DVC4US
DVC Member Since 1998
- Joined
- Feb 6, 2003
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Cast: Me-LeiLani(40), DH-Rich(41), DD-Brittany(15) aka Dale, DD's friend-Brittney (15) aka Chip, & DD-Alyssa(8). Cabin 8030 Walt's Suite. Our 4th cruise, Brittney's 1st cruise.
Also joining us are: FIL-Charles(PaPa) & MIL-Pat(Nanny). Cabin 6048 and their 1st DCL cruise.
Wednesday Cozumel
Rich, Alyssa, and I went to breakfast at Topsiders as we were still pulling into Cozumel. I am sure you can guess where Chip & Dale were. :sleep: After breakfast we stood on the verandah and watched as we docked in Cozumel. Rich & Charles had booked a snorkel excursion with DCL so they were off to their meeting place. A few minutes later Rich comes back and says all open water excursions had been cancelled because it was so windy out. So Rich made plans to go shopping in Cozumel with his Mom & Dad. The girls and I had booked the Royal Swim with Dolphin Discovery for our excursion. We headed off the ship around noon and caught a cab to Chankanaab.
For the Royal Swim they put you into groups of eight and we stood on a ledge in waist deep water. Our dolphins were Titan & Picasso. The first part of the swim is a lot like the Dolphin Encounter you can book through DCL. As you stand on the ledge the dolphins will swim by and you get to touch them. Then you get to kiss them and have them kiss you back. After this you are sent into the water in groups of two to do the tricks with the dolphins. I think the first one is called the foot push. You lay out on your stomach with your legs spread apart and the dolphins come up from behind you and push on the bottom of your feet. As they push you along you are lifted out of the water. Next is the dorsal fin pull. For this one you are in the water with your arm out like a t and the dolphins come up under your arms so you can grab their dorsal fins as they pull you through the water. Both of these were really neat experiences. Then the group gets into a circle in the water as the dolphins swim in and out around you. You do a few more little tricks and the dolphins do some jumps and then it is over. It goes by very quickly but the video is awesome and they put everyones name into it so it is more personal. Unfortunately, Alyssa would not do much but I dont think it was because of the dolphins. There were these small brown jellyfish everywhere and they really freaked her out. They did not seem to bother anyone but try telling that to an 8yo. Also, there is one bad thing about Chankanaab (and I remembered it from the Dolphin Encounter last year) it is on open water, so if it is a little rough out (which it was on this day because of the wind)it is very hard to keep your balance on the ledge. There is a fence to hold onto but it turns under at the bottom and can poke you. Alyssa had a lot of problems with this and the jellyfish. All in all it was a great time. Chip & Dale really enjoyed it and we got some great pictures and a fabulous video. After the swim we headed back to the ship to shower and to go shopping in Cozumel.
After listening to Clydes shopping talk on the TV Rich had already checked out a few places. He had found an Oriental rug at Lapis that he wanted to show me. The guy at Lapis really appreciated Richs honesty so much (he brought me back like he said he would) he took another $400 off of the rug we selected. It was a really nice rug and they send it directly to your home. They take care of customs so we did not have to claim the rug. Next we went to Goodmark Jewelers to look at tanzanite. We had decided to look at loose stones because again you do not have to claim them with customs. We got several pieces at a great price. OKAY, HERE IS MY BIG TIP!!! Listen to Clydes shopping talk. This was our 4th cruise and the first time we have sat down to listen to his talk and boy were we glad we did. He is very informative and knowledgeable about the best shopping choices in every port. We never knew about not having to claim loose stones until we heard it from him, and he also spoke about Lapis in his talk. Take the time and listen to it, we watched it on TV several times as we were getting for dinner. Chip & Dale did a little shopping, which included getting a coffee mug from Senor Frogs for their Spanish teacher. We also met two men working in a jewelry store that the girls got a chance to practice their Spanish on. The men were very nice and patient with the girls. After this we all headed back to the ship for dinner. This is when we encountered our second little problem, but the outcome was pure Disney Magic and I have to thank Jeff for that.
We decided to order pizzas from Palo to eat while we were getting ready for dinner.(We had done this twice already.) The CM who answered the room service line told me that the next seating would start at 8:30 and we could get our pizzas then. Rich & I were a little perplexed by this :confused2 but we let it go. I really wanted my Palo pizza (I know, I know, I am just as spoiled as my DD
) so I called again around 8:10 and got the same CM. I finally told her I didnt think Palo had specific dinning times, so she put me on hold to check. She finally came back and told me we could get a pizza from Palo, it would take about 25 minutes. Since we had dinner at 8:30 I asked her if it could be delivered to the dinning room and she said they could not do that. Okay, now I am getting a little fixated on getting my pizza. (I know, Whine, Whine, Whine. Does anyone have any cheese?) I went up to Palo before dinner and spoke to Nick (the dinning room manager), and explained the situation, he told me to have Jeff page him when we get to dinner. While going into dinner I talked to Jeff and he said no problem he would take care of it and lo and behold a few minutes later we had pizzas from Palo. YEAH!!!!! Jeff you are the best!!! 
It was Mexicali night and we really enjoyed dinner and the show.
Alyssa was in the lab because it was PremEAR night and they were going to see Home on the Range. Then they were having a glow light party. Rich & I went to Cove Café to have a few drinks
and listed to the deck party. We collected Alyssa from the lab when it closed and headed to bed. I am sure you can guess by now where Chip & Dale went.
LeiLani
Also joining us are: FIL-Charles(PaPa) & MIL-Pat(Nanny). Cabin 6048 and their 1st DCL cruise.
Wednesday Cozumel
Rich, Alyssa, and I went to breakfast at Topsiders as we were still pulling into Cozumel. I am sure you can guess where Chip & Dale were. :sleep: After breakfast we stood on the verandah and watched as we docked in Cozumel. Rich & Charles had booked a snorkel excursion with DCL so they were off to their meeting place. A few minutes later Rich comes back and says all open water excursions had been cancelled because it was so windy out. So Rich made plans to go shopping in Cozumel with his Mom & Dad. The girls and I had booked the Royal Swim with Dolphin Discovery for our excursion. We headed off the ship around noon and caught a cab to Chankanaab.
For the Royal Swim they put you into groups of eight and we stood on a ledge in waist deep water. Our dolphins were Titan & Picasso. The first part of the swim is a lot like the Dolphin Encounter you can book through DCL. As you stand on the ledge the dolphins will swim by and you get to touch them. Then you get to kiss them and have them kiss you back. After this you are sent into the water in groups of two to do the tricks with the dolphins. I think the first one is called the foot push. You lay out on your stomach with your legs spread apart and the dolphins come up from behind you and push on the bottom of your feet. As they push you along you are lifted out of the water. Next is the dorsal fin pull. For this one you are in the water with your arm out like a t and the dolphins come up under your arms so you can grab their dorsal fins as they pull you through the water. Both of these were really neat experiences. Then the group gets into a circle in the water as the dolphins swim in and out around you. You do a few more little tricks and the dolphins do some jumps and then it is over. It goes by very quickly but the video is awesome and they put everyones name into it so it is more personal. Unfortunately, Alyssa would not do much but I dont think it was because of the dolphins. There were these small brown jellyfish everywhere and they really freaked her out. They did not seem to bother anyone but try telling that to an 8yo. Also, there is one bad thing about Chankanaab (and I remembered it from the Dolphin Encounter last year) it is on open water, so if it is a little rough out (which it was on this day because of the wind)it is very hard to keep your balance on the ledge. There is a fence to hold onto but it turns under at the bottom and can poke you. Alyssa had a lot of problems with this and the jellyfish. All in all it was a great time. Chip & Dale really enjoyed it and we got some great pictures and a fabulous video. After the swim we headed back to the ship to shower and to go shopping in Cozumel.
After listening to Clydes shopping talk on the TV Rich had already checked out a few places. He had found an Oriental rug at Lapis that he wanted to show me. The guy at Lapis really appreciated Richs honesty so much (he brought me back like he said he would) he took another $400 off of the rug we selected. It was a really nice rug and they send it directly to your home. They take care of customs so we did not have to claim the rug. Next we went to Goodmark Jewelers to look at tanzanite. We had decided to look at loose stones because again you do not have to claim them with customs. We got several pieces at a great price. OKAY, HERE IS MY BIG TIP!!! Listen to Clydes shopping talk. This was our 4th cruise and the first time we have sat down to listen to his talk and boy were we glad we did. He is very informative and knowledgeable about the best shopping choices in every port. We never knew about not having to claim loose stones until we heard it from him, and he also spoke about Lapis in his talk. Take the time and listen to it, we watched it on TV several times as we were getting for dinner. Chip & Dale did a little shopping, which included getting a coffee mug from Senor Frogs for their Spanish teacher. We also met two men working in a jewelry store that the girls got a chance to practice their Spanish on. The men were very nice and patient with the girls. After this we all headed back to the ship for dinner. This is when we encountered our second little problem, but the outcome was pure Disney Magic and I have to thank Jeff for that.
We decided to order pizzas from Palo to eat while we were getting ready for dinner.(We had done this twice already.) The CM who answered the room service line told me that the next seating would start at 8:30 and we could get our pizzas then. Rich & I were a little perplexed by this :confused2 but we let it go. I really wanted my Palo pizza (I know, I know, I am just as spoiled as my DD
) so I called again around 8:10 and got the same CM. I finally told her I didnt think Palo had specific dinning times, so she put me on hold to check. She finally came back and told me we could get a pizza from Palo, it would take about 25 minutes. Since we had dinner at 8:30 I asked her if it could be delivered to the dinning room and she said they could not do that. Okay, now I am getting a little fixated on getting my pizza. (I know, Whine, Whine, Whine. Does anyone have any cheese?) I went up to Palo before dinner and spoke to Nick (the dinning room manager), and explained the situation, he told me to have Jeff page him when we get to dinner. While going into dinner I talked to Jeff and he said no problem he would take care of it and lo and behold a few minutes later we had pizzas from Palo. YEAH!!!!! Jeff you are the best!!! It was Mexicali night and we really enjoyed dinner and the show.Alyssa was in the lab because it was PremEAR night and they were going to see Home on the Range. Then they were having a glow light party. Rich & I went to Cove Café to have a few drinks
and listed to the deck party. We collected Alyssa from the lab when it closed and headed to bed. I am sure you can guess by now where Chip & Dale went. LeiLani
