PoohJen
<font color=green>Willing to share a Mickey Bar?<b
- Joined
- Jun 25, 2004
- Messages
- 3,045
The Cast: me, DH 41, DS12, and DS twins 7. First time cruisers!
Another beautiful day in the Caribbean! First thing this morning, we had to clear immigration at 6:45!!! Hard time trying to explain that to the boys. It took 20-30 minutes. DH and twins had the Atlantis Submarine excursion at 8 this morning, so we grabbed some breakfast at Topsiders and brought it down to our rooms while they got ready for their excursion. The boys had been up late at the Pirates in the Caribbean party last night, and even later watching Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban in bed (they loved catching snippets of the movie all week whenever we came back to the room to dress, etc.)
Note: funny how you block these things out of your head! I was reminded of the immigration part by reading GrayFal's report. zzz; must've slept thru the whole thing.
I waved goodbye from our verandah as they made their way down the gang plank with their tour group. While we had St. Maarten all to ourselves, today we were snugly parallel parked between two other, very large cruise ships.
I took a walk around Deck 4's promenade and stopped to watch DH and twins' excursion boat heading out to sea. Then DS12 and I had breakfast together. I hadn't planned on doing anything today in St. Thomas, but, since I was here, felt I should at least get off the ship for a little while.
Twisted DS12's arm to come with me up the sky tram, which could be seen from the ship and was just short walk from the dock. Well, the line was very very long, and the tickets were around $16, I think, so we bagged it, as it had just been an afterthought anyway. DS and I took in a little souvenier shopping on the way back to the ship. By now he had warmed to the idea of a little one-on-one time with Mom, and we were enjoying our time together.
The souvenier shops near the port are your typical tshirt, magnets, key chains type of thing. These were stores with set prices, I didn't see any haggling.
Now, our next stop won't win me mother of the year. One shop had a liquor store component to it, and I remember reading that St. Thomas was the place to buy cheap, if you wanted to buy liquor. At the back a woman was pouring sample shots of flavored rums - banana, coconut, pineapple, etc. MMMMMM. Very tasty. and free! I got my money's worth and then some!
And, the stuff went for 7 or 8 dollars a bottle, I thought it would make a cute gift, so they had a new customer! First, however, I got to talking about vodka with the salesman, and he gave me some sample shots of flavored vodkas. All so very good. I settled on a bottle of the banana rum, and a gift pack of 5 smaller bottles containing one of each of the flavored rums.
now, before you report me to child services...these were not standard sized shots! Nonetheless, I felt my face get flush as we headed back to the ship. DS went off to the lab to look for buddies, and I decided to go try out the adult pool for the first time! Very nice, very quiet. The hot tubs were hotter than Goofy's, but still, I like them even hotter than that.
DH and twins arrived back for lunch; I think we did the Pinochio's/Pluto's thing around the pool. They had a really good time; I had read mixed reviews about the Atlantis excursion, but after the trip DH said it was worth doing once. Their sub submerged around 75-80 feet, and DH was impressed by how clear/light the water still was at that depth. (note: DH, a generous guy, was somehow annoyed by the way the tour guide was strongly inferring that $10 was the minimum "appreciated" tip, so he didn't tip him at all)
DH wanted to do a little souvenier shopping with me (I think he just wanted us to get to spend some time on St. Thomas; the port is the site of an open air mall, there's no beach nearby), so the twins went to the Club to play. I took DH to sample some of the rum shots. We ended up buying some large bottles of Baileys at $16 each (same price as on ship; although Bailey's was on sale on the ship on the first night, but I wasn't in shopping mode that early into the trip!) and a bottle of Absolut. We gave one bottle of Bailey's to DH's parents, who hosted us pre-cruise and helpfully drove us to and from Port Canaveral from their nearby home. We also found an especially nice (but expensive!) Harley Davidson mug for our neighbor, who watched our house and collected our mail during our cruise. (Thanks, Hannosmom for the tip!!!) Hurry, hurry back to the ship - it was All Aboard by 4:30 pm!
Oh yeah, we were stopped by a fellow on St. Thomas who wanted to say hello - it was our server, Trifonio, enjoying a day of shore leave! How nice that he recognized us! And, earlier that morning a car pulled up alongside DS and I, offering us a day at the beach! It was our DisFriend GrayFal and her sweet DH!
Back on board, I was DETERMINED to go play bingo! It was held in Diversions, a small night club/sports bar on "Beat Street". I was discouraged by the relatively thin crowd, was looking for a rowdy bingo game, I guess! I was also perplexed by the punch-hole bingo cards, but I caught on. Bingo on DCL goes like this: $35 gets you five cards (one each for five games). Each game has its own twist. The final game is the Jackpot Round - if you get full card by 50 calls, you win! No one had won all week, so by today the jackpot had snowballed to $3000!!!! Alas, my bingo performance was pitiful. And, It seemed everyone around me was more talented at getting their numbers called. Still, there was the Final Round!!! Number after number went by, I expected that some lucky soul would jump up and yell "Bingo!" at any moment, causing me a severe adrenalin let down. I'm telling you, I never knew bingo could be so stressful!
Anyway, suddenly they announced the 50th number had been called, with no winner (y'know, i think they could've built up the excitement more if they told us when we were approaching 50). The game continued on, til I thought there were certainly no numbers left except the ones on my card! Still, all of a sudden I jumped up and yelled "BINGO!!!" I was quite nervous I had made a mistake and was ready to dive under the nearest cocktail table and hide.
It was a legit bingo, but my prize was not $3000 but $100 (b/c it was such a small crowd). Still, it was fun to leave with a prize. I was determined to play again tomorrow for the final day of bingo!
Rushed up to meet the family at dinner - tonite was Lumiere's with the Small World dinner. I think baked clams and cheesecake were involved. Not on the same plate, of course.
Tonite's show was Who Wants to be a Mouseketeer? We were really looking forward to this. Our DIS friends, the KY crazies, were there, having skipped their late seating dinner to try for another chance at Mouseketeer. The contestants are picked randomly by computer according to seat number. On the very first pick, someone from my row was called! Alas, it wasn't me. (for some reason, the game became a little less interesting after that! LOL). At the end, Captain Mickey came out to give away a plush toy. We all had a nice time.
I believe tonight after the show the boys went to the Club/Lab (Club was showing movies, while the children lay on mats in low light; Lab was up on the sports deck). DH and I had a personal invitation to an exclusive party in the Roy O. Disney suite, home of our DisFriend HouseofPrincesses!
We had a nice gathering with many of our DisFriends. One twin came with us and joined Vicki's girls in their bedroom, watching cartoons in the dark and playing on the bunk beds. The suite was gorgeous! Two bedrooms (I think "only" two), a full size livingroom, a full dining room and two huge, luxurious bathrooms! Double sized verandah. Fine wood throughout. Decorated with Disney family pictures, antique cameras; very tasteful and warm. GrayFal mixed me a fine cosmo, while DH was applauded for having his bottle opener with him (he had bought it at RonJon's as a souvenier before the cruise). What a great group of friends we had made on these boards! To be honest, I was hoping the cruise would be just family time for us, with no commitments, etc. But it was so much fun to keep running into happy people who "knew" me, and getting to know them all better too! And it was really special to have these little get togethers during the week. 
Hi DisFriends!!!!
What a great way to end the day! (and yes, I could feel the end of the trip creeping up on us, but was determined to enjoy every last minute!!!)
Click Here for Day 6 - More Bingo at Sea!
Another beautiful day in the Caribbean! First thing this morning, we had to clear immigration at 6:45!!! Hard time trying to explain that to the boys. It took 20-30 minutes. DH and twins had the Atlantis Submarine excursion at 8 this morning, so we grabbed some breakfast at Topsiders and brought it down to our rooms while they got ready for their excursion. The boys had been up late at the Pirates in the Caribbean party last night, and even later watching Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban in bed (they loved catching snippets of the movie all week whenever we came back to the room to dress, etc.)
Note: funny how you block these things out of your head! I was reminded of the immigration part by reading GrayFal's report. zzz; must've slept thru the whole thing.
I waved goodbye from our verandah as they made their way down the gang plank with their tour group. While we had St. Maarten all to ourselves, today we were snugly parallel parked between two other, very large cruise ships.
I took a walk around Deck 4's promenade and stopped to watch DH and twins' excursion boat heading out to sea. Then DS12 and I had breakfast together. I hadn't planned on doing anything today in St. Thomas, but, since I was here, felt I should at least get off the ship for a little while.
Twisted DS12's arm to come with me up the sky tram, which could be seen from the ship and was just short walk from the dock. Well, the line was very very long, and the tickets were around $16, I think, so we bagged it, as it had just been an afterthought anyway. DS and I took in a little souvenier shopping on the way back to the ship. By now he had warmed to the idea of a little one-on-one time with Mom, and we were enjoying our time together.
The souvenier shops near the port are your typical tshirt, magnets, key chains type of thing. These were stores with set prices, I didn't see any haggling.
Now, our next stop won't win me mother of the year. One shop had a liquor store component to it, and I remember reading that St. Thomas was the place to buy cheap, if you wanted to buy liquor. At the back a woman was pouring sample shots of flavored rums - banana, coconut, pineapple, etc. MMMMMM. Very tasty. and free! I got my money's worth and then some!
And, the stuff went for 7 or 8 dollars a bottle, I thought it would make a cute gift, so they had a new customer! First, however, I got to talking about vodka with the salesman, and he gave me some sample shots of flavored vodkas. All so very good. I settled on a bottle of the banana rum, and a gift pack of 5 smaller bottles containing one of each of the flavored rums. now, before you report me to child services...these were not standard sized shots! Nonetheless, I felt my face get flush as we headed back to the ship. DS went off to the lab to look for buddies, and I decided to go try out the adult pool for the first time! Very nice, very quiet. The hot tubs were hotter than Goofy's, but still, I like them even hotter than that.
DH and twins arrived back for lunch; I think we did the Pinochio's/Pluto's thing around the pool. They had a really good time; I had read mixed reviews about the Atlantis excursion, but after the trip DH said it was worth doing once. Their sub submerged around 75-80 feet, and DH was impressed by how clear/light the water still was at that depth. (note: DH, a generous guy, was somehow annoyed by the way the tour guide was strongly inferring that $10 was the minimum "appreciated" tip, so he didn't tip him at all)
DH wanted to do a little souvenier shopping with me (I think he just wanted us to get to spend some time on St. Thomas; the port is the site of an open air mall, there's no beach nearby), so the twins went to the Club to play. I took DH to sample some of the rum shots. We ended up buying some large bottles of Baileys at $16 each (same price as on ship; although Bailey's was on sale on the ship on the first night, but I wasn't in shopping mode that early into the trip!) and a bottle of Absolut. We gave one bottle of Bailey's to DH's parents, who hosted us pre-cruise and helpfully drove us to and from Port Canaveral from their nearby home. We also found an especially nice (but expensive!) Harley Davidson mug for our neighbor, who watched our house and collected our mail during our cruise. (Thanks, Hannosmom for the tip!!!) Hurry, hurry back to the ship - it was All Aboard by 4:30 pm!
Oh yeah, we were stopped by a fellow on St. Thomas who wanted to say hello - it was our server, Trifonio, enjoying a day of shore leave! How nice that he recognized us! And, earlier that morning a car pulled up alongside DS and I, offering us a day at the beach! It was our DisFriend GrayFal and her sweet DH!
Back on board, I was DETERMINED to go play bingo! It was held in Diversions, a small night club/sports bar on "Beat Street". I was discouraged by the relatively thin crowd, was looking for a rowdy bingo game, I guess! I was also perplexed by the punch-hole bingo cards, but I caught on. Bingo on DCL goes like this: $35 gets you five cards (one each for five games). Each game has its own twist. The final game is the Jackpot Round - if you get full card by 50 calls, you win! No one had won all week, so by today the jackpot had snowballed to $3000!!!! Alas, my bingo performance was pitiful. And, It seemed everyone around me was more talented at getting their numbers called. Still, there was the Final Round!!! Number after number went by, I expected that some lucky soul would jump up and yell "Bingo!" at any moment, causing me a severe adrenalin let down. I'm telling you, I never knew bingo could be so stressful!
Anyway, suddenly they announced the 50th number had been called, with no winner (y'know, i think they could've built up the excitement more if they told us when we were approaching 50). The game continued on, til I thought there were certainly no numbers left except the ones on my card! Still, all of a sudden I jumped up and yelled "BINGO!!!" I was quite nervous I had made a mistake and was ready to dive under the nearest cocktail table and hide.
It was a legit bingo, but my prize was not $3000 but $100 (b/c it was such a small crowd). Still, it was fun to leave with a prize. I was determined to play again tomorrow for the final day of bingo!
Rushed up to meet the family at dinner - tonite was Lumiere's with the Small World dinner. I think baked clams and cheesecake were involved. Not on the same plate, of course.
Tonite's show was Who Wants to be a Mouseketeer? We were really looking forward to this. Our DIS friends, the KY crazies, were there, having skipped their late seating dinner to try for another chance at Mouseketeer. The contestants are picked randomly by computer according to seat number. On the very first pick, someone from my row was called! Alas, it wasn't me. (for some reason, the game became a little less interesting after that! LOL). At the end, Captain Mickey came out to give away a plush toy. We all had a nice time.
I believe tonight after the show the boys went to the Club/Lab (Club was showing movies, while the children lay on mats in low light; Lab was up on the sports deck). DH and I had a personal invitation to an exclusive party in the Roy O. Disney suite, home of our DisFriend HouseofPrincesses!
We had a nice gathering with many of our DisFriends. One twin came with us and joined Vicki's girls in their bedroom, watching cartoons in the dark and playing on the bunk beds. The suite was gorgeous! Two bedrooms (I think "only" two), a full size livingroom, a full dining room and two huge, luxurious bathrooms! Double sized verandah. Fine wood throughout. Decorated with Disney family pictures, antique cameras; very tasteful and warm. GrayFal mixed me a fine cosmo, while DH was applauded for having his bottle opener with him (he had bought it at RonJon's as a souvenier before the cruise). What a great group of friends we had made on these boards! To be honest, I was hoping the cruise would be just family time for us, with no commitments, etc. But it was so much fun to keep running into happy people who "knew" me, and getting to know them all better too! And it was really special to have these little get togethers during the week. Hi DisFriends!!!! What a great way to end the day! (and yes, I could feel the end of the trip creeping up on us, but was determined to enjoy every last minute!!!)
Click Here for Day 6 - More Bingo at Sea!
Neither of us cracked a book all week, and that beer/wine coolers we brought on board with us went virtually untouched! My DisFriends who were travelling without young-ish children (or just sans kids) did the Wine Tasting, Bridge Tour and things like that.
