on the Explorer for 11/3/06. It leaves Bayonne, NJ which is close to us and does 9 nts. to Aruba and Curacao and ends in Miami. We could book 4 of us for $2750 oceanview cabin. But I don't think they would have entertainment geared towards kids. My kids really enjoyed the 2 shows every night on DCL. Then if they didn't enjoy the clubs it would really be a pain. So I decided to wait for DCL or maybe a shorter cruise on another line. To be continued . . .
Wake up call at 6:45 for immigration. Went at 7:00 to Walt Disney Theatre. Took 15-20 minutes. Had coffee and danish in the lobby before you enter. Went to sit down breakfast at Lumieres-nice, had eggs over easy for something different. Took our time getting ready to go ashore in St. Thomas. Left the ship about 9:40. Took an open air cab to Sapphire Beach, cost $40/6 people (he said 2 kids were free and 4 adults). He stopped at Coki Beach/Coral World first-looked small and crowded on the beach. Not a very nice entrance road either. I'm glad we decided to skip Coki. Sapphire Beach was another 15 minutes. It is the actual resort/hotel. You can rent chairs, no umbrellas, but there are trees for shade. Very calm water, no big waves. Some snorkeling on a reef. We had access to the hotel bathrooms, bar, restaurant and small store. There's also a pool we could have used but we never saw it. We thought this was a great beach and enjoyed it alot. We packed up to get a taxi at 2:30, there were plenty available and waiting. We went in an enclosed van that charged $50 for the 6 of us. But we went directly back to the ship without any stops and it only took 25 minutes. Boarded the ship and got showers. I stayed in the cabin with the boys we watched cartoons and ate pizza, they needed some quiet time. Dh went back to the pier shops to buy liquor. We went up to the arcade at 4:15, the minimum card you can purchase is for $10, ds didn't even use it all. We went out on deck at 4:30 for the sailaway party. It was dark and cloudy over the mts. of St. Thomas. We had alot of wind and some minor sprinkles. We had dinner at Lumiere's, ds7 was antsy so I took him to the club. They were making Flubber so that was perfect. Ds3 was falling asleep in his plate, we got his stroller and walked around after dinner but he just wanted to go to bed. Dh took him down to the cabin at 8 and both got ready for bed. I got Devin out of the club at 8:15 to see the ventriloquist show. He wanted to sit up front again. He was picked as the volunteer to go up on stage with a little girl. He loved it. We went down to the cabin and he went to bed at 9:30. I decided to do laundry since all day the machines had been busy. I met my parents in the hallway, and they said did you hear were making an emergency medical stop in San Juan? I hadn't paid attention to the announcement. So I went up on deck with them to watch us pull in. We arrived about 11pm. A woman went off on a stretcher sitting up with 2 young girls and maybe 2 other adults. We didn't even tie up, they put the gang plank down held the ship against the dock with the thrusters and pulled away as soon as they were off. Alot of people were up and watching from deck 10 and 4. Still don't know exactly what happened with her.
Thursday - Day at Sea
We had rough swells today 8' to 14' they said. The pools were just sloshing back and forth. They closed the Mickey pool, I don't know if someone got sick or it was too rough. We had Character breakfast at Parrot Cay. We were 30 min. late. We still had all the characters come over to the table. Then we went to Ocean Quest simulator with friends from Atlanta,the kids had met in the dining room earlier in the week. After that we went to kite making in AP to decorate kites for CC. Then we put the kids into clubs. DH went up on deck to sun, too windy for me. Mom and I went to Art of Entertainment, and Disney trivia show. Dad went to navigators series. They talked about the emergency stop. He learned the Captain makes the decision of stopping or not, it cost alot of money to dock or even pull in. They don't have it happen often but they have stopped 3 times in the last 3 weeks I think he said. We took the kids out of clubs for lunch-seafood buffet at Topsiders. The we went to Ventriloquist demonstration in Rockin Bar D, similar to his show. I left early and Devin convinced Grandmom to buy him the tape and one trick for $45. We took the kids back to clubs. The 4 adults met at 2:45 for the galley tour. This was interesting and the head chef answered alot of questions. Then we did jackpot bingo, didn't win. The jackpot was $3700.00 - could have paid for the next cruise!! We showered and went to kids Graduation Show at 5:00. It's nice they moved this to Thurs. night. Last year it was Fri. night and very hectic coming off of CC to go to it. Then of course the rush to pick them up and get them changed for dinner-semi formal night. We went with them to dinner, but had our reservation for Palo that night. I think I would have preferred Palo on Wed. since they were serving lobster in the main dining rooms on Thurs. But Palo was still wonderful, I had a bellini drink (champagne with peaches) that was delightful. I was able to order lobster and filet - both were excellent and I couldn't finish them. Dh had tuna -cooked rare - perfect and tortellini. We were stuffed but tried chocl volcano dessert, we're not big choc. fans so it was ok like a dense brownie. I also had the pistachio dessert and something else. After champagne and wine I couldn't remember it all. Then she brought us a complimentary dessert drink, it was champagne, lemon sherbert and vodka in a short skinny glass served slushy. That was yummy
We were done at 9:30 and met GP with kids coming out of show, Disney Dreams. Sorry I missed it, but we did see it last year. I thought we might finish at Palo in time for it, but no sense rushing that. I stopped at the rebooking desk while dh took kids down to bed. We rebooked for 11/07, and may move it back to 2008 when those dates are released. I hope by then they have different entertainment. It's be nice to have new ports as well. Dh loves Disney but thinks we should try another cruise for comparison. He and I have been on RCL Explorer and liked it. I looked into it since we've been home and there is a great deal on the Explorer for 11/3/06. It leaves Bayonne, NJ which is close to us and does 9 nts. to Aruba and Curacao and ends in Miami. We could book 4 of us for $2750 oceanview cabin. But I don't think they would have entertainment geared towards kids. My kids really enjoyed the 2 shows every night on DCL. Then if they didn't enjoy the clubs it would really be a pain. So I decided to wait for DCL or maybe a shorter cruise on another line. To be continued . . .
