Sorry this took so long...trying to recover from vacation this week (laundry, cleaning, getting used to freezing cold temps) Anyway....
This was our last day! (Boo-hoo!) I woke up to our closet door sliding over to the other side(our garment bag was hanging out and didn't let the closet close all the way) and banging and then a few minutes later, it would go back to the other side. Time to get up! We were just coming into Castaway Cay. DH has been trying to get some good sunrise pictures so I said let's go to the secret deck then we'll be able to see the whole island (we were port side). We run out there to take some pics and some older woman was out there, I think she was kind of horrified that we came running out there as she was in her p.j.'s. However, her love of listening to herself talk took that all away and she began to describe her life story to me as DH was busying himself getting the camera ready!!! This is all happening around 6/6:30, maybe 7ish? in the morning, too early for talking at ALL!! Anyhow, we got our pictures and got the hell out of there! Don't get me wrong, she was very nice and on vacation with her son, who she had to convince really hard to come with her and .....I'll stop now.
We went back to the room and washed up and the kids finally woke up, did the buffet for breakfast again and headed off the ship. I don't quite remember what time we got off, but not right when they let people off, maybe around 10. We took the tram over to the family beach and found a ton of chairs available. We parked ourselves and went in to check out the water--very green and warm. We had brought our own snorkels so DD12 and I did some snorkeling (our first time). They had the life jackets hanging on a chair by the beach, you could just go up and grab one. We didn't go too far out but we saw a lot of fish and some interesting things in the water. The water wasn't very deep at all. We took a waterproof camera and took lots of pictures. DD5 and DH stayed swimming and when we got back, DH went out. We switched off a few times and before DD and I went out again I told DH we better think about getting something to eat as the barbeque closes at 2.
When we came back, he had a couple of trays of food for us. He said that it was a little cold, but it was like that when he got it, but what can you expect when you go at the very end. We had some fruit salad, cheeseburger, hot dog, banana bread, cookies and bags of chips. DH went back in to snorkle and the skies started to get very dark. Then it started to rain a little bit, and then it started to pour!!! Most people started running for the ship like they were going to melt. They certainly had a long way to go! I just grabbed all our stuff threw it on a chair while I sat with the girls on the other chair with the umbrella between the 2 chairs. We and all our stuff stayed perfectly dry! They kicked DH out of the water, said they didn't know how long it was going to last. When he came out, we just waited for a while until the rain slowed to a sprinkle and started back. We got some great pictures on the part of the beach they rent the sailboats, we have the ship in the background, it looks great--it will be our Christmas card.
We got back on the ship around 3:30/4, we had to be off by 4:30, so not such a big loss and then I was volunteered by DH to go to the disembarkation meeting while they went to the pool. At the meeting, we were told to have our luggage outside our room by 11, but don't run back and start packing, enjoy the rest of the night, go to the activities after dinner and the shows, then go back and pack---yeah right! If you have a little tiny suitcase, maybe! Anyway, I met them back at the room, grabbed DD12 to go play bingo (we had already showered) because it was the last night with the snowball jackpot! The people who did win (meaning not us), won $150, $180 and the big jackpot was $1172! I did win a pin for DD (she was trying the whole time) by getting up and acting like a fool and yelling bingo!, so DD was glad. It was the Cruise line pin.
We had told our servers we wouldn't be there for dinner that night because we were going to Palo's, so we brought the girls down by the pool to have some chicken tenders, got them set up at a table there and then DH and I went to Palo's for 6:30. DH didn't really see much on the menu he wanted (being Italian, we like home made Italian, not fancy and pretty to look at food), so he saw the chicken dish and asked our waiter if they could make it parmagian. The waiter didn't have any idea what he was talking about, (there was not a drop of sauce to be found on the menu) the waiter described something else (I wasn't paying attention) and DH said, "Oh, like Chicken Marsala, okay!" I had the shrimp salad and the tortelloni (big tortellini). The servings were very small( fine for me as we ate lunch late) but everything tasted good. One thing that threw us off, before our meals came, our waiter came over and said he wanted us to try a special desert (I'm assuming they do this to everyone and don't even have a desert menu) would we like that? We thought he forgot he hadn't brought our food yet, and he was going to just bring us desert and kick us out! LOL
Our dinner did come before desert luckily and as we were eating, the couple next to us had a big vase of flowers come to their table and then the waiter brought over a plate with Happy Anniversary written in chocolate sauce on it. I leaned over to say Happy Anniversary and the woman asked if we were from the North, like Boston (what accent??!!) They were also from the area so that was really nice because EVERYONE on this cruise seemed like they were from the South or the West, eating their grits for breakfast...anyway....we ended up having a great conversation with them and found out they were also going to Disney after the cruise like we were! We started chatting about itineraries and I mentioned we were going to SeaWorld the day we got off the ship. They said they had 2 adult passes and coupons for the kids for there that they weren't going to be able to use and we could have them! How awesome was that???!!! They saved us--complete strangers, over $100!!! While we were chatting, the camera crew came over to videotape them. They told them to just continue doing what they were doing, so they started talking to us again. The camera people asked them if they could just talk to each other instead! Guess DH and I were too ugly for the camera!!LOL!!
After dinner, we went back to the room to get the kids and go the the Disney Dreams show. It was a fantastic show with all the characters. It was on the same level as a Brodway show IMHO, but I don't know why people say it makes them cry???? Anyway, we agreed to meet our dinner friends at the show to pick up the tickets which we did, and agreed to meet on Sat. for breakfast before MK.
After the show, we had about 30 minutes to start packing before a big character showing in the atrium. We got some done, not all and went down to see the characters again. We didn't do autographs because we already had them all. We went back to the room and it was a mad rush to get all our bags outside by 11. We were late, but not by much as we saw bags sitting outside the doors of people around us that hadn't been picked up yet. Then, put the kids to bed and out to the verandah for our last chance!
The next morning, we had Mickey wake us up at 6. We were already docked at Port Canaveral (Boo-Hoo!) We got dressed and headed down to Animator's Palate for 6:30 breakfast. We decided this wouldn't be as crowded(we were right) and it was nice to have breakfast brought to you instead of us getting it and trying to find a seat. We were a little late (as usual) but we were Nora and O'Neill's only table it seemed. At breakfast, I tried to fill out the comment card and the Custom's card and then DH started asking Nora about when she gets time off,etc.etc. She proceeded to kneel down by our table and gave us her life history and how she was planning on leaving soon, she had been doing this for 3 years and listened to this for our ENTIRE breakfast! She sounded very lonely, and said it was very lonely. When we finally finished breakfast and said good-bye to Nora, we went over to see the pictures at Shutters and then off the ship we went---a huge bummer!! Very glad we decided to do Disney after the cruise, not as much of a let down. I will be writing a trip report on the disney world site sometime soon (I hope) but I must say, it was more relaxing there. The parks closed around 7, so we went back to the hotel, went swimming and actually relaxed. No shows to go to at night, no games to play...we definitely enjoyed it this way!!
As far as the cruise is concerned, it was awesome!! DH said it would be cool to go with some of our friends and their kids but definitely on a 7 day!!!
This was our last day! (Boo-hoo!) I woke up to our closet door sliding over to the other side(our garment bag was hanging out and didn't let the closet close all the way) and banging and then a few minutes later, it would go back to the other side. Time to get up! We were just coming into Castaway Cay. DH has been trying to get some good sunrise pictures so I said let's go to the secret deck then we'll be able to see the whole island (we were port side). We run out there to take some pics and some older woman was out there, I think she was kind of horrified that we came running out there as she was in her p.j.'s. However, her love of listening to herself talk took that all away and she began to describe her life story to me as DH was busying himself getting the camera ready!!! This is all happening around 6/6:30, maybe 7ish? in the morning, too early for talking at ALL!! Anyhow, we got our pictures and got the hell out of there! Don't get me wrong, she was very nice and on vacation with her son, who she had to convince really hard to come with her and .....I'll stop now.
We went back to the room and washed up and the kids finally woke up, did the buffet for breakfast again and headed off the ship. I don't quite remember what time we got off, but not right when they let people off, maybe around 10. We took the tram over to the family beach and found a ton of chairs available. We parked ourselves and went in to check out the water--very green and warm. We had brought our own snorkels so DD12 and I did some snorkeling (our first time). They had the life jackets hanging on a chair by the beach, you could just go up and grab one. We didn't go too far out but we saw a lot of fish and some interesting things in the water. The water wasn't very deep at all. We took a waterproof camera and took lots of pictures. DD5 and DH stayed swimming and when we got back, DH went out. We switched off a few times and before DD and I went out again I told DH we better think about getting something to eat as the barbeque closes at 2.
When we came back, he had a couple of trays of food for us. He said that it was a little cold, but it was like that when he got it, but what can you expect when you go at the very end. We had some fruit salad, cheeseburger, hot dog, banana bread, cookies and bags of chips. DH went back in to snorkle and the skies started to get very dark. Then it started to rain a little bit, and then it started to pour!!! Most people started running for the ship like they were going to melt. They certainly had a long way to go! I just grabbed all our stuff threw it on a chair while I sat with the girls on the other chair with the umbrella between the 2 chairs. We and all our stuff stayed perfectly dry! They kicked DH out of the water, said they didn't know how long it was going to last. When he came out, we just waited for a while until the rain slowed to a sprinkle and started back. We got some great pictures on the part of the beach they rent the sailboats, we have the ship in the background, it looks great--it will be our Christmas card.
We got back on the ship around 3:30/4, we had to be off by 4:30, so not such a big loss and then I was volunteered by DH to go to the disembarkation meeting while they went to the pool. At the meeting, we were told to have our luggage outside our room by 11, but don't run back and start packing, enjoy the rest of the night, go to the activities after dinner and the shows, then go back and pack---yeah right! If you have a little tiny suitcase, maybe! Anyway, I met them back at the room, grabbed DD12 to go play bingo (we had already showered) because it was the last night with the snowball jackpot! The people who did win (meaning not us), won $150, $180 and the big jackpot was $1172! I did win a pin for DD (she was trying the whole time) by getting up and acting like a fool and yelling bingo!, so DD was glad. It was the Cruise line pin.
We had told our servers we wouldn't be there for dinner that night because we were going to Palo's, so we brought the girls down by the pool to have some chicken tenders, got them set up at a table there and then DH and I went to Palo's for 6:30. DH didn't really see much on the menu he wanted (being Italian, we like home made Italian, not fancy and pretty to look at food), so he saw the chicken dish and asked our waiter if they could make it parmagian. The waiter didn't have any idea what he was talking about, (there was not a drop of sauce to be found on the menu) the waiter described something else (I wasn't paying attention) and DH said, "Oh, like Chicken Marsala, okay!" I had the shrimp salad and the tortelloni (big tortellini). The servings were very small( fine for me as we ate lunch late) but everything tasted good. One thing that threw us off, before our meals came, our waiter came over and said he wanted us to try a special desert (I'm assuming they do this to everyone and don't even have a desert menu) would we like that? We thought he forgot he hadn't brought our food yet, and he was going to just bring us desert and kick us out! LOL
Our dinner did come before desert luckily and as we were eating, the couple next to us had a big vase of flowers come to their table and then the waiter brought over a plate with Happy Anniversary written in chocolate sauce on it. I leaned over to say Happy Anniversary and the woman asked if we were from the North, like Boston (what accent??!!) They were also from the area so that was really nice because EVERYONE on this cruise seemed like they were from the South or the West, eating their grits for breakfast...anyway....we ended up having a great conversation with them and found out they were also going to Disney after the cruise like we were! We started chatting about itineraries and I mentioned we were going to SeaWorld the day we got off the ship. They said they had 2 adult passes and coupons for the kids for there that they weren't going to be able to use and we could have them! How awesome was that???!!! They saved us--complete strangers, over $100!!! While we were chatting, the camera crew came over to videotape them. They told them to just continue doing what they were doing, so they started talking to us again. The camera people asked them if they could just talk to each other instead! Guess DH and I were too ugly for the camera!!LOL!!
After dinner, we went back to the room to get the kids and go the the Disney Dreams show. It was a fantastic show with all the characters. It was on the same level as a Brodway show IMHO, but I don't know why people say it makes them cry???? Anyway, we agreed to meet our dinner friends at the show to pick up the tickets which we did, and agreed to meet on Sat. for breakfast before MK.
After the show, we had about 30 minutes to start packing before a big character showing in the atrium. We got some done, not all and went down to see the characters again. We didn't do autographs because we already had them all. We went back to the room and it was a mad rush to get all our bags outside by 11. We were late, but not by much as we saw bags sitting outside the doors of people around us that hadn't been picked up yet. Then, put the kids to bed and out to the verandah for our last chance!
The next morning, we had Mickey wake us up at 6. We were already docked at Port Canaveral (Boo-Hoo!) We got dressed and headed down to Animator's Palate for 6:30 breakfast. We decided this wouldn't be as crowded(we were right) and it was nice to have breakfast brought to you instead of us getting it and trying to find a seat. We were a little late (as usual) but we were Nora and O'Neill's only table it seemed. At breakfast, I tried to fill out the comment card and the Custom's card and then DH started asking Nora about when she gets time off,etc.etc. She proceeded to kneel down by our table and gave us her life history and how she was planning on leaving soon, she had been doing this for 3 years and listened to this for our ENTIRE breakfast! She sounded very lonely, and said it was very lonely. When we finally finished breakfast and said good-bye to Nora, we went over to see the pictures at Shutters and then off the ship we went---a huge bummer!! Very glad we decided to do Disney after the cruise, not as much of a let down. I will be writing a trip report on the disney world site sometime soon (I hope) but I must say, it was more relaxing there. The parks closed around 7, so we went back to the hotel, went swimming and actually relaxed. No shows to go to at night, no games to play...we definitely enjoyed it this way!!
As far as the cruise is concerned, it was awesome!! DH said it would be cool to go with some of our friends and their kids but definitely on a 7 day!!!
