January 13-20/2007 Western Cruise

[Bytor01]

Well, this was our first crusie and I am finally getting a chance to get a trip report going. I would first like to thank everyone and especially Pdarrah who kept our thread going. It was a lot of fuin and very informative. OK here we go....

January 12, 2006

So due to the fact that we are pulling our kids out of school 4 days next week we sent them to school today. We have twins, James and Moira , both 5. Luckily they only have a half day kindergarten schedule so I planned a flight out of JFK, in New York around 2:30pm. I picked up the kids and we headed home to the limo awaiting us. We are regular visitors of the World (we are DVC members) so this routine is not new to the kids. Myself, everytime I am in a limo it seems we are going on vacation so I am really excited , of course.

We had a nice leisurely ride to the airport (25 minutes) and settled in with the mandatory checks. Of course, the wife's (Mary) luggage has to get weighed (she always overpacks). But it's right on the money. She later tells me that she cheated and put it on the scale at home just to make sure.

The flight into MCO was very good and we had no problems. I had set up a great rate at the Hyatt in MCO back in November. I also ran across a $50 gift certificate I had lying around so we paid under $100 for the room. I thought it was a great deal..but..... Well, all of a sudden Mary started to feel really ill. She was out of work and ill for about 8 days around New Year's. She had a really bad case of some type of bug and it seems she was relapsing .

So we were all settled in around 5:30 -6 pm. I decided I would take the kids down and grab a bite to eat in the restaurant while Mary slept. We noticed we had two double beds and coming from a King size bed I thought that we were slumming down. Oh well, should be an interesting night with Mary sick and all. So we ate dinner in the restaurant. It is called McCoy's bar and grill and we ate there in Novemeber when our flight was delayed something like 4 hours. It is quite good. I would definately recommned it.

After dinner, the kids and I went back up to the room and they got the swim suits on. We headed for the pool and the kids took a quick dip. While it was a nice day, it was a chilly night. The pool is on an outside deck on the 5th floor I believe. They had fun but I was wishing I brought a sweatshirt or jacket. It is a really nice pool.

We went back to the room and Mary was still feeling ill. She was loading up on over the counters and anything else she could find in the terminal, which was not a lot. This made for an interesting overnight. SHe was tossing and turning and definately running a fever so I took it upon myself to sleep in the chair. I know chivalry is not dead . It was a long night and I did not get a of of sleep but I was still happy knowing what awaited us for tomorrow.

Tim

 

[ldeninge]

Yeah, Tim!
can't wait to hear another report. gives me a chance to relive the trip again!

 

[Bytor01]

The Day arrives.... Part I

We wake up early and put the bags outside. Make sure we have everything and check out. Mary is still feeling poorly but a little better than yesterday. So that's good. We head to breakfast to waste some time and go into Hemispheres. One thing about the Hyatt, it is big. We had a room where we had to wlk out of the elevator down a hall make a turn then another turn down a hall make a turn then down a longggggg hall. Funny but I thought for a hotel in an airport terminal therr would be more noise but in fact it was quite quiet (say that a couple of times real fast).

We had a great breakfast in the restaurant Hemispheres before we headed downstairs to meet for the bus. I went to check us in and we were slated for the second bus leaving for the port. We were the Pluto bus, I think. We hung around a little and of course the kids had to hit the bathroom so Daddy took them. We got back and Mary said that they called Pluto and everyone went down for the bus...here comes the comedy of errors. We raced over to the elevators, where Mary said everyone went, and there was only a few there. So smart Tim said follow me I know where they are going. We headed down the stairs and over to the area where the Disney buses are (terminal B side) for all of you that are following. I asked the nice person dressed in the DCL outfit where is the Pluto bus boarding and I got a face that I just knew said "Hey dummy, you took a wrong turn" Of course, he was much nicer about it and said oh I am sorry sir but if you stayed at the Hyatt they board that bus in front of the hotel. We raced back and hoped the elevator down to the front hoping the bus would still be there...and...there it was loading the last of the passengers. We got on and finally they could leave, just made it.

The ride over is not long at all and we were all raring to go. It is a great sight when you come over the hill and see the ship. It just said to me we are here and its time to go.

We entered the terminal and we got a number 4. I thought not bad but I guess we will be there for awhile in order to board. I had signed up for everything online so I did not think it was a big deal. The only problem was, well two problems, wife is still not 100% and James was starting to get real cranky and was being a typical 5 year old boy, how dare he!!! So, I got on the line in order to check in. The line did not seem long but everything was taking time. I noticed that as we approached 11:00 am more and more cast members were checking people in. I guess they also saw the lines getting backed up. Soon it was my turn. Everything was good and I filled out all the paperwork properly...yeah. I got our KTTW cards and headed back to Mary and the kids. She was trying to get the kids to do homework but there was too much going on and it was not going to happen. So I took them with me figuring I could get them signed in for the kids club and get the beeper. NO way. The line was tooo long. Again, I signed them up online and most definately could wait until later on in the day to get the stuff I needed.

We walked around and explored. What a great terminal. Very good looking and very nice. We had staked out a good seat and relaxed knowing that the time to board was fast approaching. And there it was the announcement that all those with a number 1 should proceed to board the ship. Sweeetttttt. I figured it would take a long time to get to our number but soon enough they were calling out number 4. We worked our way around that darn kids club line (sign up online save yourself the trouble) and we were headed straight towards the Mickey ears. Nice touch. We stopped for the picture and headed towards the gangway and on into the ship. Wow what a sight and to add to it they announce your name as you come onboard. We felt like royalty. For some reason Mary and I looked at each other and said we felt like we were boarding the Titanic (grandiose things we were seeing not the sinking feeling). I had the music going through my head and the scene where Kate Winslet sees the ship for the first time. It was quite remarkable and definately will not be forgotten.

 

[Bytor01]

So we headed up to Topsiders after getting the lay of the land. We hit the buffet except my daughter wanted a hot dog. I ran over to get her one and we relaxed and ate outside. After the kids ate they got into the swim suits, which we did not pack away (excellent tip, thanks to everyone who thought of it), and they went swimming. Because we got on the ship early I was able to score two lounge chairs right up front and we watched the kids swim and play. (I wish I knew how to post pictures on here, if someone knows tell me I will put them on after).

Anyway, Mary and I relaxed and she even fell asleep. She was starting to feel better but was still a little down and out. About 2pm she said she was going to go to the room and check it out (and lay down). I stayed with the kiddies. They were having a great time and they especially liked the big slide that Mickey was holding.





I knew the drill was coming up so about 2:30pm the kids and I headed to the room. For some reason I think James drank some of the water or took some type of pill because he all of a sudden turned into a child straight from down under and I am not talking about Australia. We got back to the room and the bags had not started to arrive yet. We told the kids to get dressed and I went out to make some ressies and pick up the beeper. Ahhh, no line at all in the Club. Unlike the huge line I saw in the terminal. This was definately the way to go. I also went down and picked up tickets for the wine tasting and beer tasting for Monday afternoon at Guest Services. I also checked and saw that we had our on board credit so we were all good to go.

When I got back I saw that we had 5 of the 6 bags so we brought them in and we started to unpack. I filled her in on the drill and she said she did not want to go. I guess she failed to hear the mandatory part but we eventually went up but not without the pre-requisite tantrum from James which continued straight through the drill. We tried to stay calm but he was hitting every last nerve. After the drill and long talk Mary decided to forgo the sail away party in order to unpack and I took the kids up to deck 10. We ran a little late so we got up there just as the horn was going off. What a great little horn, gotta love it. We danced and picked out a good spot on the side so we could see the terminal and wave to the big Mickey handed people. It was a perfect day and a great scene. Of course we stayed too long and had to rush for our 5:45 seating at Parrots Cay. If only they could push the dinner on the first night back 30 minutes. I think everyone would be happy (well I guess except the crew). We got dressed and headed up there.

Our dinner at Parrots Cay was very nice. Our servers were Okim (Indonesia) and Ricardo (South Africa). Ronald was the head muckity muck. They were awesone the entire cruise. PC has an excellent ambiance. It is extremely fun and definately gets you in the mood for the cruise. I enjoyed having this as my first spot. We had a great table. Dead center #22. I thought we would get Animators first but this was very nice. We purchased the wine package and enjoyed a nice bottle of Merlot. The food was perfect and no one had any complaints.

After dinner we walked around and explored for about an hour before going up to see the show. Let the Magic Begin was fantastic. First off the theater is huge and it seems that there is not a bad seat in the house. I really enjoyed the shows the entire week. I liked how they incorporated a theater show with some sketch comedy. Gary deLena and Freddy Fusion were awesome. We liked Gary so much we caught his act on Monday night and then the adult show on Tuesday. Fusion was also funny and I really enjoyed his magic and comedy. My kids were also laughing at both of them.

As the first night came to a close we did some more exploring and walked around. We also stopped by the Oceaneers club. The kids wanted to stay so I gave them about 20 minutes while Mom and I explored. We met back up and picked James and Moira up. Of course, they did not want to leave. That would become a common theme the entire week. What a first day. It was fantastic.

 

[ldeninge]

(I wish I knew how to post pictures on here, if someone knows tell me I will put them on after).

To post pictures, click on the little 'photo' icon on your reply page, at the spot you want the picture to insert. you'll have to have a link to the pictures - already uploaded to a photo server or webpage somewhere.

you'll have to experiment a bit - a smallish picture works best, in my opinion, because then it fits well on the screen for people to look at.
good luck!

to put pictures on later, just click on 'edit' on the post you want to add in.
Lauri

 

[curlybop]

Great report so far! I know I can't be the only one - but when a report mentions someone being sick, I immediately say "oh no!" as I'm reading. Glad she was feeling better when you boarded.

Keep on going, and work on those photos too.

 

[Bytor01]

Thanks Id, probably not going to get the pictures. I thought I had them available but it seems I can not take them off of snapfish where I have the pics. I press the image icon and I get a type url address. No clue. Thought we could do it, guess not.

Tim

 

[Bytor01]

Wow the computer whiz has come out pictures abound Sweeeettt......

 

[ldeninge]

pictures are great! love the action shot of the kids coming down the mickey slide!

 

[Bytor01]

Another beautiful day. It will become a recurring theme of this cruise. We woke up on the later side about 8:30 am and immediately ordered room service. Figured we had to try it out. We just got some bagels, muffins and juice, nothing big. They told us about 30 minutes but they were there much quicker than that.

Mary was getting better but still not 100%. So as planned I took the kids to the club. They wanted to see what Infinity and Beyond was all about and I wanted to hit the DVC Celebration at 10am. So I dropped them off and headed to Diversions. Mary stayed in and slept a little.

The DVC Celebration was a lot of fun. They gave us a bag filled with two baseball caps and two lanyards. It also had some other materail in it that I don't remember. They talked to us about some interesting stuff and mentioned the going rate discount. But it was definately not a sell. They also had a trivia contest with giveaways. Unfortunately, I was not picked but it was fun anyway. Around 11 it ended and I went to pick up the kids so we could go back to the room.

Mary was getting up and she said she wanted to hit the gym. So I decided to veg out and watch the kids swim. Oh well, someone has to do it. After the kids swam, as the pool was prety deserted we had some lunch. Moira had the pizza and James and I had some hot dogs (him) and cheeseburgers (me). Boy, I love the little place by the pool. It had hot dogs, burgers, tuna, chiken, tacos. Thank goodness I did not go to town over there. It was really hard to control oneself.

We went back to the room around 1:00pm after we played some foosball and ping pong. 5 year olds definately fail in the coordination department while playing each other at ping pong. It was fun to watch. Except I was the official ball chaser. the wind was moving the ball around pretty good and Dad had to fetch. We washed up and Mary told us what a site it was to run and watch the ship pull into Key West. Again, this would be another recurring theme (Mary would always time it right and I would always time it wrong). We needed some essentials so I decided to run into KW early and hit a CVS. I found one rather quickly, about a 10 minute walk right up on Duvall St. I also bought the kids and myself some snorkel gear there.

We relaxed a little and then headed down for our shore excursion. We had to meet at 2:40 so we had plenty of time to relax and do what we wanted on the ship. We went and then waited in the Promendae Lounge for our excursion and I saw a photo op happening.




My son loves pirates so we did the Pirate Scavenger Hunt. We were met by our guide who walked us over to the pirate museum. We were given a piece of paper that resembles a map and it also had questions on it. We were then told that we needed to find the answers in the exhibits. This was fun and I think Mary and I took more fun out of it then the kids. Oh well, it's our vacation too. They did like the museum though. Be mindful, if you have small kids it may be scary for them. It is dark and there are I would say depictions of violent deaths displayed.

After we just walked around and hit the Ben and Jerry's for some ice cream. I really did not want to hit there (have my own personal reasons about the taht company) but they wanted ice cream. Funny my daughter kept on saying that there was another ice cream place by the boat with an elephant out front. Yeah Yeah kid sure there is...

We walked back and hit a couple of shops by the dock. Picked up some hats and decided to call it a day so we could relax and not rush for dinner. Here's a picture of us before we went shopping. Oh by the way, listen to your kids because there right by the boat was that ice cream place with the elephant in front.



Dinner was still casual so we headed down to Lumiere's. When we got to our table everything was there, our drinks, the kids milk, our wine. Damn, I thought to myself I could get used to this. Personally I liked this restaurant the best out of the three of them. I doubt I am going out on a limb here but that's my opinion. As for the food I am just going to say fabulous.

The show tonight was Gary deLena. As a New Yorker I can definately appreciate his comedy. We thought he was hilarious. So after the show we decided to ditch the kids, ooppps I mean drop them off at OC and walk around. We saw that Who wants to be a Mouseketeer was going on so we stopped in to have a drink and watch. Wouldn't ya know it, my number was picked first. So I jumped up and ran to the "hot seat". All I had to do now was answer five questions. Of course, I did and nailed them. I won a glass etched paper weight ( I guess thats what it is at least that is what I am using it for and a pin). We watched and helped out about 5 others who went after me and it was fun. We walked up on deck for a little while before we went and picked up the kids.

We all hit the beverage center for a nightcap and headed off to dreamland and just itching for a new day.

 

[kevinsmom]

great report so far!! what kind of questions do they ask you in Who wants to be a mouseketeer??? i think i would be sooo bad at that, glad to hear you won something!

looking forward to the rest!!

 

[Bytor01]

Let's see the questions were, What color hat does Peter Pan wear? What sport did Air-Bud play? and the last one was What Disney Park was the amusement ride Space Mountain first in? There were two others but I will try to remember them later.

 

[kevinsmom]

not too hard... maybe i can answer some of them!

 

[GavinsMom]

Great Report! Can't wait to read more!

 

[CapnJackGroupie]

Subscibing....... Great Report!!

 

[mom_of_2_princesses]

Can't wait to hear about the rest of the trip.

 

[Bytor01]

Yes, if you are a big Disney buff the questions were relatively easy. It was very fun.

So here we are another day in the sun. We all wake up rather late (for us) and meander around the room. We hit up room service (becoming a new family tradition) and start getting ready. We had some plans today. The kids were going to hit the club while Mary and I would hit a wine tasting and I would hit the beer tasting alone. Mary decided that the wine tasting would be enough for her. So with our plans in hand we set out for the day.

The kids wanted to hit the club for the Monster Inc thing so around 10:15 I brought them over there. So with the kids in the club and Mary relaxing I went over to the gym. This is definately a steller gym. Plenty of treadmills, bike machines, weights and other assorted gear. What makes this gym better though is its location. There you are running and all you see is the ocean.It is quite a sight. Also, it's pretty sweet knowing that what you are seeing is exactly what the folks driving the boat above you are seeing.

After the workout Mary was gone so I just cruised around the ship. I went over to look at the shops and noticed they had a special on Bailey's. What Irish guy doesn't like Bailey's. What I didn't know is that they won't give you the booze until Friday. Damn I wanted it now for later on of course. I think this was the only time I was a little down the whole week. With the new flight restrictions this rule kinda stinks. So I opted to still purchase it (would later return it though). I walked around some more and then headed over to Animators. I wanted to get there before they started to eat but I failed.

I took them up and we got their suits on. When we headed to the pool it was closed. Apparently the water was really cloudy and they had to clean the pool. Tough choice but I guess it had to be done. Why on a at sea day? Must have really needed it. I got a bit to eat and for about an hour we putzed around playing games and watching the little TV on the deck. It was like being at a drive in with that thing. I loved watching some of the football games on them yesterday. That was awesome.

By now it was time to head up and get dressed so we could head to the wine tasting. The kids were excited to go to the club because they were going to the Aloha Luau. They just love anything Lilo and Stitch. James is Stitch in a boy version, we truly believe it. So I dropped them off and went back to the room. It seems that the facial really relaxed Mary because she still was not ready.

I headed up about 15 minutes early and got a seat right by the window. I kept looking at my watch and it was getting closer and closer to 2pm and no Mary. They were turning people away who wanted to take part but it was sold out. Get your tickets for this event because they were also telling people that it was also sold out for Thursday. The doors closed and still no Mary, is she going to make me drink alone? No, there she is, strolling in the door casually late. Good, so the seminar started. We were told some interesting facts about the wine onboard and how there are 4 people that pick out what wine is going to be there for the guests to drink the entire cruise. Each one of them are assigned to a restaurant each evening and take care of all things wine related. We had many wine glasses in front of us and we were off. We had 3 reds, 2 whites, a sparkling wine and a dessert wine. We were told what to look for, smell for and taste for. This was an excellent seminar if you like wine.

After, finishing around 3 we walked around and Mary decided to go back to the room and wait for the Luau to end. She was going to take the kids to the pool. Hopefully it was clean by then. As she headed to get the kids I went down to Diversions to hit the beer tasting. It wasn't on the Navigator but I had asked and got tickets on Saturday. So, when I got there I just made sure and I saw little place mats that had names of beers on them so I knew I was in the right place. Apparently the fact it was not on the Navigator hurt because there was only about 10 of us.

This seminar was also very informative. We learned about the history and types of beer. How they make it and of course dabbled in tasting some. All of the beers were very good (Hey I am Irish). I think there was Dos Equis, Boddingtons, and a Sam Adams. There was also another English style beer but I can't remember. So it was now 5pm after the seminar and there I am with 6 glasses of wine and 4 smaller glasses of beer in me. I am feeling really good and ready for dinner.

I go upstairs but realize it is closer to 5:15 now and we have dinner in 30 minutes. Oops talking too much to everyone. It is formal night tonight and I wanted to get a good family picture. We do not have one so this was a must. Mary is aces because everyone is already dressed and ready to go. We head out and hit the photo factory called the Atrium. Hey what are all these other people doing here? I thought I was the only one with this idea. Oh well, I pick out the shortest line, which is the Disney Magic background and we get some good pictures. Dinner time.

We are at Animator's tonight. Of course, I have heard about the show here but I did not tell anyone else so when the place changes color everyone was amazed. It is really a neat trick and the waiters and there change of vests to go along is a nice touch. Again, the food is amazing and all I can say is we ate a piece of heaven every night on this trip. Of course, more wine with dinner and we even had some of the really good dessert wine we had earlier at the wine tasting seminar.

We went back up to the room after dinner and dressed down. We wanted to be comfortable.The kids were going to the club after and we didn't want them getting their nice clothes all messy. We headed down for the show which was the Golden Mickeys. Wow, what a show. Broadwayesque (if that is a word) is all I can say. The performances we fantastic. I loved the appearances via TV by Tim Allen, Angela Lansbury and even Mr Roy Disney himself. The kids were amazed at the production.

We headed out and up to the kids club again. They ran inside without even looking back. We then ran out to see Gary deLena (again) for his adult show. We got some seats and ordered some cocktails at Rockin Bar D and after partied with N Twine the ships band and warm up act for deLena that night. They are pretty good and they were very interactive with the crowd getting people up to dance and sing with them. They definately seem like they are having a good time as well. The comedy show was very funny. DeLena is not crude but had some adult humor. It was just enough. Of course we laughed hysterically at his show and were upset he had to leave the boat when we got to Grand Cayman. Apparently he and Freddy Fusion were heading back.

After the show, it was very late and we got the kids, got our nightly drinks and headed back to the room for some shut eye. Mary was asleep before she hit the pillow and the kids soon followed. I headed out to the verandah and watched us sailing toward Grand Cayman. What a sight. The ocean and sky. Makes you feel very insignificant in the vast darkness out there. Makes you enjoy what you have. And what I had were 6 wines, 5 beers, 2-3 glasses of wine at dinner and 2 more cocktails at Rockin Bar. Either I wasn't thinking straight or I had a really really good day.

Grand Cayman next

 

[ohMom]

i clicked on to read about Coz and GC for our upcoming trip - so i'll just have to stay tuned. but what i really wanted to say was that we had Ricardo for our drink server 11/05; my DD was happy to hear he's still on board.

 

[Bytor01]

We woke up this morning and decided that we would take it nice and easy. We had to get down to the Promenade Lounge by 10:30 for our shore excursion so we took our time getting ready. We decided that we would hit Topsiders for breakfast this morning.

The kids and I headed up while Mary was just getting the final touches ready for our excursion. The buffet here is great. Of course the kids went right after the Mickey waffles which are their favorite. I got them to have some eggs and fruit, as well. I made my way to the omelet station and we settled in to eat. While I was getting up to get the kids some juice I think I was found by our very own ldeninge (Lauri) and her daughter who had the same idea to eat at Topsiders. It was good putting a face with the name and our kids had briefly exchanged e-mails before hand. When they finished they stopped by our table and her lovely daughter, Katherine, gave my kids a little Minnie and Mickey. They really appreciated and a great big thank you goes out to Katherine and her mommy. We were told that Katherine was going to go up to the club to do the Eggsperiments and we told them about our excursion. Soon after they left, Mary came and we all sat down and finished our breakfast.

Around 10:20am we headed down to the Promenade Lounge and waited for our shore excursion to get under way. We were doing the Seaworld Semi-submarine excursion. We were told that we would head down to deck 1 and get our tender boat and be on our way. We got on the boat and off we headed to Grand Cayman island. I took some pictures of the Magic as we sped away.



When we arrived onshore we were met by our guide who led us on a really long walk. We headed out and turned right. We entered a small building and whoa there we were at our excursion. It honestly took 2 minutes at most. We all entered the boat and headed downstairs and took our seats. There were big windows and we could see out. Unfortunately our kids picked the side where the dock is so all we saw at first were rocks. Oh well. We headed out and our guide told us some interesting facts about Grand Cayman and the reefs and what we were going to see. He said we would see a lot of fish, some wrecks, and many reefs. He did not disappoint. This excursion was a lot of fun and we saw a lot of things. They even put a diver in the water and she fed the fish and swam around the boat. It was like she was the Pied Piper because the fish knew it was feeding time and they followed her all over. We saw remnants of two shipwrecks and many different types of fish. If you want a nice little and close excursion that does not take your whole day (like we did) then this is the one to go on. Here are some pictures. Notice the one of the Barraccuda. It was taken just before he swam really fast away to attack some fish (feeding time for him too, I guess).




After the excursion we crossed the street and headed to do some looking around. We had some ice cream or I might say the ice cream had its way with the kids. I think they had more of it over themselves than they actually ate. We picked up some perfume and cologne and then set out to find the Waterford store. My wife has always kicked herself for not buying more wine glasses while we were in Ireland in 1998. We got a set and they were something like $20/glass then. Here in the US they were $60/glass. So, when she saw they were $40/glass here she wanted to get 4 more so we could have an even dozen. Of course, she got what she wanted. I have a hard time saying no to her...I know its an occupational hazard but I am getting help. We walked around a little more but decided to head back a little early to the ship.



The kids and I headed to the pool while Mary went to get ready. She had a 5:30pm apppointment for a facial. We decided the kids could take a dip in the pool and then I would take them to dinner. Mary would hit her facial and we would eat later, together. We would eat at some place called Palo around 8:30pm so we held off. We were in a real bind here. What to do, the kids didn't want to miss the show but they had to eat. OK...ssshhh... don't tell anyone. We had some pizza by the Goofy pool and then we went back to get dressed. We hit the 6:15pm show of Twice Charmed. I know, I know, we were invading on the late dinner crowd's show but hey, you have to do what you have to do. Again, fantastic show. I really liked Franco, the wicked fairy godfather.

What was great about hitting the early show and getting the kids fed is that they could go to Stitch's great adventure in the club. Again, Jimbo is a HUGE fan of Stitch so they were excited to go help him capture his cousins. I went back and Mary and I got ready, mostly me, Mary was all ready. We headed up to Palo on deck 10 and waited for someone at the front desk. It actually took a good couple of minutes for someone to come out to the front desk. We sat down for our 8:30 reservation and had a great meal. Now mind you, it was great but not the best we have had. It is kind of unfair to say it was bad but once you have dined at Victoria and Albert's in WDW (Grand Floridian) everything pales in comparison. Is that a little snooty, oh well too bad deal with it . Again, we had great service from Anne Marie (I believe that was her name). We had some wine and enjoyed a night together. You can definately feel the boat rocking a bit here. It was only the second time we felt it. Due to being midship we hardly noticed the ship moving, if it did. The only other time was the first night. I heard a lot of people complained about it but none of us had any problems. Palo is a great restaurant and I would place it next to the California Grill, which I love, if I have to compare it with another Disney restaurant. The best thing about here is no kids.

Mary and I walked around deck 9 and she told me about her facial. She said it was fantastic but they tried to sell her some items. She thought it was a little bit of a hard sell. But, she resisted. That's my girl. Although she did tell a little fib and said she had to talk to me first if she was going to buy in order for them to stop bugging her. See above comment if you beleive that load of... from her. Talk to me, hah, I do wish. She also told me she wanted to cancel her massage for Thursayd and replace it with some other type of treatment. I don't know the name but I think they actually melt you and put you back together. We walked into the spa and lucky for her the had an opening the same time she was going to get her massage. I walked out front beyond the netted basketball court, where some kids were playing basketball and was at the front of the deck. I did my best Leonardo diCaprio impression, boy was it windy up here, and we went back down to get the kids. Another beautiful day comes to a close. Of course, this day had James and Moira rustling up some cousins for Stitch (highlight moment of the trip for James) .

Up next Cozumel

 

[ldeninge]

I made my way to the omelet station and we settled in to eat. While I was getting up to get the kids some juice I think I was found by our very own ldeninge (Lauri) and her daughter who had the same idea to eat at Topsiders.

Tim,
I have to tell you, that the first reason that I knew it had to be your kids wasn't recognizing them (although when I looked closely, I recognized them from the adorable picture you'd emailed).

What got my attention was hearing your accent! You said 'James! You want some juice?' from behind us in an unmistakably NY accent and I spun around, thinking 'that's GOT to be Bytor01!'

Glad to hear you had fun on the excursion.
Lauri