Are You Ever Coming Home?...No! I am playing with Wizards, Farkles and Sparkling Friends

[jenseib]

That sounds really weird. I wonder why they decided on this strange design.

I thought so too.

That is nice that this worked out.

I thought he did a good job and was glad to have him again.

You would be surprised. I have had it happen more than once that cast members on DCL recognized us before we recognized them.

I am not sure if he did. But I bet he will in the future though if I sail again and he is on.

That makes sense. The best servers we ever had were always paired up with assistant servers that were not on top of their game.

I always feel bad when they aren't great, because most times they are super nice.

I hope this tasted as good as it looks.

I thought it was good.

That sounds really neat.

It really was.

I have had a few creaky cabins over the year.

Yeah I think the ship settles and things move a bit. It wasn't the worst thing, but it does sound kind of spooky.

That age is so difficult.

YES!!!!

We had him on two of our longer cruises and really liked him

He is really good.

That would be too much of a temptation. I love macarons.

LOL. I don't care for them. I keep trying them over and over but I just am not a lover.

That was a strange decision.

Yeah, I wasn't a fan.

That is a shame. I had heard that they would have some DCL specific stuff.

I heard that too. We went in and asked at one time too thinking maybe we just weren't seeing it. But they told us no

 

[jenseib]

Tonight’s show was Aladdin. I really like this show a lot. In Oct. the actor who was Aladdin was REALLY easy on the eyes…We called him Hot Aladdin. The cast was totally different this time around, but this Aladdin wasn’t too bad.


We of course filled our popcorn buckets and settled in to watch the show amongst friends.


At the end I did the cell phone picture thing to capture a few.


seaday7 by Jenseib, on Flickr


seaday8 by Jenseib, on Flickr


seaday9 by Jenseib, on Flickr


seaday10 by Jenseib, on Flickr


seaday75 by Jenseib, on Flickr


seaday76 by Jenseib, on Flickr


seaday78 by Jenseib, on Flickr


After the show we headed back to the room for a bit….new towel animal on display for us.


seaday79 by Jenseib, on Flickr


We went shopping again….again buying nothing, but did see Minnie in a really cute outfit.


seaday80 by Jenseib, on Flickr


We went to the Captains cocktail hour in the lobby and found Jeanne. We got a drink, mine was better than hers and just walked around a bit. Cass and family were not coming to dinner tonight because they like pool time and Cass doesn’t do well with sun or heat, which just leaves evening hours for her to swim. Since the pools close kind of early, they would skip dinner on some nights and swim instead. Jeanne mentioned asking Patty’s family to join our table since Cass’s wouldn’t be there. I had actually thought the same thing earlier, but then didn’t say anything as I didn’t know if Jeanne would want to have others join us.


We then headed down to Enchanted Garden where we found Patty’s family and Jeanne’s kids joined us as well. Patty’s family said yes, they would like to join us.


We did some pictures while we waited.


seaday81 by Jenseib, on Flickr


seaday82 by Jenseib, on Flickr


It was time to go in then. We got seated and added one more chair to our table for Patty’s family. We made our orders and soon food was coming out.


I can’t remember what everything is tonight….so just pictures. We had the formal night menu tonight.


seaday49 by Jenseib, on Flickr


These were good!


The sushi was ok…but I am still iffy on sushi. Not the best I had, but not great either.


seaday51 by Jenseib, on Flickr


This steak was decent for me. Claire’s steak was just ok.


seaday52 by Jenseib, on Flickr


And dessert….with that layer of jelly stuff on top that I scraped off.


seaday53 by Jenseib, on Flickr


Crème Brulee…..just ok…..this is another thing that I am still iffy on. Sometimes I found it really good, but most times it is just ok.


seaday54 by Jenseib, on Flickr


Claire went with sherbet ice-cream. I think this was one of the only nights she got dessert.


seaday55 by Jenseib, on Flickr


We had a good time at dinner and we had a lot of laughs. Ferdi was good, Lewis was still a little slow, but very nice. I really hadn’t gotten to know Patty’s boys much so far. Zach was the oldest and he was super friendly and talkative. Not shy one bit. I got the feeling he could talk anyone into anything if he wanted to. LOL. I mentioned later to Patty and Fred that he would be a great used car salesman because he was such a smooth talker. Fred said no way….Lawyer! Yes! Even better! He said Zach has been negotiating things since he was able to talk. LOL. Zach was always off hanging with the teens and he made friends early on that he did stuff with.

Caleb was super nice too (age 14, so just 2 years older than Claire, and the same age as Nick). Patty said Caleb is a little shy and he wasn’t much for the kids clubs. He preferred to hang with his parents and observe…just like Claire. It was like the boy version of Claire. He didn’t want to do stuff with others till he got to know them and most cruises she said he just does stuff with her and Fred while they hardly ever saw Zach.


Ferdi did little magic tricks for us each night at the end of dinner. Kelsey and Emily were always trying to figure it out or be the first ones to figure out how it was done. I think Ferdi liked that they were so into his tricks.


I didn’t mention this last night, but there was a family …a large family…that dressed up in costume every single night a few tables away. I believe they had a son, 2 daughters and some other older family members. Their costumes were pretty elaborate….but I think my WHOLE family would KILL me if I made them wear costumes on any other night than Halloween. Sometimes they had a theme and other nights they would just be randomly dressed up. We always had to take a look each night to see what they wore. It still amazed me that the men and son went along with it.


We had lingered awhile and talked and finally we decided to head out. The hypnotist, Ricky Kalmon, was having his adult show tonight in the Walt Disney Theatre. I wanted to go and Emily said she was going to try to get hypnotized. She said it never works for her, but it’s fun trying….so I planned to meet the girls there later.


I looked back to take a picture as we were exiting.


seaday56 by Jenseib, on Flickr


There’s Brook!


Henry made a stop to do a modeling session since he looked so handsome.


seaday57 by Jenseib, on Flickr


I forgot to mention that Patty’s family always looked so nice each night. She would have colored coordinated outfits for them to wear and they looks really sharp….and her boys like to dress up, which is really nice.



seaday5 by Jenseib, on Flickr


Claire headed back to the room to lounge around. She had a mission too. She learned how to find movies on the TV, so she was watching Guardians of the Galaxy since we have never seen it and many were talking about how they liked it. I was glad she has found something she liked to do and I didn’t feel bad leaving her in the room then.


I took a walk for a bit.


seaday84 by Jenseib, on Flickr


seaday58 by Jenseib, on Flickr


And then headed to the hypnotist. I think Fred and Patty joined as well (though I could be wrong on that). Emily and Kelsey joined as well, but Jeanne was too tired.


When Ricky called for volunteers, Emily ran up.


seaday85 by Jenseib, on Flickr


seaday59 by Jenseib, on Flickr


She’s on the very end.


seaday60 by Jenseib, on Flickr


seaday61 by Jenseib, on Flickr


And I took a little video too.

Sadly, Emily wasn’t up there long. He knew she wasn’t under and sent her back to her seat.


It was a good show. We saw him in Oct. and this show was pretty much the same, but it is different as different people will do different things.


One girl was falling all over and flopping around. He kept telling her to sit back up and she would…then slowly flop over again. I am not sure if she was drunk, or just really really under. Usually, if someone is really under, he uses them for special things. He kept her up on stage the whole time, but never used her for anything…..so something had to be going on there.


Some people were really hysterical and others not so much. I enjoyed the show though and I always wonder who is really under and who is faking it. One person was a bit too prepared and it made me think she may have been faking.


After the show, I went up top for a little bit and saw one lady who had been hypnotized and I said hello. We talked about the show (and she later told me people came up to her the whole cruise recognizing her from the show). She said she was definitely under and she was aware, but yet kind of not. LOL. But she said it was all real for her and she did feel like she had just slept for several hours.


I then headed back to the room and Claire was still watching tv. We talked a bit and I told her it was time to turn it off for the night. I agreed that I would let her sleep in tomorrow to catch up on sleep….and hopefully she would be a bit more cheerful now.

 

[MickeyD]

Funny, I think that is the same Jasmine and Genie we had on the May cruise, but definitely a different Aladdin. The one we had must be the one you did, because he was hot! My poor hubby when we ran into Aladdin in the hallway, hubby asked me if I needed a towel to wipe up the drool!

 

[Woth2982]

I am not shocked that Tiffany's isn't a huge hit. I would think Royal would be a better market for that than Disney. Andrew wants to go on the Fantasy because he wants to see the Tiffany's since he works there.

So glad your friends joined you at dinner. Love Claire's red dress. It looks so good on her! I still cannot believe I have been following you since she was like 4! How is she 12? Glad she salvaged some of the day and wasn't moody the whole time. Also nice she is at an age where if she wants she can go off and do her own thing.

 

[dolphingirl47]

sea

I love Minnie's costume. It looked like you had a really nice evening.

Corinna

 

[lorimay]

Oh I would have loved to see the costume family! Were sailing a Halloween cruise next month and the most my husband agreed to was a Jif Peanut Butter t-shirt and I am wearing a Smuckers Jelly t shirt. Thats how elaborate it gets for us :/

 

[OhMari]

I have been following along, just never posted yet. I am friends with Brooke on Facebook-so I have been following her TR's since the beginning of time.

The minute you said you lived on a farm-I remember reading a few of your TR's too. Do you live in Michigan or Ohio-I am from Wisconsin. I love reading your TR, we traveled for the first time ever on the Magic last Oct. We went up into Canada on the East Coast. We were such knewbies. I want a do over.

 

[jenseib]

Funny, I think that is the same Jasmine and Genie we had on the May cruise, but definitely a different Aladdin. The one we had must be the one you did, because he was hot! My poor hubby when we ran into Aladdin in the hallway, hubby asked me if I needed a towel to wipe up the drool!

Too funny!!!

I am not shocked that Tiffany's isn't a huge hit. I would think Royal would be a better market for that than Disney. Andrew wants to go on the Fantasy because he wants to see the Tiffany's since he works there.

If they had Disney specific merchandise then I can see more people buying stuff, but without it the store just doesn't mesh well with the other stuff on the ship really.
Hopefully he likes the cruise and wants to do another one.

Was your ring from Tiffany's then???

So glad your friends joined you at dinner. Love Claire's red dress. It looks so good on her! I still cannot believe I have been following you since she was like 4! How is she 12? Glad she salvaged some of the day and wasn't moody the whole time. Also nice she is at an age where if she wants she can go off and do her own thing.

We bought that dress for our last cruise, so we used it once again. She is so picky sometimes so when we find something she likes I am happy.

I know! How did she grow up so fast. I am still amazed myself.

I love Minnie's costume. It looked like you had a really nice evening.

Corinna

I loved it too. I don't think I have ever seen that one before.

Oh I would have loved to see the costume family! Were sailing a Halloween cruise next month and the most my husband agreed to was a Jif Peanut Butter t-shirt and I am wearing a Smuckers Jelly t shirt. Thats how elaborate it gets for us :/

Thats a great idea. This family was way over the top. If I was the son, I would have been embarrassed at some of the costumes he had to wear. It was neat to see, but very different as well. Once or twice on the cruise is fun, but every night was a little much. Plus the time it took to get ready....I would never be able to commit to it. They must have had a ton of luggage too.

 

[jenseib]

I have been following along, just never posted yet. I am friends with Brooke on Facebook-so I have been following her TR's since the beginning of time.

The minute you said you lived on a farm-I remember reading a few of your TR's too. Do you live in Michigan or Ohio-I am from Wisconsin. I love reading your TR, we traveled for the first time ever on the Magic last Oct. We went up into Canada on the East Coast. We were such knewbies. I want a do over.

I certainly remember you. I do live in Ohio. I think a few years back we were in the same facebook group as well for a Disney trip.
I am hoping to some day do one of those Canadian cruises. I was close to doing one a few years ago (on Princess), but I ended up going on the Magic out of Galveston instead.

Cruising is so addictive. That first one always goes by way to fast too. Even after 10 nights I left thinking...wow I never did this or that. My husband thought we would be bored and I left thinking it still wasn't long enough.

 

[jenseib]

Day 6, June 30, 2017, Day at Sea


I got up around 7 or so and put on some clothes and headed up top to see what the day had in store for us. I put the do not disturb sign on the door so Claire could sleep.


The sun was up.


seas1 by Jenseib, on Flickr


seas2 by Jenseib, on Flickr


Jeanne messaged me and asked if I was going to walk today. Yes I was, but I am moving a bit slow because my feet were so blistered. I kept developing new blisters all the time this trip and my feet were a mess.


I went down and met her and she said we were only going to do 2 miles. We talked and walked and I knew we had gone more than 2 miles at one point, but I was enjoying the conversation, so I kept going. At 4 miles, Jeanne said…ok, I lied, but I figured I would get you to walk more if we just kept going. LOL! I was totally fine with it and it was nice to work off those desserts.


I went back to the room and checked on Claire, who was dead to the world. I saw our stateroom host, and let him know I was letting her sleep in today, so it could be a while before he could get in the room and he was ok with that.


I met Jeanne for breakfast…sorry no food pictures…but I got the same thing most days. Either a pancake or Mickey waffle with strawberry sauce and whipped cream, a hash brown, a chocolate covered donut and some days I added a sausage or ham. One of the drink dispensers has the mango guava juice, so I would get that when I could, but a few times it would run out and I would settle for orange juice….and I usually got a milk to drink as well.


I cleaned up and changed clothes and just kind of did my own thing, walking around the ship, staring at the sea, and checking on Claire. At one point I came back to the room and found this.


seas3 by Jenseib, on Flickr



She had found her fish extender gifts (we did a private one with our friends and she really got some great stuff) and she was hiding in the window seat.


Hello Claire!


seas12 by Jenseib, on Flickr


She loved this seat and sat there a lot this cruise.


seas4 by Jenseib, on Flickr


I told her that Kira had been messaging her….I could see them pop up in her phone. It was kind of funny. The messages would say…do you want to do this…and then… ok never mind…..Do you want to do that….ok never mind. LOL. I picked up the phone while Claire was getting ready and let Kira know that Claire had been sleeping and had just got up.


We then went out and did a little bit of nothing I think. We got a message from Rob to ask if Claire wanted to swim or play putt putt. Claire announced she would NOT be getting in a pool on the ship…She would only be swimming in port….OK…that’s odd? She said putt putt would be fine.


We went and found them at the pool and Claire and Kira headed off to putt putt. I talked to Rob for a bit and then got some ice-cream and just walked around. After a bit I saw the girls playing the detective agency as it was too windy to putt putt. The seas had gotten a little rougher, but not bad in my opinion, and the wind had picked up. I had heard this is normal for the Aruba and Curacao areas, so I figured it wouldn’t get any better till we left those islands.


After a bit, Claire came back to the room and we decided to go watch the diaper dash….something we had never done before. I know someone came and watched with us, but I can’t remember if it was Cass or Jeanne.


seas5 by Jenseib, on Flickr


It took them a while to get set up and then even at the start time, we were still waiting. We had a nice view of the light fixture from where we were standing.


seas6 by Jenseib, on Flickr


There were only 2 kids signed up to do the race. One was pretty old and the other was probably too young. When it started, the older one got on his hands and knees and at the coaxing of his brother took right off. The other would not move….he just stood there and cried. LOL!


seas7 by Jenseib, on Flickr


We then headed to guest services to put some money and gift cards on my account. We really hadn’t bought much of anything yet, but I wanted to get the money on the account for the excursions.


seas8 by Jenseib, on Flickr


seas9 by Jenseib, on Flickr


seas10 by Jenseib, on Flickr


When she printed out my receipt she said I had 38 cents on my account now….what? I had just put like $500ish on my account. She let me know that the excursions had been in the account, so those are now all paid for. OOOOH!!! In the past, my excursions had never hit my account till the day they were conducted….so not sure if this is new or not…or just depending on the sailing.


It was time for lunch, and we headed up to Flo’s to find something.


seas11 by Jenseib, on Flickr


I think Claire just had fries and maybe chicken tenders. She’s not a big eater anymore and I swear she hardly ate this cruise.


We then headed back to the room where I wanted to take a little nap. Jeanne asked if we wanted to play a card game in a little bit, so I set my alarm so I wouldn’t fall asleep for too long. Claire watched her movie and I dozed. It was just enough to give me a pick me up.


We headed off to O’gils to play cards, but the set up on this one compared to the Magic, really isn’t ideal for a card game and there was a game being shown on the screen and the only table that would work was right in front of the screen. We decided to head to Cabana’s as it was closed now after lunch and we could just find a quiet spot to play.


That worked out perfectly and we sat at a round table and Jeanne and family taught Claire and I how to play Wizards….and later Phase 10.


seas34 by Jenseib, on Flickr


This was the first time I think I heard Nick talk. He had been so quiet, but as the game went on, I think he felt comfortable around us. We really had a good time and enjoyed the game and doing a lot of laughing.


After a couple of games, we decided now was the time to try Sweet on You ice-cream


seas13 by Jenseib, on Flickr


Claire got a mango cone.


seas14 by Jenseib, on Flickr


And I got some sort of peanut butter combination.


We headed back to play Phase 10. Again we had fun. At one point, Claire had to pick someone to get skipped or pick a card or something. I knew it would be me. She is shy and if she isn’t comfortable, I am the one she picks. She totally surprised me and picked Nick! It was so funny. It did make me happy that she was opening up a bit and enjoying the company. She really was getting into the game and even talking with everyone instead of just listening.


We only intended to play for a little bit, but we were having so much fun, we ended up skipping doing some other things we had thought of doing this afternoon. It was just so much fun and none of us wanted to leave.


But finally we had to go and get ready to go to the show. Tonight was Ricky Kalmon’s family show. Claire had seen him last cruise too and really enjoyed him, so she didn’t want to miss it.


Our door.


seas15 by Jenseib, on Flickr


As we were in the room doing whatever it was we needed to do I heard the ever familiar thump thump thump down the hall. I looked out to find Grandpa…dressed in his pirate costume…racing with the kids. Seriously? I saw Mom walk by and said…”You guys know when you are running up and down the halls that is sounds like our walls are breaking?” Mom just smiled at me.

I was a bit furious with the reaction, but I thought now that I had confronted them with adults present they might get the idea that we were annoyed and tell the kids to stop…..I was wrong.

Off to the show we went.


Again, the show was similar to the one last cruise, but a little different and of course the people make it different. A couple of people were really funny. It was pirate night, and this one girl was under and they sent her back to her seat. Then called her over to meet a special star….Johnny Depp. He just had some guy in a pirate outfit stand up and pretend to be Johnny. She was all excited. It was so funny. The pirate guy went with it and was a good sport.


seas16 by Jenseib, on Flickr


One guy would hold his shoe up when the Lion King song came on like it was Simba. They sent him back to his seat later and if the song came on, he would stand up and take his shoe off and do it. It was pretty funny.


seas17 by Jenseib, on Flickr


One guy who’s family sat behind us was pretty funny on stage, and they had him go back to sit and when Ricky said certain words that the show was over, the guy was to get up and scream HI HO!!!! And lead everyone out. The time came, and the guy just sat there….staring. We kept turning around to peek, but we didn’t want to let him know we were watching him. They started playing the HI HO music and he just sat there….staring confused. Ricky said his own name a few times and nothing…so he walked down to the guy….snapped his fingers in his face…and the guy stood up and screamed HI HO! I think that was even funnier than had he done it the first time.


After the show we headed out to deck 4 to watch the sunset and just chill.


seas18 by Jenseib, on Flickr


seas27 by Jenseib, on Flickr


I think we got some drinks to bring back to the room. It was really odd as the first day the diet coke tasted pretty ok. The second day I thought they mixed it up with regular coke. It just tasted really off…and it never got better. I concluded they had messed up the carbonation and it was not very good at all. I suffered through it, but it wasn’t that good. The dining rooms were better, but still not great. I never had that issue before, so not sure what was going on. And I wasn’t the only one who noticed it. Tons of people mentioned both on the cruise and after in the facebook group.


Kira came over to our room for a bit as we waited for dinner. She is so funny…she just talks and talks and talks. Cass…you better not keep any secrets because I think your daughter would tell them willingly…without any coaxing. Hahahaha.


She liked the window seat too.


seas19 by Jenseib, on Flickr


Time for dinner! We headed down and got seated. Enchanted Garden was where we were again tonight with the pirate menu.


seas20 by Jenseib, on Flickr


For the life of me….I can’t remember what this is.


seas28 by Jenseib, on Flickr


This is the crab cake.


seas29 by Jenseib, on Flickr


I also got a Caesar salad tonight. Jeanne had been getting them nightly and said most nights they didn’t have enough dressing, so I asked for extra dressing and Ferdi brought me a big thing full, so we were all able to slop it on like we like it!


seas30 by Jenseib, on Flickr


The Jack’s Treasure of the seas, pasta with scallops and shrimp are always my favorite. They were better this time than last Oct. but I still think they are even better on the Magic for some reason.


seas31 by Jenseib, on Flickr


Dessert…..I think this is the Caramel Macadamia nut cheesecake …which was very good…and a Mickey bar.


seas32 by Jenseib, on Flickr


My Mickey bar had started the melting process and when I picked it up it fell right off the stick and into the bowl, so I ate it with a spoon….which Claire thought was really strange….but seriously….I wasn’t going to let it go to waste.


We asked Ferdi about getting banana bread for our table. We all like it and preferred it many times to what they brought out nightly. We also talked to Dewayne, our head server. They let us know it would be on the pirate buffet tonight, but we didn’t want to go to that…so he said he would try and make it happen…and they did and it came out nightly after that.


Another enjoyable evening. We did tend to linger and chat most nights. I found out later that Kira was not a fan of that…while Claire just loves it. She is so nosey!


We headed back to the room tired. We found out towel animal.


seas21 by Jenseib, on Flickr


I think it looks like an Indian, but I think it is supposed to be a pirate.


We debated on going to the fireworks. Claire had a movie she needed to finish…..lol….and I was tired, but in the end I decided to go. I just went up to deck 13 forward and watched from there. I knew Patty and family were watching from their balcony, which was on the right side and Jeanne’s family was staying in their room for the night. I hadn’t heard from Brook and I thought Cass was skipping it, but I found out when I read her report they did actually go.


I was fine though, and though I couldn’t hear the music, I had a good view.


seas22 by Jenseib, on Flickr


seas23 by Jenseib, on Flickr


seas24 by Jenseib, on Flickr


seas25 by Jenseib, on Flickr


seas26 by Jenseib, on Flickr


After the show, it was time for bed. Tomorrow would be our first port day and I needed to get some sleep so I would be ready for our busy day! I made Claire turn off the TV…this time her doing it, as the other night when I did it, I didn’t do it in a way where she could pick the movie back up where she left off and she ended up rewatching the whole beginning again. LOL

 

[OhMari]

Love your door.
If it wasn't for Ellen our travel agent, my door would of been pretty bare.

You are selling me on an ocean view room. You really do not need a balcony. I love that window seat.

 

[jenseib]

Love your door.
If it wasn't for Ellen our travel agent, my door would of been pretty bare.

You are selling me on an ocean view room. You really do not need a balcony. I love that window seat.

Is your agent Ellen G?

The window seat is awesome. Claire really enjoyed it a lot. We still like balconies better, but the window seat rooms are a good option for us too.

 

[dolphingirl47]

I kept developing new blisters all the time this trip and my feet were a mess.

Oh dear, that does not sound good.

Either a pancake or Mickey waffle with strawberry sauce and whipped cream, a hash brown, a chocolate covered donut and some days I added a sausage or ham.

That sounds like a wonderful breakfast to me.

One of the drink dispensers has the mango guava juice

OH, I would have been in my element.

Claire announced she would NOT be getting in a pool on the ship

OK, who kidnapped Claire? I am used to her not being able to get enough pool time.

The seas had gotten a little rougher, but not bad in my opinion, and the wind had picked up. I had heard this is normal for the Aruba and Curacao areas, so I figured it wouldn’t get any better till we left those islands.

That was not our experience. We had booked a sailing and snorkel tour for Aruba and we did not really have enough wind for sailing. Fortunately the boat had an engine.

Corinna

 

[OhMari]

Is your agent Ellen G?

The window seat is awesome. Claire really enjoyed it a lot. We still like balconies better, but the window seat rooms are a good option for us too.

Yep Ellen G. I swear she is married to Michael Keeton.

 

[jenseib]

Oh dear, that does not sound good.

I have such horrible feet.

That sounds like a wonderful breakfast to me.

not nutritional, but very tasty

OH, I would have been in my element.

That juice is awesome

OK, who kidnapped Claire? I am used to her not being able to get enough pool time.

I know. As she has gotten older she is less interested in swimming. When she was younger that is all she thought about.

That was not our experience. We had booked a sailing and snorkel tour for Aruba and we did not really have enough wind for sailing. Fortunately the boat had an engine.

That sounds nice. I do know one side of Aruba is supposed to be rougher than the other side.

Yep Ellen G. I swear she is married to Michael Keeton.

That's too funny. Ellen and I have worked together since she started. We went to Jamaica last year together, as well as Disney, Universal and the Magic last year too, and have a conference in Nov. together. Sadly, I moved to another agency, so we no longer will have as many work trips together.

 

[jenseib]

Day 7, July 1, 2017. Aruba


Today we would be heading to our first port…Aruba! I have never been to Aruba before, so I was excited. My cousin who I sailed with in Oct. was actually just here about a week or so ago. In fact, she flew in the day the Fantasy was here on the 11 night cruise. She messaged me as soon as she landed and told me they flew over the Fantasy.


We were supposed to be in Aruba today till 5:45 PM, but it had been announced the other day that we would now be staying till 1 AM. Now we didn’t have plans to do anything in port at night, but I thought it was pretty cool.


I got up early after another night of creaking and went up top to scope out where we were. We weren’t there yet, so I went around and took some pictures of the adult area.


aruba31 by Jenseib, on Flickr


aruba32 by Jenseib, on Flickr


It was very windy and they had the front roped off so you couldn't go up there.


I thought we would be closer to land.


aruba33 by Jenseib, on Flickr


You can just barely see it.


aruba34 by Jenseib, on Flickr


aruba35 by Jenseib, on Flickr


Like I said, it was windy and a little rocky too. You can see the water in Satellite Falls sloshing all over.


aruba36 by Jenseib, on Flickr


aruba37 by Jenseib, on Flickr


aruba38 by Jenseib, on Flickr


I went back and got Claire up and ready and we headed for breakfast. We found whole mangos and I asked how to cut them and they told me they could do it….then pulled out a bowl with mango already cut and scooped a bunch in a bowl. Claire and I love mango, so that was a big hit.


aruba106 by Jenseib, on Flickr


And we were coming in to dock now too.


aruba107 by Jenseib, on Flickr


We walked out on deck and took pictures through the glass.


aruba108 by Jenseib, on Flickr


We positioned ourselves where we could see better and watched.


aruba109 by Jenseib, on Flickr


aruba110 by Jenseib, on Flickr


The area we docked was not all that pretty, but you didn’t have to go far to find shopping.


aruba111 by Jenseib, on Flickr


We went back to the room to gather our bag and then headed to DLounge to meet Jeanne and kids. We were doing the same excursion today… the 4X4 Natural Pool Adventure.


We got signed in. We all wore bathing suits with a cover up (since swimming in the natural pool is what we would be doing) and sandals or flip flops. We then were told we could not have open toed shoes? What? We are going swimming? They insisted we could not have them and made us change our shoes…which meant I had to huff and puff back to the room to get shoes for Claire and I. This could have been a problem as it was not listed on the explanation and what if I didn’t bring a closed toed shoe?

Jeanne’s girls ran back for her and they were much faster than I. Of course after we were there for a while waiting, they no longer were enforcing this rule and many people wore sandals. UGH!


We grabbed some towels and put them in our bag and then when our group was called, we headed off together off the ship.


aruba112 by Jenseib, on Flickr


aruba113 by Jenseib, on Flickr


And over to some buses. There was a regular bus and an open air bus…we quickly ran to the regular bus. LOL.


aruba114 by Jenseib, on Flickr


Our view from the bus.


aruba39 by Jenseib, on Flickr


We then were taken a short distance to the 4x4 place.


aruba40 by Jenseib, on Flickr


We would be riding in the jeeps.


aruba41 by Jenseib, on Flickr


They told us to use the restroom and we all went over and luckily we were the first few in and out.


One guy….and I can’t remember his name anymore….started telling us about the excursion and how it worked and that we would be able to pick a driver and they liked to keep the groups at about 8 per jeep. So he started introducing the drivers and people would volunteer to go with each one.


aruba42 by Jenseib, on Flickr


Jeanne said “Let’s have that main guy” and we went over while he was still introducing drivers and told him we would like to be in his jeep and we had 6 of us in our group. He told us ok and to stand off to the side.


Isn’t she sweet? Hahahaha


aruba115 by Jenseib, on Flickr


It then came down to us, another group of about 6 and a single lady. He told the lady to stand with us, and then he wasn’t sure what to do with the other group. He wasn’t sure why they hadn’t gone with a driver yet. I think he ended up splitting them up and putting them in other jeeps.


We then were told which jeep to go to.


aruba43 by Jenseib, on Flickr


Nick and the single lady were in the front row, Kelsey, Emily, and Claire were in the middle row, and Jeanne and I in the last.


We were told to buckle up as some parts were going to be very bumpy. We looked at other jeeps and we were so glad we picked this driver. Some had as many as 14 people in then and they were piled in shoulder to shoulder. Really you could fit 3 across each row comfortably, 4 would be pushing it.


We took off and our guy was the leader.


aruba44 by Jenseib, on Flickr


I took some pictures as we bounced along. This house had a HUGE boulder in the yard. It appeared to be attached to the house…was it hollow with a room in it?


aruba45 by Jenseib, on Flickr


aruba46 by Jenseib, on Flickr


Dominos!

aruba47 by Jenseib, on Flickr


I hadn’t expected Aruba to be so desert like. Lots of sandy areas and cactus all over the place.


aruba48 by Jenseib, on Flickr


We did comment on the houses here. They were much nicer and better maintained than many of the ones we have seen on other Caribbean islands.


aruba49 by Jenseib, on Flickr


I had to take a picture of this tree/bush as it had Christmas lights strung all over on it. We have a running joke at our house about Christmas lights being up all year long….as I do! I hate putting them up, so I string them across the front and leave them year round and just fix them each year if needed….though last year I did take them down and put a new set up…..and when I came home from this trip they were all down across the front porch as we had had a major wind storm. Hahahaha


aruba50 by Jenseib, on Flickr


I don’t know what this was, but it looked pretty cool.


aruba51 by Jenseib, on Flickr


Now it was still really hot out today, but it was windy in Aruba and with the moving vehicle it was even windier, so we felt fine.


aruba53 by Jenseib, on Flickr


aruba54 by Jenseib, on Flickr

 

[jenseib]

Right now the Dominos picture is showing as a link. I have no clue why as I am using the right code and I tried a couple of times to fix it and it is being stubborn. Hopefully it fixes itself, if not you can click on the link.

 

[dolphingirl47]

The area we docked was not all that pretty, but you didn’t have to go far to find shopping.

That looks completely different from where we docked in 2011.

We were doing the same excursion today… the 4X4 Natural Pool Adventure.

That sounds like the kind of excursion I would love.

This could have been a problem as it was not listed on the explanation and what if I didn’t bring a closed toed shoe?

That would quite likely have caught me out. I don't think I packed any closed-toed shoes on the last trip.

Corinna

 

[jenseib]

That looks completely different from where we docked in 2011.

I wonder if they have more than 1 dock?

That sounds like the kind of excursion I would love.

We had a lot of fun on it.

That would quite likely have caught me out. I don't think I packed any closed-toed shoes on the last trip.

For me, I always have tennis shoes, but Claire mostly wears flip flops. She did have a pair of tennis shoes though thank goodness.

 

[jenseib]

Another nice looking home. Like I said, there seemed to be a lot of nicer homes and most of the time the yards were kept clean too.


aruba55 by Jenseib, on Flickr


aruba56 by Jenseib, on Flickr


We then pulled over to a stop and everyone else did as well. Our guy told us that one of the jeeps broke down and that we may have to have those people ride with us. Bummer! So we waited a bit. Then we saw a jeep coming down the road, filled to the max but he just let us out and off we went. We did a little happy dance that we didn’t have to share our jeep.


aruba57 by Jenseib, on Flickr


Here’s a sight you don’t see every day.


aruba58 by Jenseib, on Flickr


aruba52 by Jenseib, on Flickr


There were goats running all around and we had slowed down enough that I could capture a few pictures.


aruba6 by Jenseib, on Flickr


These little ones were so cute.


aruba7 by Jenseib, on Flickr


This house was not one of the nicer ones…but I totally laughed at the dog barking at us from the wall. But at least they kept their clutter behind the wall…..in front it looked very nice.


aruba8 by Jenseib, on Flickr


aruba59 by Jenseib, on Flickr


We then pulled into the park where we would drive to the natural pool. Our guide stopped and said that it would be bumpy. He warned us not to say no…and he would assume we would be saying GO! And then he would go faster. LOL. He told us this drive was not to punish us, but this was his job to get us there….Uh Oh….this is going to be a crazy ride….everyone check your seatbelts.


aruba9 by Jenseib, on Flickr


aruba60 by Jenseib, on Flickr


Bumpy doesn’t even describe the ride. It was insane! We were flying all over the place.


aruba61 by Jenseib, on Flickr


The road to the pool was not really a road….more of a path.


aruba10 by Jenseib, on Flickr


aruba62 by Jenseib, on Flickr


With big giant rocks and pot holes.


aruba63 by Jenseib, on Flickr


aruba11 by Jenseib, on Flickr


You can kind of see the path in the distance.


aruba64 by Jenseib, on Flickr


aruba65 by Jenseib, on Flickr


aruba66 by Jenseib, on Flickr


aruba67 by Jenseib, on Flickr


aruba68 by Jenseib, on Flickr


aruba69 by Jenseib, on Flickr


I was glad we were in front as all the other jeeps were getting our dust clouds!


aruba116 by Jenseib, on Flickr


The water looked so beautiful in the distance.


aruba70 by Jenseib, on Flickr


aruba117 by Jenseib, on Flickr


The drivers were having way to much fun driving here too. Some would run up on hills and then back down. Some would do a little more off roading than what the current path was. We had fun, but keep in mind, this is not for the faint of heart…and it was not really described that way either.


aruba118 by Jenseib, on Flickr


aruba119 by Jenseib, on Flickr


aruba12 by Jenseib, on Flickr


aruba13 by Jenseib, on Flickr


Isn’t this view gorgeous?


aruba14 by Jenseib, on Flickr


aruba15 by Jenseib, on Flickr


We passed some people on horses too.


aruba16 by Jenseib, on Flickr


aruba17 by Jenseib, on Flickr