EDC Western Cruise, 11/01/08: PostTrip Depression, Pics added 11/29

[Mom2PrincessesLinSy]

So, just like the Saturday highlights from the Navigator, here are the Sunday highlights:

Walt Disney Theatre: The Comedy and Juggling of Ron Pearson (Walt Disney Theatre)

Diamond Jackpot Bingo: Four CASH prizes and fantastic shopping prizes to be won, including your chance to win a beautiful Diamond pendant. (Rocking Bar D)

Port Adventures: various excursions leaving anywhere from 12:15pm til 1:50pm on Key West

Special Promotion: Treasure Ketch-when you spend $60 or more (like that's a tough one!) in one transaction you can purchase an exclusive DCL Rolling Duffel bag for $20 *NOTE* this is a VERY important offer considering its a whole extra bag for less than the $39 that Airtran charged me for the extra inch of my suitcase. I was bound and determined to get the bag(rolling duffel) while in WDW at DTD, but I didn't get a chance to get back there since I was sick. So, I was so happy to see the offer on the boat too (plus it had the DCL logo instead of the WDW logo!!)

NOTE:
ASHORE: approx 12:30pm (we were allowed ashore by12pm)
ALL ABOARD: 7:30pm

Evening Attire: Cruise Casual
Dinner Menu:
Animator's Palate: Show Dinner
Parrot Cay: Island Dinner
Lumiere's: French Dinner

Drink of the Day:
Key Lime Margarita (Alcoholic)
Coco Bali (Non-Alcoholic)

Fun for the Whole Family:
Paper Plane Making
Diamond Jackpot Bingo
Disney, Dali and Destino
Family Crafts
Origami Flowers
Chip It Golf
Cruisin' for Trivia
Live Painting
Spa Jackpot Bingo
Who Wants to be a Mousekeeter?

Adult Exclusive Entertainment
DVC Member Celebration
Disney's Art of Entertaining
College Club Social
Singles' Mingle
Sundown Sounds
Piano and Vocal Favorites
Steve Morris: Adult Cabaret
Rockstar

 

[Mom2PrincessesLinSy]

So, after a lovely day at Key West, we settled into bed, and slept like babies yet again! Our room was really great this time, quiet, not too much movement, we loved it!

Monday was a "Sea Day" A day for relaxing. A day for doing nothing. A day for..... exploring! We ate breakfast at Topsiders for breakfast, for what? Yes, that is correct! Mickey Waffles! (and fruit!)

And we discussed the day's plans, which didn't make my DD very happy.

Would she go to her kids club today? No! Would she PLEASE go to...

Stitch's Great Adventure? (hey, are we in NJ? Oh wait, that's called SIX FLAGS now!) No, my child won't go to that one today (even though she said she wanted to!)

Mousekeeter in Training? YES! Sydney would go to that one. With the promise to see Mickey, or some other big fully creature, we were able to drop her off in the Club. Lin, however, came with us to the Castaway Clubhouse Meet.

Saw the usual video about the Making of the Magic, recent update film footage from dry dock (all playing on your stateroom TV as well!) Video of Tom McAlpin promoting the upcoming 2010 cruises, and video of the DCL "home office" Then, a "guest" appearance by our captain!

Prizes were given away (DCL Clocks). People were cut-throat to get them! Sorry to those who left early and didn't stay to hear that you onea prize! The people there were ready to hunt you in your stateroom and take the clock from you!!

The afternoon was lunch, the girls still not going to the club, and my MASSAGE!! Yeah baby! In was a 1/2 hour upper body massage, and she really dug in deep to try and work out the KNOTS in my shoulders. I signed in, and was taken right back. Brought back to a room, which smelled heavenly and was dimly lit (mood lighting?) Got undressed (waist up) and laid down on the massage table. Lovely woman, worked hard at getting out the "kinks", including using her elbows to really get down deep! Definately helped, I felt better, but still had knots. I will need to get a massage every so often at home just to keep my shoulders "loose."

After my massage, back to the stateroom (conveniently just immediately below the spa) and sat down with the girls. They had been watching Kung Fu Panda with Daddy (for the 50th time already in 3 days!). Lindsey had said she'd go to Ratatouille cooking school (to make chocolate chip cookies) but she didn't. Did Syd want to go to Toy Story Boot Camp? "No thank you" UGH!!`It was a bit windy and chilly up on the deck, so we explored the ship, looked at pictures in Shutters, colored in our stateroom, sat on the verandah and watched the sea go by. It was lovely...

Finally, we did get the kids to agree to go to the Lilo Aloha Party, probably because it was a combined kids club, instead of a group of 3/4s and 5/7s. We peekied on them, and they seemed to be having a good time!

We left them to hang a while longer (they loved the free time to go up and down the slide, and up and down the slide, and up and down.... well, you get the idea!) And we got ready for formal night!

One of these pictures I will get them both to smile NICELY!!

Please, just once???

We waited in line for the cathedral type stone background, and I have to say, that photographer did not do as well as some of the others. I cannot remember his name, but he only took one or 2 pictures of all of us, then one of the girls, and one of just Ron and I. We chose not to wait on line for any other background pictures, since we had done all the others on previous cruises. There are some that I definately prefer over others (like the Magic with the Mickey Head sunset) but we weren't going to wait on line for them and end up late for dinner! We headed back to Animators for the Show dinner..... well maybe not!! Its Golden Mickey's night, and that means a Golden Mickey's menu!!

We had a great table, right next to one of the TVs but also at the entrance to the galley. Its OK, though, we had it to ourselves!

Some of the Animator Pictures:

Dinner was great. I had the Broccoli and Maytag Bleu Cheese Soup (wonderful!!) and the Parmesean Cheese Souffle. For my entree, I had the Beef Wellington, Ron had the Duck. Both were very tasty, and we were quite filled as always! The girls? Any guesses? Minnie Cheeseburger (WITH KETCHUP!) for Lin and 2 hot dogs (WITH KETCHUP) for Syd. Life is good...

Dessert was really great (isn't it always?) Ron had the Creme Brulee, and I had.... drum roll please...

Yes, much like most diners, the Mickey Chocolate Award. The girls loved the fact that the "ticket" was all chocolate, and stole it and ate it! Darn them! It really did remind me of the White Chocolate glass slipper desserts we had at our wedding. They were filled with Chocolate Mousse, and had a raspberry sauce with a chocolate powder image of the Castle on the plate. Ahhh, chocolate!

We then headed to the stateroom, to see if we had our Navigator for Tuesday yet, but no. Just a towel animal!

Not sure how an elephant figured into the night's show, but hey, what do I know?

 

[Mom2PrincessesLinSy]

We left to get seats for the show early, since we KNOW this show ends up as STANDING ROOM only! The halls are nicely decorated for the show...

And the Stage is set!

And On with the show!

Not sure if I can link back to any of my previous posts, so you don't need to search back, but there are pictures of the Golden Mickey's taken on the last cruise which came out really well. I will remind you that they were taken without a flash!!

It was an awesome show. One that gives any Disney fan goosebumps and brings tears to your eyes (esp when the Drawfs appear on stage!) After the show (can't tell you details!), we took the girls to the Royal Ball in the Club to see.....

Snow White!! Just kidding, wanted to see if you are paying attention!!

Back later with more pics from the Royal Ball, where you can see my girls and Paige excitedly dancing to the direction of the Royal Princess herself! They are soooo cute!!

 

[wuv tigger]

great TR!!!

 

[Mom2PrincessesLinSy]

Hey Judy, I hope you are feeling better! I am going slow on the TR right now since its coming up on Turkey Day and I am swamped at work! One of my staff went home yesterday, and the doctor told her she has the flu and will be out the whole week! UGH!! Its starting already!

I am hoping to post some more in the next couple of days. Maybe after we go to see Santa tomorrow! It seems I got off the ship, blinked and now its Christmas! AHHHHHHH!

 

[wuv tigger]

I only took 2 naps yesterday I am doing so much better especially when I remember how sick I was this time last week.

I am so thankful for our wonderful friends who have helped us out the last week.

I hope to get to my tr later this weekend.

A Very Happy Thanksgiving to ALL the EDC's!!

 

[wuv tigger]

I don't know how to insert pix.

It was SO cool to see folks come & go right below our window. The girls loved it!

wuv tigger

 

[LITTLEKID58]

Love you tr and all the pics.. TFS

 

[Mom2PrincessesLinSy]

Love you tr and all the pics.. TFS

LIz, you are on my Baltic Cruise in 2010!! How cool!

 

[Mom2PrincessesLinSy]

Ok, time flies when Thanksgiving comes around! I hope I haven't lost all my avid readers who have given up on me in their pursuit of recent pictures and stories of the Magic!

First, a note! I guess they switched up all the Crew on us, since when we were on board we had Brent and Captain Thord, and now its back to Christian and Captian Tom! Not a bad thing, all are great, but where did they go?? Questions to ponder!

When I left off, I promised more pictures of the Royal Ball.

Man, I gotta get a Cinderella costume. You can make your kid do almost anything including bow to you when you wear it and wave your magic wand!

Lindsey having some fun with Paige (also known as Alice in Wonderland on this cruise!)

Hanging out with Tick Tock (who didn't Tick or Tock while we were there!)

She is such a ham!

Up next, a very soggy trip to the Cayman Islands, including Turtles, Butterflies, and a few Fruits....

 

[Mom2PrincessesLinSy]

Tuesday came upon us, rather quietly considering there was "a hurricane a comin'" We decided to do room service for breakfast today, since we had no where to be until our afternoon excursion, and we wanted to be lazy! We put our breakfast card out the night before, and our breakfast magically appeared for us at 9am (we asked for "delivery" between 9 and 9:30am) We did receive a mysterious phone call just before 9am, which I assume was Room Service giving a little call to make sure all were awake and decent for breakfast

I had ordered a bunch of everything, figuring that everyone could pick at what they wanted. I had cereal, donuts, bagels, croissants, apple juice, orange juice, milk, and butters, jellies and hot tea. Didn't order cream cheese, however, and its quite difficult to eat a bagel without it!!

Sadly, my crew snarfed up the food before I could get a picture of the spread, so suffice it to say they enjoyed it! Sydney, however, was looking for, yes, you guessed it. Her Mickey Crack, er, um, Mickey Waffles, of which they have NONE for room service. But with a bit of distraction, each of them gathered up their food, and went to their respective cave (bed) to wolf it down. All the while, we watched Kung Fu Panda for the 600th time, and also some other Disney classic video or another (can't be sure, DH kept flipping through the channels!)

We got ready leisurely, and sat out on the verandah watching the views. It was cloudy. And rainy. And dreary. But warm. Very warm. And we were going to have to take a tender ashore (I hate having to take tenders to shore). But this trip we would actually be able to GO ashore, which we couldn't the last time we were in Cayman. On the last trip it was so rainy and rough that not only did they cancel all tours and tenders after about 9am, but they moved the ship to the other side of the island to anchor! I know that there were probably some people who had managed to get on shore that were freaking out that they no longer saw the boat, or had to go to a different dock to board their tender back! Glad I wasn't them then, and glad we didn't have to worry about it this time!

We did run up to Topsiders for a quick bite for lunch before boarding the tenders. We waited until after 11am so we didn't have to wait for the tender ticket, sit and be called to go ashore, etc. etc. We also tried that last time, and we waited and waited and waited, and Lindsey got cranky (she was 18 months old at the time) and my Dad got cranky (he was 58 years old at the time!) So, we never got ashore last time.

Boarding the tender was a smooth process. The usual check your KTTW card at the podium, then head out to the small, rocky boat, precariously tied to our larger and more stable ship with men in yellow slickers at hand to hold on to each poor sucker trying to manage their balance and get on the little boat without falling into the water. Tricky, when the little boat keeps bobbing up and down. But here are some shots I got once we got aboard the little dinghy!

Another terribly ugly ship docked near us!

So we safely made it ashore. A bit damp, a bit chilly, but safe and not too bad a ride considering the weather. We got to the dock about 1/2 hour before our scheduled excursion time of 12:10pm (Island Tour and Butterfly Farm) and waited around. I tried to "check in" twice before they finally were accepting our tour times. They give you a limited window of check-in and when you get whisked off to your tour, so plan accordingly! Since we were told to come back around 12:05pm, we ventured across from the dock to do a little bit of exploring. Very little.

The obligatory pose in front of whatever island's sign is nearest to the dock. In this case, Grand Cayman's turtle pirate...

Across the street was a little market, full of either bars or jewerly shops, neither of which we were very interested in. Also a tiny store called the "Book Nook", but we weren't much interested in buying old used books either. Should have gone in and gotten some postcards, since I wouldn't be able to get any beautiful pictures of Grand Cayman. But we did find a few friends we found along the way!

Damn, that is one big......whatever the heck he is!!

Posing with our large parrot friends who at least warn you before they bite your fingers off!

Ok, I admit, there was one picture I didn't get, since I didn't think it would be wise in front of the children. It was a large statue (life size) of a black male pirate, who's name was something like "Big Black Pirate Dick" or something to that effect. All the adults found him rather entertaining though, and there was always someone waiting to pose with him!!

Time finally came for us to sign into our tour, and we got to the dock, under the cover when......

Yep, you guessed it. It started POURING out. Cats and dogs. Of course, we didn't get a towel, since we figured we weren't going on a tour which would require us to get wet. But boy, were we wrong! We should have gotten the damn towel! The lovely family behind us got some. And they were so happy they did, once we all ran, in a complete downpour, for the little bus that was about 2 blocks away. And, to top it off, we had to WAIT outside that little bus in the pouring rain while a family of 3 decided that THEY HAD to sit in the FRONT of the bus. Of course, they also HAD to remove their large backpacks from their backs which were UNDER their rain ponchos. They, of course didn't need those ponchos INSIDE the bus, while they were fiddling around getting settled in and we were ALL outside the bus standing in huge puddles in a sandy parking lot getting drenched, but hey, I digress. Those towels sure would have come in handy then, esp. when he turned the AC on full blast in the bus!!

Alright, I admit. I should be more patient. After all, this was a vacation, and we were supposed to be having a good time darnnit! And seriously, move to the back of the bus people. Take a seat, move on, lets get on with the ride! OK. Sorry, bit sidetracked there!

So we headed off, and had a wonderful guide who's name was Ricky (like in "I Love Lucy") and who was quite entertaining and very knowledgable. First stop was the Butterfly Farm, where we got to see.....yes, butterflies, and a bunch of Fruit.....but I am getting ahead of myself! Stay tuned, friends!

 

[plutospup]

You're not kidding it rained! DD11 & I got soaked, while wise DW had the mysterious foresight to book a morning at the spa. Fortunately, DCL had towels where we waited to board the tender back to the ship.

 

[wuv tigger]

It took about 25 minutes for the tender to tie up to the Magic.

It was freaky that we would almost get there, then the ropes got tangled, then they dropped them, then try again. This was repeated TOO many times to count.

I was NEVER so glad to get back to the Magic!

Too bad the US Coast Guard couldn't help them

 

[o4me2playn]

This makes me think twice about getting off this ship during our April 18th "adventure". I would HATE not being able to get back on the ship quickly!

 

[podsnel]

That was one rainy day- on our excursion we were getting wet anyway, so it didn't make a big difference, except when it poured!!

The "big one, whatever he is" is a Blue Iguana- they are only found in the Caymans, so kind of special (in the iguana world)!

 

[Mom2PrincessesLinSy]

I'm sorry, my friends. I will most likely not be posting about the trip for a few days. I am very, very sad to report that a very good friend of mine died last night just after giving birth to her first child. She was only 32, a Physical Therapist and had no medical issues. She had a rare, but obviously fatal,complication after the birth, which resulted in cardiac arrest. After over 1 hour they were still unable to save her. Her son is fine, and was born at a healthy 8 pounds 12 oz...

I am really in total disbelief right now, and nothing seems real. I want to pay a tribute to a wonderful woman who did so much for the kids she worked with (she is also a Pediatric therapist like I am). I know TRs are usually very happy times in our lives, and I need to get myself together before being able to talk about the joys I had celebrating the MAGIC with my husband and children. Especially since it will be something she and her family will never, ever be able to do.

Sorry for the downer. Please find it in your heart to give a prayer, or a thought for such a wonderful woman and her family. We are all so devastated at this time.

Thanks. I will resume with my TR and the MAGIC it held once I can get it together again. As they said on our last night on the cruise, "Remember the Magic".

 

[Alice_on_WONDERland]

:I am very, very sad to report that a very good friend of mine died last night just after giving birth to her first child.

I am deeply sorry to hear of the passing of your friends. Her family, and yours are in my prayers.

 

[podsnel]

Oh, Jen, i'm so, so sorry- I can't even imagine what you must be feeling and what her family must be feeling. You're all in my thoughts and prayers- what a horrible and sad tragedy.

Hang in there-
El

 

[Sophie_2003]

Our thoughts and prayers added as well. It is such a tragedy that she will not share the joy in raising her son. May we all think about their family when we tuck our kids in tonight.

 

[mindelmouse]

I'm besides myself with sadness for what you must be feeling for your friend and her family...our prayers are with you