Magic Eastern May 13, Days 4 & 5

[jodifla]

Day 4:, Monday, at sea day. Our Palo brunch ressies were at 11, but I was apprehensive about being able to go since our DS asked to come out of the kids club the night before. We ordered room service coffee and juice and a bagel for DS, and I headed to the kids club to talk with Robyn about what we could do to make DS happy there, at least for the hour or two we were having brunch. Remarkably, she remembered DS from the sea of kids who were in club the night before, even what he was wearing! She said he fell right asleep after we left him, but was upset and disoriented when he woke up about 40 minutes later. We agreed to let him start off with some computer time while I was there. I brought him about 10:30, by 10:45 I was able to leave and keep our Palo date.

Palo brunch is superb, and even better than the dinner, IMO. The servers (we had Carmen, who was wonderful) take about 10 minutes to walk you through the buffet, which is loaded with seafood. There’s also a selection of fresh gourmet pizzas, and a selection of hot food you can order, in addition to the bread and cheeses, pastries, salads, and of course dessert! Add that with the wonderful view, and it’s not to be missed.

We picked up DS after the brunch, and headed for the Mickey Pool for the rest of the afternoon. We had dinner at Parrot Cay that evening. We had the grouper, which was wonderful. We had a drink afterward in the Promenade Lounge, then headed to the stateroom to watch a movie, Good Night and Good Luck.

Day 5, St. Martin: We had no excursions planned, since most of them excluded 4-year- olds. We took a taxi to the Butterfly Farm, which other folks had recommended. Overall, we thought this was not worth the money at all. We’ve been to much better butterfly farms in Florida. The taxi ride around the island was nice, though. It was a brutally hot day. We ended up eating at The Green Turtle Restaurant (they had great grouper sandwiches!) near the dock for lunch, then just walking around the shopping area in town. They do seem to have good prices on emeralds…I was very tempted by a couple of pendants. We walked back to the boat, not realizing it was further away than it looked! Then it was back to the Mickey Pool! Although lots of people have fun with it, we didn’t get too involved in the Pirates Party that evening. The fireworks were nice, but we spent our time away from the crowds, enjoying the adult pool area and Cove Coffee Shop since DS was in the kids club. He even fell asleep there, and the counselors encouraged us to go out and have fun. But we were tired, and had an early morning because of immigration and an excursion, so we decided to call it an early evening.

 

[DutchsMommy]

Thanks for your input on the Butterfly Farm. Our DS is 4 as well and will be about 4 3/4 when we sail. I am planning (tentatively) on making our own way to the Lotterie Farm. DH was into the Sub thing but for $80pp I wasn't sold.

I would love your thoughts on the cruise with your DS. We sailed in Feb 04 when DS had just turned 3 and felt he was a bit young. He enjoyed himself but really wasn't old enough to handle the clubs - his potty training was shaky at best at that time anyway. I am hoping he enjoys it more this time around. Any info you could give would be appreciated!

 

[jodifla]

Thanks for your input on the Butterfly Farm. Our DS is 4 as well and will be about 4 3/4 when we sail. I am planning (tentatively) on making our own way to the Lotterie Farm. DH was into the Sub thing but for $80pp I wasn't sold.

I would love your thoughts on the cruise with your DS. We sailed in Feb 04 when DS had just turned 3 and felt he was a bit young. He enjoyed himself but really wasn't old enough to handle the clubs - his potty training was shaky at best at that time anyway. I am hoping he enjoys it more this time around. Any info you could give would be appreciated!

We went when DS was almost 3 and had a really good time back in '04. He was in Flounders, and that worked pretty well, because we put him in after dinner and he fell asleep there. It was a bit harder in the kids clubs, because the movie time with the mats and blankets doesn't start until 10, and most nights he wanted to be in bed by 9. So he didn't love the kids clubs, but we had him in there a few hours a day. Of the six times he was there, we were paged twice. The kids clubs were really mobbed, and I think it was just too much for him sometimes.

But he loved, loved the Mickey Pool and Mickey Slide. He was in the pool hours each day, and was old enough for us to stand around the sides watching without having to be next to him. He liked the dinners for the first hour or so (he did not like us ordering dessert! That made the meal too long for him....)

We spent a fair amount of time in the room, enjoying room service and our verandah. We explored the ship, spent time in the Promenade Lounge, and just enjoyed all the family time together.

Let me know if you have any other questions. We rebooked for 07, if that tells you anything!