KC's Western POST trip report 4/19-4/26

[Kim1964]

I'm very much enjoying this report. As a cruise newbie, I'm learning a LOT about what to expect and what to plan on circumventing next year when we go.

 

[King Charming]

After dinner the kids were sent back to the room to hang up their fancy clothes and change into "you can get dirty in that if you want" clothes. This was done in record time and off they went for a few more minutes of whatever they have been finding to do. We had plans , but they suddenly don't include champagne. DW wants to blame her upset tummy from Sat nite on the bubbly we had that evening. Granted, it wasn't the best stuff in the world (black bottle brand), but it wasn't THAT bad. She has never really liked the drink and only choked down a glass to be polite to me. (Yes, a rarity). Thats fine. DW had planned on dragging me out on the dance floor this evening (we even took lessons!), but I helped her change her mind. For her Bday I took her into the gift shop and got her an oversized (12x12) Mickey/DCL scrap book that is sure to be filled with memories when we get home.

The kids showed up after midnight (late again), and with me almost asleep, room service for four was ordered! "Whatever you want, Dear." (an extremely seldom used phrase) was again heard during the cruise. I tipped the guy 2 bucks a plate, ate a meat sandwich, and fell back asleep all in one motion. I'm told that the light got turned off around 2am.

If this didn't turn out to be her best birthday EVER, I might as well turn in my "man card" and just stop trying.

 

[Hypermommy]

Good morning again all,

I've not been trying to ignore the TR, but there have been so many things getting in the way. Don't tell purplepeg but I think I may be understanding what she's going through trying to get her TR up.

Well, I got a quote on recovering my data on my EHD. $500-2500. Wow!!! I'm going to check in town.... there's got to be a better option. Fortunately, I had uploaded a bunch of pics to photobucket in preparation for this trippie so it's not a complete loss and I can go on with the report.

Monday was an absolutely wonderful morning! I slept through the night without incident and woke feeling refreshed and happy -- exactly how I should feel for this day I had been most looking forward to - my birthday at sea! Marion and I had some coffee and wonderful conversation again and it was a perfect morning.

Our character breakfast was scheduled at 9:45 and like KC said, it was something of a madhouse. I understand that the restaurants are perhaps too large for the characters to cover every table in a traditional character meal type setup, but they've got to think of something else. As soon as the characters showed up in the middle all the kids went up -- well, not mine.. they're to old for that kind of thing and not old enough yet to realize that acting like a kid can be fun sometimes. But I couldn't get a good shot with the characters out in the center like that and all the little kids and moms around them. So I figured I'd blend into the crowd as if I were one of the moms and off I went. Later I realized that the characters do parade around the big aisle in the room so I could have sat and enjoyed my breakfast. Oh well... I got some good pictures.

Check out the "tell me again why I'm up this early" look on KC's face

Here are the guys with Jaiyme, our Assistant Server. She was wonderful and so friendly and always smiling and fun to be with all week.

So breakfast ended around 11:00 and then it was time for Jim and the kids to try on the tuxes and make sure there are no problems. That leaves me time to go do what I'm interested in. There was a digital photography seminar at 11:15 and I always want to learn to take better pictures so off I went. Oh, as an aside because I just thought of it ... if you're ever at Mousefest and get a chance to take one in of Tim Devine's meetings about taking better pictures, don't miss it. His photographs are excellent and he loves sharing the information. Unfortunately, that is not what this seminar was. I sat through the first few slides where they were talking about the differences between digital and traditional cameras. Then the leader talked about what pixels were. About that time I decided the seminar wasn't for me. I sat there for a while trying to figure out if I should just leave, but thinking that would be incredibly rude. I wasn't the only one there or anything but I'd positioned myself right up front (as I do when I want to learn something). Finally I decided this was my vacation, not the leader's, and she'd just have to deal with it. I know that sounds callous but I didn't want to waste an hour listening to stuff I already knew. So off I went.

I don't have any notes about what I did between 11:45'ish (when I left the seminar) and 3pm when I went down to the room to prepare for Karen's most excellent offer to do my hair. I remember my birthday being absolutely perfect so I know I must have just relaxed and enjoyed a day at sea. I know after Monday I decided days at sea were my favorite so I know I had a great time. I'm sure I got a drink or two (not me!) becuase I do have this picture.

And I know I must have caught up with KC at some point at his deck 9 forward secret hiding place because I have this one (which is taken in front of the door we think goes to the bridge)

At 3:00 I went down to prepare for Karen doing my hair. Karen was one of the most active members of the pre-cruise thread we had going here at the DIS (which is still going and a few people are planning another cruise so that thread might just take off and keep going and going and going....). At one point before the cruise I'd wondered how much it was going to cost to get the salon to do my hair up in a Cinderella style before the ball, er, uh, I mean dinner. Karen kindly offered to do my hair for me and save me the $$$ of going to the salon. She's such a sweet and wonderful lady. She was coming at 4 so I went to the room at 3 to order the cheese platter and a corkscrew and two glasses for the wine that I'd brought for us to share. Can you think of a more wonderful way to get ready for the ball than to enjoy time with friends enjoying wine and cheese? I sure can't.

Karen got there after the martini tasting and had brought a couple of the martinis with her. Turns out a friend of hers had surprised everyone with tickets to the martini tasting. But I never have cared for martinis either so they just sat there. Not so the wine, of course. Oh, by the way.. this is the bottle of wine we got charged $15 to drink even though Disney never saw it. I'd heard if you take a bottle of wine to dinner they'll charge you a $15 uncorking fee. It never occurred to me the same fee would apply if you drink it in your room. Next time I'm taking a corkscrew... I figure if a pair of scissors can get through security hopefully so will a corkscrew. We'll just have to see. What's the worst that could happen -- they take it away and still charge me $15? I'll have to try at least.

Anyway... Karen came at four and we had a great time with her doing my hair and talking about my DS14. Karen's a middle school teacher, I think of special needs kids, and it was great to get her take on the whole Asperger's thing. At least I had a great time... don't know about poor Karen. First, I couldn't find all the bobby pins I brought so we only had about 8 or 10 to work with. And then she gets a call from one of the other dis thread cruise buddies asking if Karen can do her daughter's hair who had suddenly decided she wanted to look like a princess. And, of course through all of this I forgot that Karen had the early seating for dinner. I sure hope she had time to go back and get herself ready without much stress. But boy, she did a fantastic job! Check it out!!!

So now it was time for the ball. Okay, so it's really only dinner aboard the Magic. But it's my birthday and I actually spent weeks looking for the perfect dress. This is one of the things this cruise did to/for me that I sure wasn't prepared for... I actually had a great time looking for two perfect dresses for the cruise - one for formal night and one for semi formal night. Now I know this doesn't sound like a terribly new thing or anything but for me it is. You gotta remember that I'm a redneck woman of the first caliber who has absolutely no problem standing barefooted in my own front yard (or anywhere else for that matter) with a baby on my hip (someone else's baby -- I love "give back" kids but I'm not having any more God willing. That's just too much work). Anyway, I found the semi formal dress pretty quickly but looked and looked and looked for a dress for formal night. I had pretty strict requirements about this dress, the most important of which is that I'd wear full crinoline under it so it puffed out like a princess gown and made the tiara look right. Because of course I'm wearing a tiara and I don't care if no other adult onboard does. It's my birthday on the Disney Magic and if I can't be a princess this night I never will. The dress turned out to be a bit paler than I'd like (I like rich colors... a forest green would have been perfect) but since I wasn't willing to pay full price, I took what I could get.

So did I get to be a princess that night? But of course... King Charming had his charisma turned on full force and the boys were well behaved and extremely polite. Everyone on the ship seemed to realize what I was going for and was very kind and deferential and treated me like royalty. I must admit that I almost ruined my make up when I saw my darling King Charming and my two princes in their formal wear. Last week we had a scrapbooking challenge in which we had to use the quote from Yeats that says "I kiss you and kiss you with arms 'round my own. Ah how I shall miss you my dear when you've grown." Is it any wonder that I used the formal picture of my two young men with this quote? They looked so grown up and so handsome and so wonderful. And KC looked absolutely dashing (see for yourself).

See there... wasn't the gown perfect? Thanks so much to my boss's wife from whom I borrowed the crinoline and the jewelry and the tiara. And thanks to KC who made sure everything for the ball went perfect. I had the most excellent birthday!!!

We were in Animator's Palette again that night but with no show. I had hoped that without the show dinner wouldn't take as long. No such luck... it still took a couple of hours. That's just not our cup of tea. We started talking about maybe getting room service or something for dinner the next night. Just not into the two hour dinner thing. And then we had to wait and wait for dessert. Everyone was telling me I had to stay for dessert - even DS14 said it would be rude to leave before dessert. Wait a minute... instruction on etiquitte from DS14? Something must be up. Yep... a beautiful cake is brought to our table and we put a good dint in it and took the rest back to the room.

Oh, I so wanted to go dancing in my ballgown. I had dreams before the trip of waltzing with King Charming to the strains of "So This Is Love" (my song for him). But after dinner we were both tired and I didn't feel like dancing. So we went for a swim (the water was cold!) and a dip in the hot tub (very nice as long as I didn't get my sunburned shoulders in).

I have a note that the kids were on time for curfew. They were late for most of the times we told them to meet us somewhere but they were usually on time for dinner. By this time I was hungry and so was bottomless pit #2. We got some food, including something for KC which he grumbled he wanted when I told him I was calling room service. You know, I think he's right... he ate and went back to sleep all in one motion. I closed the curtains and let the kids watch tv for a while until they nodded off.

Absolutely no need to turn in your "man card", KC. This was absolutely and without a doubt the most excellent birthday I have ever celebrated in my entire life. Thank you, darling!!!!

Next up from me... There and Back Again (aka Grand Cayman Day)

 

[CRSNDSNY]

WOW! What a wonderful addition to your report. YOu look LOVELY inthat dress and your men look absolutely handsome! I really love that color green!
Sounds like the perfect bday to me!

 

[wdhinn89]

You looked FANTASTIC!!! and so did your family. I heard so much about your dress on our meet thread and I couldn't wait to see it. It was beautiful and elegant. What a great family potrait too.

PS. Karen, you did a beautiful job on Denises' hair.

 

[frdeb1999]

What a fantastic TR so far! The pics are beautiful!

 

[nzdisneymom]

You guys sure clean up nice! Love the formal pics. There is no way I'd ever get DH and the boys in tuxes...... although I will have to show DS#1 the pic of your DS#2 so he can see that it's cool for boys their age to dress up nice for their moms once in a while! (BTW, just so you'll know, my DS#1 is talking to your DS#2 about DVC ownership.... is that part-time home in your future?)

 

[King Charming]

This was the morning I slept until 11. Thanks to the time switch I get an hour of that time back. Grand Cayman (GC) apparently doesn't do daylight saving time and with Cozumel in the Central Time Zone, ship clocks are set back one hour during the next two days to line up with local time. GC is the only port you ride a tender to get ashore. Prior to 12:30 your name needs to be on someone's list for a seat on a tender. I/we were so slow that morning our names never made it on no stinkin list. We eventually take the 8-10 minute tender ride over, walk around and take it all in. It was ANOTHER perfect day, around 80 w/ scattered clouds. There was a band playing and still quite alot of activity considering it was 1pm. There was another ship out there with us, and a couple more further on down.

For months DW has been enjoying the play on words for this visit. I've been directed to Hell so many different ways it's finally gotten old. At least now I get to pick how big a hand basket to get me there. We walk out to the street and there are guys holding placecards touting their organized trips around the island. The only one I really spoke to explained it was 12 bucks a head to go to Hell, 20 each for Hell/Turtle Farm/Rum Cake. He never said anything about coming back or roundtrip, but it made no difference to me. No thank you. Quick, grab the family and walk away, this man hates us!! Ya see, I knew about the bus . One of the websites I visited said there were 3 bus lines on the island. The one to Hell & back runs every 15 mins, the other two that go east run every 30. Everyone I ask says the depot is over by the library 3-4 blocks away. See that little (out house sized) white building over there? Go there and pay the man. Huh? Over we go and sure enough there are prices on the wall. Only 2.50 USD per, each way, and similar low prices to the other places. We get in this vehicle over here? SURE! The bus is really a 14 passenger van with a siding side door, right hand drive with A/C, with driving on the left side of the street. The driver said we would leave in five minutes, then does!

I loved this guy. He drove fast and lived on his horn. It made no difference what the driver was trying to say, be it "The bus is coming", or "Hi there" or "Get the hell outta the way". It all sounded the same beep beep. I guess it took about 20 minutes to cover the 10 or 12 miles to Hell. We went past some pretty fancy resorts along the way. We stopped 6-7 times to trade passengers.

The road to Hell is actually paved fairly well, but I didn't see a single good intention anywhere.

So we get to Hell and the driver says he is going up the road to turn around and will be back the way in 15 minutes! This guy made the trip up fun, I really don't want to miss a repeat proformance. Next up: Into Hell Itself!

 

[Hypermommy]

You guys sure clean up nice! Love the formal pics. There is no way I'd ever get DH and the boys in tuxes...... although I will have to show DS#1 the pic of your DS#2 so he can see that it's cool for boys their age to dress up nice for their moms once in a while! (BTW, just so you'll know, my DS#1 is talking to your DS#2 about DVC ownership.... is that part-time home in your future?)

All riiiiiight!!! Tell him to talk it up big. I'd love to have DVC and then we could cruise much more often and/or go to the parks and not "pay" for lodging. Yep... see, KC, it'd be a good thing!

 

[Hypermommy]

I thought the little bus stop building was blue. Just in case someone's going to try to take this bus I thought I'd mention that. But KC could very well be right because we all know I have CRS. Anyway, it is right by the library and it's just a few blocks inland. Very easy to find and get to and very, very much cheaper than taking tourist-y transportation.

 

[jollytammy]

I just loved your dress!! And your trip report is wonderful. Keep up the good work!

 

[sejejoemmiev]

Oh, now I know you think I'm a horrible mom. I'm not. I'm just not a nice person

 

[King Charming]

We saw pictures of everything there is to see in Hell that have been posted. How do I know I have seen it all? Because there are only 20 photographs TO take, even if you waste 5 of them. Hell is also fun and I'm glad I came (but not 50 bucks glad by any stretch). Hell is a gift shop and a gas station. Thats it! There is a field/pasture across the street. I went next door to the very old Cheveron (I think) station for a pack of butts and some cold Pepsi while they shopped. Then I went and got the camera and went out back to photograph the strange rock formations, iguanas, trees, cute tourists, whatever. DW had already taken the front of store pics. The 'Stick your face thru here' poorly painted and faded devil and angel, 'Welcome to Hell' signs, etc; all 8 of the required photos.

I thought the black limestone and story behind the resulting formations was neat although the boys were more interested in the wildlife. The smallish shop is exactly what you expect after seeing the outside. About half T-shirts, but every single item has the word Hell on it. The funnier the printed saying on a shirt, the less likely the kids could wear it to school. There was a 5 dollar rack of shirts that became 8 bucks because someone must have moved it down from the upper shelf. Expect to pay $8.50 USD for iron-on transfer shirts (we got 4). I probably spent 50 bucks in Hell. You can buy these shirts around the port, but you won't have nearly as large a selection or be able to brag about going to (and coming back from) Hell.

 

[King Charming]

The driver is waiting! Just another valid reason to tip the guy extra. The guy is such a veteran driver that I knew no matter how close he came, we won't be delayed in a traffic accident. So it was a fun trip back into George Town. Irish skin and tropical beaches simply should not mix, so we didn't even try SPF 10K on Seven Mile Beach. We spoke to the driver about letting us off at a shopping center before getting into town. As a result of all the ritzy resorts that have popped up along that beach, shops have blossomed one block in. We saw several larger "strip" centers on the way up and figured prices would be better away from the port. Not really advised our driver, he said greater variety, quality, and price could be found around the port. It didn't dawn on me until later that walking around with three other fools who have tourist written all over them would not be the safest thing I could do for our family. Thankfully I'm good at taking advice and knew I'd feel more secure if I can see the ship and the tender area. We stopped in dozens of stores and shops and only bought new reading glasses for DW, cuban cigars, and 5 dollar T-shirts.

A thing to remember about shopping in GC. You will pay more than the listed price for everything because of the difference in value between the US and GC dollar. When we were there 1.2 USD = 1.0 GCD; simply put, anything listed for 10 bucks really cost twelve dollars American.

We also had issues with DS12. He is at an age/stage where 'parents are not cool to be with in public' and 'I can get around fine by myself'. Only NOT in a foreign country where getting separated/lost WILL ruin the day, and could monkey-wrench the whole week.

Getting back on the ship via tender was as easy and uncrowded as coming over. Being back on the ship brings that same overwhelming sense of relief, times two! At least a screw-up in KW would only cost hundreds in addition to the automatic forfeit of at least part of the cruise. Now it would have cost thousands; it's good to be home.

 

[LITTLEKID58]

TFS great TR

 

[KristinK]

Loving your TR! Can't wait for more...

"We also had issues with DS12. He is at an age/stage where 'parents are not cool to be with in public' and 'I can get around fine by myself'. Only NOT in a foreign country where getting separated/lost WILL ruin the day, and could monkey-wrench the whole week."

We had similar issues w/ DS18 on our Eastern last September... The morning we docked in St. Maarten, we went to wake DS to get ready to go ashore, and he told us to go ahead without him, that he'd met a new friend in the Stack the previous evening and would be spending the day on the island with him...I DON'T THINK SO!!!

He was pretty determined, but as he was still sleepy and in bed, I grabbed his wallet and confiscated his KTTW card and ID and informed him that he was either welcome to join us for the day, or he could spend the day on the ship...Well, he wasn't very pleased with me for a bit, but he came around and we ultimately enjoyed a wonderful day on the island - together!

Hurry and post more - I need something to do when I'm supposed to be working

 

[Hypermommy]

He was pretty determined, but as he was still sleepy and in bed, I grabbed his wallet and confiscated his KTTW card and ID and informed him that he was either welcome to join us for the day, or he could spend the day on the ship...Well, he wasn't very pleased with me for a bit, but he came around and we ultimately enjoyed a wonderful day on the island - together!

The way I figure it, if my kids aren't happy with me then I must be doing my job right. LOL at taking his card and ID. It's a good feeling to know you can still outsmart your offspring, isn't it?

Well, let's see. My notes say that I slept in this morning. Now, for me, sleeping in means getting up around 7 or 8, since I'm usually up by 4 or 5 in the morning. Moms, out there... you'll know what I mean -- it's the only time that the house is quiet so my body's gotten used to being up at that time.

I also have a note that we were off the ship by 11. Guess I'm remembering things slightly differently than KC. Or maybe I'm still on Eastern time and he's on island time or something. We got some breakfast at Topsiders.

And then it was off to GC. The tender over to GC was quick and uneventful. The island was pretty and I got a couple of pictures as we were headed up to the bus/van stop.

Got a pretty good view of the ship from the tender

And the obligatory welcome picture

You guys know that techno song about "he is a crazy frog!" that has the old "Axle F" song with it? Well, we love that song around here (I'm trying to keep up with the teenagers, but I can feel my age with some of their music ) so we just had to get this picture

Now this next picture has a pretty good story related to it. We found this sign outside a bar that said you had to be this tall to order a drink. So, of course, my teenager and 6-months-away-from-teenager sons had to go see how they rated. Yep, they're old enough to order a drink. DS14 told me that the counselors in the Stack had given the kids strict instructions that if there was any alcohol in their system when they got back on the ship they'd be in a ton of trouble. But I told him it'd be okay because we were going to be walking around in the sunshine and I wouldn't let him drink enough to get drunk or even noticably tipsy. But I thought it might make a good story to tell their friends that they were in a place in which it was legal for them to order a drink so they did. Besides... remember the first time you had a beer? I remember DS12 asked me for a taste of my Amber Bock one time so I poured about a pinkie finger full in a cup and let him try it. To his credit, he did not spew it all over the living room. So I figured a couple of sips would be all they could stand -- not enough to effect them in any way shape or form but a great story to tell their friends. So up we went to the bar. When we got up there the bartender let DS14 know that he could order a drink -- a coke. But if he wanted alcohol he had to be 18. Well, I kinda figured it'd be something like that but it was worth a shot. It would have been a great story to tell his friends!

Next come some pictures taken at Hell. I was rather disappointed in Hell. Really it's only about the size of a city block with a gift shop on one corner, a gas station on the other and the rest of the lot filled with the black rocks. Our wonderful cabby (Mr. Beep Beep) got back so quickly that I didn't even get a chance to take a picture of the rock formations. The boys took pictures of that while I was in the gift shop sending some obligatory postcards, but I haven't uploaded their pictures yet. Besides, just google up "Hell, Grand Cayman" and you'll see just about every shot there is.

Met the proprietor though. At least I saw the guy who's mug is on all of the postcards and such. I gotta admit a measure of admiration for this guy. He takes this little area of rock where nothing can grow and makes it a destination for thousands of tourists every year coming from all over the world. Talk about a marketing genius!!! And he was really funny. As I walked up to the counter to pay for my postcards and get stamps he cheerily asks "How the hell are you?" And when I'm asking where the mailboxes are, he points to a door where there's a guy standing and tells me I can get out right there if that guy will get the hell out of my way. Dude was really cool and I wish I'd given myself more time to talk to him. I'll bet he has some great stories to tell.

Most of the pictures I got at Hell were of the boys in the angel and devil cutouts. Actually, this was totally appropriate since the only things that hold up my sons' halos are their horns.

How the hell are you?

But Mr. Beep Beep was back in 15 minutes just like he said and off we headed back to the port. Once we got back to the port we shopped around a bit and KC bought himself a real cuban cigar.

I was looking for tanzinite becuase I'd heard about it and seen examples at the jewelry talk yesterday but I found out that it was very expensive. I'm still hoping to get a tanzinite piece someday becuase it is a brilliant color, but we'll see. See how much this cruise has turned me into a girl?!?! Now I'm even thinking about real jewelry

So we just took pictures instead

And yes, DS12 wouldn't stay with us. I just wish these kids could see things logically. But then again, I guess I didn't when I was that age either. Yes, we restricted him to the room for a while once we got back onboard. But you can't stay mad at this little face for long, can you?

DS14 is, of course, a legend in his own mind... as kids of that age should be.

And yes, we breathed another sigh of relief at not having missed the ship. Our Cozumel excursion is a Disney-booked one and I've heard they'll hold the boat for you if you're late getting back from one of their excursions. And I can't imagine they'd leave us at Castaway Cay (wouldn't that be "horrible"). So Grand Cayman was the last place that I really fretted about getting back to the ship on time. But we did and life was again really, really good.

That afternoon I dropped by Diversions and played Pub Trivia. It was like Jeopardy and they even had buzzers and everything. All six of us who showed up were put in teams of two each. My partner and I knew most of the answers (except for the double jeopardy that we wagered $1K on) but just couldn't get the buzzer to work fast enough for us. The winners got nice hats and t-shirts but becuase there were so few of us, we all got a little keychain flashlight with the DCL logo on it. It was cool.

I caught up with KC and the rest of that afternoon we just relaxed. Met up with DS12 at 6:20 (they were supposed to meet us at 6:00 I believe). He was apparently up on deck playing Dr. Dodgeball. At 6:30 I went looking for DS14. I saw a note he'd written in the room that said he'd be back at 6:00 so I know he was trying but just lost track of the time (again). Definitely get a watch for every member of your party. I found DS14 in Quartermasters and sent him down to get changed while KC and DS12 played foosball.

While waiting I snapped some pics of the sunset (well, it was either me or KC, can't remember which).

And here's a real competition.

Check out the concentration

Tonight we went to Topsiders becuase we just couldn't stand the idea of another 2 hour dinner. Everyone needs to go here at least once! It's a nice restaurant with table cloths and table service. See, this is what is usually considered a fine restaurant for us. Hey, it beats McDonald's. And you should see the porterhouse steak they serve here. I swear it covers the whole plate. Unfortunately, I didn't get a picture of it. When it arrived I just gawked at it and then dug in.

After dinner I went to see Twice Charmed. It was a nice show, but the storyline was a bit too much like the movie that they've put out where the evil stepmom goes back in time to ruin Cindy's destiny. Same plotline here. I guess if you have a good story you tell it everywhere you can. But I was rather disappointed. Some of the music was good and the Evil Fairy Godfather was absolutely a juicy part with great music.

After the show I caught back up with KC and we relaxed a bit. When we went back to the room we found a turtle on the bed.

KC decided to go to sleep but I wasn't quite sleepy yet. So I took my little Cub Scout Mickey and got some more pictures around the ship with him. I plan to put these up on my website at some point. I saw DS14 in the pool and in the gameroom with some friends. Then it was off to bed for me too.

Next from me .... Hola! Benvenidos a Mexico!!

 

[King Charming]

Gee, who knew keeping track of 7 days could be so hard. OK, I may be off in the timing thing, but I'm darn sure I went to Hell. That's probably why TR's are solo efforts; no one to contradict you. I hope you could care less about what hour something got done, cause this old watchless one felt about the same way. There were only four times I really needed to know this trip; the 4 last call/all aboard times. I too remember doing stuff but am pretty hazy about when it got done. One of those things was the night I stayed up till close to 4 am. I put new batteries in the camera and took dozens of pics of our Scouting Mickey all over an empty ship. I didn't know to set the date that gets stamped on the photo and lost that way to trace it.

I do remember stopping by Guest Services for a copy of our bill (so far). I've been advised that this is a good ides since you are more likely to recall the charges. If they got something wrong at check-in this is the ideal time to straighten it out. There were three surprises on my bill. The first was that we had run up a 2 page bill so quickly. Next was the fact that they had tapped my credit card $800+ on Sunday. 4 or 5 hundred in charges and they automatically dun your card on file. They hit me for another $600+ on Thursday when I charged my tips a day early. Finally it was the total amount we three guys had run up in the arcade. I spoke to the boys about it and reminded them they were paying for it, they said to thank Meme.

I like the layout of the bill they give you. For each person with a KTTW card separately, it lists the date purchased, check #, server #, Location/Description, cost, & payments. The very brief description helps ID'ing what the charge was for. The cutest part is the heading. "Guest Folio - Summary" I guess there is a euphemism for everything. Some other things to know about billing is: How often they hit your credit card. Not all at the end unless you are under $400. You may use more than one credit card to pay. It takes a few minutes to swap out (and back) your primary card. Cash is accepted at Customer Services. Credits show up as expected and it is possible to run a neg balance. After a cash payment on Friday left me $100 to the good, it was explained that at the end they would apply it to my primary card as a payment on the card. At the end of the cruise Shutters took credit for this mistake.

 

[CRSNDSNY]

Lots of great reading this morning. THANKS!

 

[Hypermommy]

First, sorry to contradict you, darling. I know you never make a mistake and it must have been me that just wrote it down wrong at the time it happened. That had to be it becuase you're always right, right?

Second, I agree completely with you that they make the guest folio very easy to read. It's very easy to see who made what charge becuase it's grouped by person. The only time this is a problem is if you have two persons in your family with the same name (like KC and DS14). Since they only use first and last names, all of those charges were in the same grouping. Now it was pretty much a given that DS14 wasn't ordering liquor but when it came to gameroom charges, there's no telling. KC found his golf game in the arcade and as soon as that was found he started splitting his time between there and the secret spot on Deck 9.

Oh, also before I get into Mexico, let me offer one other word to the wise that I learned. I participated in the "pay it forward" thread they have around here. This is where you can get postcards sent to your kids (or kids at heart) from someone that's going on a cruise before you and you promise to send out a few to folks that send you their snail mail info (via PM of course). I'd done this before during trips to the parks and it was always just as easy as pie. But it's harder on the cruise. In Key West we were there on a Sunday so no post office was open. And in Grand Cayman and Cozumel it was equally hard to find a place from which to mail postcards. Of course, there's Castaway Cay but they're notorious for taking forever to get postcards to someone (I still don't have the one I mailed myself from there) and since a couple of the cards I agreed to send were to kids who were cruising on 28 May, that wouldn't work. I should have checked at guest services, but I figured if I went that route they'd just be sent from Port Canaveral. And I could just as easily send them from PC when we got back. Of course, I didn't -- I was so tired and just forgot. So, I sent them from home here a few days ago. Just thought I'd mention it as something to keep in mind in case you want to particpate in this most wonderful "program".

Okay... on to Mexico.

On Cozumel Day I woke up at 5:30. Now that I'm back I realize it was Wednesday but they say the mark of a good vacation is when you forget what day it is and I did that about Sunday or Monday of this one. Anyway.. I woke up at 5:30 because we had a 9:15 meeting for the Tulum excursion. As was my wont by this time, I went up and got coffee and headed straight up to the seating area by the adult pool where I could smoke. I remember painting my nails after finally getting the fakes off that I wore on formal night. I also spent some time that morning giving out the goodie bag stuff we brought. We'd gotten a bunch of pirate themed stuff like paper pads, pencils, mini yo yos and mini beach balls. We put that in baggies with some candy and hoped everyone would like it. Giving out pirate themed stuff seemed like a good idea when we bought it. But when I realized I'd have to come back from an all day excursion and still have to go around and put out fish extender stuff... well, it wasn't such a good idea. But I found myself with some time in the morning so I got that done.

I woke the family up at 7 but no one started really moving until 7:30. I spent some time downloading the pics from the kids cameras so they'd have an empty memory card to fill in Mexico. Once everyone was up we went to breakfast at Topsiders.

9:15 came and we were at the Buena Vista theater as we were supposed to be. That's when DS12 realized he left his KTTW card in the room. He ran to go get that and left his hat there. Ugh! But eventually we got stickers that let the CMs know which excursion we were on. Turns out there were several excursions that all started out in the BV theater and then we were separated as we got to our areas. Just Disney moving people around quite effectively -- again

When we got off the ship we got on a very large tender like the yellow one in this picture.

I couldn't believe how clear the water was.

I sure am glad they gave out the seasickness pills before we even left the Magic though. I still felt queasy, but it wasn't as bad as I'm sure it could have been.

After about 45 minutes on the boat, we got to Playa del Carmen. They played a lot of commercials and that kind of thing on the video on the boat. I was hoping they'd play some type of history of the area when I saw the TV screen, but I guess that doesn't pay as well, huh?

I was going to include a few shots of Playa del Carmen but I had too many images in this post so they have to be cut. No biggie.... just because the stop sign said "ALTO", you could still recognize it as a stop sign.

We had a rather long walk through streets lined with a bunch of touristy shops in PdC. We thought for sure we'd have time to shop at these once we returned from Tulum, but no dice. We didn't have time to stop now because we were heading for the bus to take us to Tulum. And we didn't have time to stop once we returned because we had to catch that tender.

We got on the bus and one of the guides gave us a talking history of the area, the Mayans, etc.

After about 50 minutes on the bus we stopped at a huge gift shop. The kids and I went in and got some sodas and looked around but didn't see anything we just had to have. As we reboarded the bus they gave us Subway lunch (sandwich, cheetos and a bottled water if we wanted it, which we declined because we had our sodas).

This rather cool little statue was at the gift shop

As we neared Tulum we were further subdivided into groups. Each of the tour guides took one group. I guess there were maybe 20-30 people in our group.

Now they'd warned us on the Magic that the vendors in Mexico were somewhat more aggressive than other places. And it's true. In fact, all I could think of while dealing with the vendors there was of the old El Rio del Tiempo in the Mexico pavillion at Epcot. Did you get a chance to see it before it had the Tres Caballeros overlay? I remember there was one scene in which your boat was floating by a little outdoor market. And whatever vendor was on the video screen when your boat first entered that hallway would follow you all down the hallway trying to get you to buy their wares. And that's really how it is. They work very hard at getting you to purchase and bargaining is a must. When we got off the boat, some guy put a hat on DS12's head and another on mine. At first we thought these might be complementary (hey, when we got on the bus last time they gave us lunch so maybe this was just something else we got). But as we started walking off he told us the hats were $10. Nope, wasn't going to pay that. We bargained but I could only get him down to $8. Well, since I knew my little redhead needed a hat, I went ahead and bought it. Not five minutes later I saw the same hat for $5. Oh well.

Our tour guide, Juan, was excellent!! Very knowlegeable about the place and a very delightful guy to talk to. And what's best is he knew we gringos needed all the shade he could find. Every time he'd stop us to look over something or to talk about something he'd find us any bit of shade there was around. It was comfortable and pleasant in the shade but hot as Hades in the sun. Are you sure we left Hell back on Grand Cayman?

The ruins were everything I'd hoped they'd be. It was so cool going on this excursion and learning so much. And at one point I put my hand on some of the stones and I know it sounds corny but I really could feel the age of the things. Just to touch something that was put in place thousands of years ago... whoa! (she says in her best Keanau Reeves voice)

Here's some photos of Juan and Tulum.

Juan gives us some info

Entrance to the walled city

There were iguanas everywhere

The beach was just beautiful. KC went and took some pictures and I stayed at the top of the steps looking out over the boys. They're old enough to go ahead and get in the water by themselves because they'll look after each other and besides that's a lot of steps!

See those dots way out there further than they should be? That's DSs

It is a beautiful beach

But it's way too many steps. Hey, do you think I got this beautiful figure by traipsing up and down steps?

We finally saw all we wanted to of Tulum and wanted to head back to some of the shops where the bus was parked. Here's DS14 on the tram back.

When we got back, some guys were re-enacting a ceremony that had to do with them going up a very tall pole and spinning around the pole and then riding the ropes on the way back down. There is no way in Hades you'd catch me doing something like this.

When we got back on the bus everyone was zonked. I tried to get some sleep but my leg had some RLS going on (which I never get, so of course I did now). But the guys all got a bit of a nap.

We had a shorter walk through town on the way back to the tender, thank goodness. When we got on the tender there were a couple of people selling silver jewelry. I saw a piece I mgiht have gotten but there was a spot where a stone was missing. She had another one just like it, right down to the missing stone, but in a different spot. So I decided not to get it since it apparently broke so easily. The boys each bought a silver chain, though. We didn't get a chance to shop in Playa del Carmen (other than the stuff that was sold on the tender) but we did when we got back to Cozumel. We had about an hour so we shopped some of the spots by the port. We got a couple of t-shirts and I got an absolutely exquisite little silver and amythest pendant. Thanks KC!!!!!!!!

And once again we made it back to the ship on time.

I don't really have a picture that shows it well, but I noticed something as we walked back out the pier to the ship. The pier had no railing. It had a big heavy red line painted a few feet in from the edge with warnings in English and Spanish not to go past the red line. It struck me as odd becuase you know in our litigious American society you'd never have a pier like this without a railing. Personally, I think the red line should be enough -- call it a bit of Darwinian selection. But then again, remember I'm not a nice person.

When we got back to the ship, KC and DS12 played a game with the chess set DS12 bought in Tulum. He got a pretty good deal on it and was very proud of himself.

When we got back to the ship, we cut the kids loose with a meeting time of 9:15 to get ready for the Pirates IN the Caribbean party. Of course, we got some photos of the sunset.

KC and I went to Topsiders for dinner, except I think this was the night he decided not to eat. I don't think he was feeling really well, but I dont' have anything in my notes. I couldn't decide on the shrimp or the beef tenderloin so I asked them to bring me the shrimp dish but with just a few slices of the beef on it as well, which they did. It was delicious!

Then it was time to head back to the room and get our pirate gear on for the party. I'd spent quite some time and energy assembling costumes for all of us. Actually, KC's was pretty easy becuase we borrowed stuff that my boss wore last Halloween. I was going to borrow stuff from a local lady here in town but that fell through so I spent the last few days before the cruise putting mine together. I think they came out pretty good, if I do say so myself.

And then we had a great time at the party!

The guys onstage were so high-energy! In fact the next day one of the girls said that's the best aerobic workout she gets all week long.

I tried to take pictures of the fireworks show but since we were on Deck 9 and that has the enclosed glass, none of them came out really well. We could see them great, but the camera picked up all the water spots on the glass instead of the fireworks. It was a short fireworks show but it was fun and besides... short or not it's still the only fireworks show at sea!

After the party I went over to the Rockin' D Bar and met up with Karen and Meg and their family for some kareoke. Meg sang beautifully and I was so glad I didn't have to follow her. I found one song to do and was okay at it. They don't have a really large selection compared to other kareoke places I've been but it was fun nonetheless and there were some truly talented passengers on this ship.

When I got back to the room I found a monkey which I absolutely loved!

Next up from me... Another Marvelous Day At Sea