BEAUTY & THE BEAST ( & Lindy Loo!) Wonder 15th -19th Oct 06

[Lindy Loo]

Now cos I didnt write a journal like MJ5mouse, I forgot a few bits. Mainly the sail away party! This was straight after the drill, at 4pm.

Elouise had made friends with Kyle and Nicole, before the party, at the goofy swimming pool ( which was open before the Mickey one) Goofy swimming pool was very small and very very crowded. It must be about 4 foot deep ( certainly my 4 yr old couldnt touch the floor) it was such a zoo, I had to go in there with her. The big bold letters on the side of the pool say "NO JUMPING! but you can guess it cant you, there were loads of 8 to 12 years olds jumping in all over the place! Quite dangerous IMHO.

Kyle and Nicole and Elouise became firm friends in under 5 minutes they had been sending each other smilies on the Dis Thread meet, so it was great to actually meet them and their parents Mike and Jennifer. Hi there

Sorry, this is from Elouise to the girls,

The sail away party was fun, but I was surprised at no band or steel drums? Shame, we are off to the Carribean, surely we should have some steel drums to get us " in the mood"? It was like a disco, with lots of "scream louder, The Wonder" which was ok. The show was neat, and Elouise loved seeing all the characters. Kylie Nicole and Elouise had a blast dancing around, and eating sweets and blowing bubbles ( which we brought with us )

Here are the girls " dancing and posing" on their stage !!! What a show of Elouise is !

Heres the girls in " the hot tub" which was soooo much fun for Elouise. As it wasnt actually that hot ( these were the ones by the Goofy pool, so are designed for kids) In the Uk no children are allowed in these until over 16. So this was her first time. ( sadly we aren't rich enough to have a hot tub in our garden) When she eventually got out, she couldnt stop laughing at her fingers, they were so wrinkly !!

From left to right. Kylie Elouise and Nicole.

 

[Lindy Loo]

Heres a few shots from the sail away party. If you want to be down in the action, go to Deck 9, if you want more of an over view stay on deck 10. Wayne did some great filming from up there, as you can zoom in on the characters. SPOLIER!!!!!.................. at the end of the disco bit, loads of streamers burst out from the sides of the dance floor, I guess from the floor of deck 10, so they fall down on the people on deck 9. The girls loved, grabbing the streamers. Elouise still has her "string" and is in her keepskae box.

THANK YOU MJ for your PM, now all my photos can be upright! What a techincal whizz you are
Heres Mickey at the Sailaway party

 

[Lindy Loo]

Heres Minnie, there was Chip and Dale and pluto too, I wont bore you with any more of these photos.

Where ever you are, the massive TV screen behind the show, means you can see the characters very very easy!

 

[Lindy Loo]

This report is so "all over the place" I PROMISE on future cruises to take notes. Ive loved reading others trip reports, but its not as easy as it looks ............... honest!

Anyway, back to the dig. I know Jane said the previous night, she was intending to have Conk salad when she got ashore at the Bahamas. So when we were in the dig, and Wayne saw a "conk?" in the petting area he thought I should take a photo of it, in honour of Jane. Now warning, this is NOT a flattering picture of me, and I really wouldnt want it to be seen by anyone, let alone the whole of the DIS. However I'm being honest, I was actually very proud of myself to be able to pick it up. ( Im such a baby, I know!)

I asked Jane that night at dinner if she got her conk to eat, sadly she didnt !!! ( if only I had know, I could have popped this one in my handbag for her )

Wayne, is much braver than me, and picked up a crab. I cant remember its name, I will edit in later ( sorry dizzy moment.... again, that journal would have come in useful )

 

[Lindy Loo]

Here are some pictues of The Atlantis building,

the "lucky chair" outside the casino. Tip There is a photographer by this chair charging for pictures, however if you ask nicely, they will use your camera and take it for free

and here I am with some policeman, on the harbour front by the straw market. They were very very polite and happy to pose for a picture.
I think this is where Belinda saw me, as she was on a boat, off on or coming fro her snorkelling trip.

We popped into the straw market for about 10 minutes. I thought it would be an open air type market, but to be honest its a tented, very crowded, and with narrow aisles. Each store sold the same stuff, so once you have been and looked at about 4 stalls, you had seen the lot. Now normally I can shop for England, but there wasnt really anything that caught my eye. Sure lots of little bags etc that Elouise would like, but she has so many already, and we have the lugguage allownace to think about. We were very polite to traders, who I didnt think were pushy at all. We just said "no thanks" with a smile and kept walking. Now I suppose some of you will think im a soft touch, but i did give 2 women, $10 each, for their babies. I was looking at their stall, trying to find something to buy, to help them. I really didnt need anything, so just said quietly , "please buy your family something with this" and passed the notes over. They seemed very happy about this, and I felt it wasnt alot, it would help in some small way. ( since ive had Elouise I have become so much more moved by things)

We also had a look in Senor Frogs. (notice our "Wonder"... )

Now we would have stayed longer but the karakoe (spelling?) that was being belted out was terrible !
At dinner Jules and Ian said they were in there, drinking yards of booze, ( or was it them singing ??? ) now we would have been up for that ( remember Elouise is safely on the boat, in the OC!) if we had known they were in there.
Instead, we decided to go back to the boat, to see how much Elouise had missed us. ..................... answer. " Please dont take me out of the club, I'm having tooooo much fun!!!"

 

[Lindy Loo]

Now ask Elouise what was the best bit of the cruise, and she would shout "ROOM SERVICE"........................ she loved this !

She would ask every day to have her tea by room service and then go into the club. She even got to use the phone and order her meal, on her own. She would sit all excited, waiting for the knock on the door. She would then rush to answer it. Every waiter we had, was wonderful, saying "Hello princess", they would put down the tray and make a big thing about taking off the silver cover. She would the gasp and clap her hands in delight, at the plate of food ( pretending she didnt know what was coming ) she would then say thank you and curtsey ???????? she then tipped them $2. ( being English we dont tip very often at home, so she loved doing this) so much so for next years cruise she has asked for $1 bills for her to put into her own purse. So now each time she gets a star at school she gets a $1 bill ready for room service.

This was such a highlight, that when we got back home Elouises favourite game is "rooom service". Where me or Daddy is "phoned" via her Barbie phone, she requests tea, and we bring it to the table on a tray, the plate covered with a silver saucepan lid ( I know its soooo funny, we havent got a proper silver dome, so a saucepan lid will have to do !)

 

[A fat english gent]

Now where do all these yanks get the idea us Brits are all barking?....great report LL,i love the fact it's all over the place and your far braver than me for writing it....

 

[MJ5MOUSE]

I was actually very proud of myself to be able to pick it up. ( Im such a baby, I know!)

I asked Jane that night at dinner if she got her conk to eat, sadly she didnt !!! ( if only I had know, I could have popped this one in my handbag for her )

Yes, sadly no conch salad available in Nassau If I had seen your little critter I would have chopped him up right then and there. Yummmmm!

Wayne, is much braver than me, and picked up a crab. I cant remember its name, I will edit in later ( sorry dizzy moment.... again, that journal would have come in useful )

That is a horseshoe crab. They are very common in Florida. I was braver than either of you. Alie wanted to touch the sea cucumber but was afraid so she begged me to touch it. It felt like wet suede. Ewwwww.

 

[SparKeLLy]

Love your report Linda. Elouise is so adorable. Even Jake thought so as he told my parents what a wonderful little girl she was. Can't wait to read more. Maybe I'll have to do my own, but I'm not much of a writer.

 

[Sue88]

You were very brave to touch the conch, Linda! I am enjoying the reports so much! I am glad you got a picture in the giant chair. We walked thru the casino and somehow missed seeing the chair. I knew about the chair from a workmate who has been to Atlantis a couple of times. I am really going to miss it when you, Jane, Alie, and Belinda are finished with the reports.

Kelly-I would love to read your experience on the ship!

 

[Timon]

Linda,

Thanks for posting your trippie and photos!! They are getting me through some cold, snowy days here in Calgary! I've been so busy with doctors appts and lab tests etc, today I decided to put my feet up, grab the laptop and finally read your TR and relax!

Looks like you guys had lots of fun!! Can't wait to read about the rest!!!

 

[TinkNanny]

and here I am with some policeman, on the harbour front by the straw market. They were very very polite and happy to pose for a picture.
I think this is where Belinda saw me, as she was on a boat, off on or coming fro her snorkelling trip.

I knew you were up to no good.... Belinda

 

[TinkNanny]

Linda,
You are doing a great job!! I need to finish my report. I can't seem to get back to it, I'm afraid I will forget!!!

Keep up the good reports!!

To Ellie: She probably doesn't remember me, but I kept seeing her everywhere and she always smile and acted like she knew me. She is friendly, like her Momma

Belinda

 

[Keggy]

Thanks for your trip report so far - who cares if you didn't take notes! I took notes for a whole one time! I never had time to go back and update them!

I love the dress you wore in Nassau, very cute!

Kelly

 

[cntkg1]

Lindy Loo Hoo....

Lovin' the TR!! Great job girl!!! The pictures of Elouise are priceless. I really love the one with the postcard in her hands.

Now when Brenda PM's you with the picture of the 4 of you, we want to see it too. Please share.

Keep up the good work,

Nancy

 

[Lindy Loo]

OK, I THINK we are on to formal night ??? Thats the 2nd night on the 4 night cruise, after the day in the Bahamas.

We were in AP for this night ( and tomorrow Pirates night) on a 4 night cruise you each in the same place for 2nd and 3rd night. This is OK as there is a different menu for pirates night anyway. However be warned the "show" is only on the first time you go to AP. I had read so much about the show, however this was a bit of a let down for our family. It just wasnt as " amazing" as we thought.

Here is one of the pictures that change colour as you eat. Though the picture by our table just went from black and white to colour and that was it. I expected the room to change in time with each other, but it seemed more random.

Not a great " in focus" photo, but sadly one of the few where we are all in it. (We can blame one of the waiters for the fuzzy picture! )
One thing ive promised myself next cruise, is to take to take more pictures of our friends/tablemates.

 

[Lindy Loo]

I loved the puddings here, I ordered the strawberry shortbread, but Wayne had the chocolate and peanut pie ( it tasted like a heavenly Snickers bar) so i had one of them too !


Photos below.... WARNING, just looking at these will make you put on a few pounds!

In the shop on board I noticed you can buy the plates the choc & peanut pie came in, which was kind of a neat idea. But I near brought them ( may be next time !?)

I only really took these pictures, cos all the rest of my crazy tablemates took a picture of everything they ate! only joking you know I love you all

 

[Lindy Loo]

Heres our waiters, who made us "napkin hats".

Later on I will proudly tell you and show you photos on my lessons on napkin folding. ( which is at Studio seas on the 4th day)

 

[Lindy Loo]

On formal night, Minnie and Mickey are out in the attrium. We got there 20 minutes before the time on the Navigator. It was busy, so a big hint, get there early. Its no autograpghs, but a great op for photos.

 

[Lindy Loo]

Here's Elouise in "The Lab" ( for the older kids) this is the docking simulator, which even the adults wanted to play with.