Magical Western Trip Oct 18

[BeachPartyof3]

We had today planned as a leisurely day at sea. I was hoping to sleep in, eat at Lumiere's and relax for the day. Just a hint, sleeping in and Lumiere's for breakfast doesn't work together, it is closed for breakfast by 9:30. So by the time we got up and out the only option left was Topsiders. I got Sianna going a little faster than Mike was moving, so I got her a short breakfast at Topsiders then checked her into the Lab for Stitch's Great Adventure. Then I went and got Mike and we had breakfast in Topsiders. Sianna spent most of the day in the lab doing things like To Infinity and Beyond, and Ratatouille Cooking School. Mike and I had a leisurely lunch together at Lumiere's before I headed off to Tequila Tasting. Just for the record... don't try drinking 5 huge shots of Tequila when your stomach is already queasy. I got through 2 before I had to leave. I didn't vomit, but I knew better than to continue to the other 3.

We left Sianna in the kid's club for an Aloha Luau while Mike went off to do his beer tasting (apparently it went better for him than my tequila tasting) and I went and got changed for formal night, even though it was only 3:30. I also grabbed Sianna's dress and took it up to the kid's club, where I quickly changed her and we headed down to the Studio Sea for Tea with Alice. There were cookies and apple juice at all the tables, and I had to plead with Sianna for a while to wait until it started to eat. When Alice and the Mad Hatter arrived they chose 2 girls to be the White Rabbit and the March Hare. Sianna was selected as the March Hare. She had to all the crazy things with them during the tea, like dance, jump and race around the table. When it was time to eat though, she didn't. She was too busy watching Alice. At the end she had her picture taken with them and I got her to sit down and eat the cookie and juice I had saved for her at our table.

We met Mike back in the room as he was getting ready for formal night, then headed off for dinner back at Parrot's Cay.

I don't remember what we had for dinner. I do remember it seeming to last forever and Sianna was pretty bored. We left before the dinner was officially over because she just couldn't sit still anymore without driving us nuts. We headed over to Diversions and played a Wii version of Family Feud. It was guys against girls and Sianna and I had fun trying to beat Daddy's team. I left a few minutes early to try to get us seats for the Golden Mickey's. It did crowd up pretty quickly but Mike and Sianna followed very soon after. It was a good show, as were all the performances that week. Afterwards we went back to the room and ordered cookies and milk from room service and went to bed.

 

[BeachPartyof3]

Day 4 - Grand Cayman



Grand Cayman was the port I was most nervous about. It was the only port where we had to tender on a ship to the dock and it was the only port where I had firm plans. I had gone to the excursion's desk the day before to ask about when we should meet to go ashore. We had to be at the excursion company's office on shore by 10 am, so I wanted to hit shore about 9:30. The desk clerk said to be at the theatre by 8 am so that we could get tickets and wait to get ashore. We scheduled room service to bring us breakfast between 7 and 7:30 and our food showed up promptly at 7.

We were going on the trip with several other Dis'ers who took my suggestion about the excursion. Lynda and her grandson were on there, as well as Heather and her family. Lynda left a note on our door the night before saying we should get together for the trip, so I called her at about 7:30 to see if she wanted to meet. Apparently her grandson was still in bed and she didn't think they would make it up there by 8 so we headed up to the theatre about a quarter til 8. As soon as we got there the first group was preparing to leave. There was enough space for us, so they told us to go ahead and jump on the first boat.



Arriving almost 2 hours early, we explored a little around the port, going in and out of shops, but only buying a shot glass with a stingray inside. Sianna was very bored, and kept asking to go on the boat, which of course, we couldn't go yet.

We decided to head for the office and got there about the same time as Heather. Lynda had apparently arrived pretty early, checked in, and then went back out shopping. She arrived maybe 15 minutes later. Sianna was now happy and started to play with the other kids in Heather's family. Heather's oldest daughter grabbed some coconuts and worked on opening them and sharing with the group. Finally about 10 we all got on 2 buses (they had about 35 people total for the trip) and headed to the other side of the Island for our trip.

Though the day was warm, it was also windy and the water was choppy but not too rough. The catamaran boat easily held our group and our first stop was the sting ray sandbar. It was too deep for the smaller kids to stand, and in some spots I couldn't reach bottom, but in general the water was chest high and the bottom was very sandy. The rays were huge, making the ones at SeaWorld look like babies. We grabbed some eel or fish that the tour provider brought and fed one of the rays. Sianna tried, but dropped hers. She didn't seem scared of them and would try to pet them as they swam past. Because of the choppy waters it was difficult to maintain your balance and move around shuffling your feed so you didn't accidentally step on any of them. Occasionally they would swim along your body and that was definitely a weird feeling. The tour operator had one of rays and would help others hold it and give it a kiss, they also had a photographer who took pictures.





I personally thought Grand Cayman was the prettiest place we stopped. It wasn't as built up as Key West and Cozumel and it is more what I pictured of a tropical island. There was lots of construction going on as we crossed the island, but there was still open spaces and a beachy feel. It was obvious that poverty was not an issue and everything seemed very clean and I felt much safer here than say in Mexico. No street hawkers bothered you and everyone we met was very friendly.

After the sting ray sand bar we headed to a small barrier reef for some snorkeling. The water was rougher on the edges and deeper so most of us wore life vests. I had never snorkeled outside of a swimming pool and really enjoyed the experience, however Sianna was having a rough time with the waves, mask, and snorkel despite both Mike and I trying on and off, she ended up spending more time on the boat. Mike and I were able to explore a little on our own while Heather and the other Moms kept an eye on her on the boat. At the next snorkeling stop I tried again with her, but it didn't work out, so we ended up on the boat together while Mike snorkeled. He saw several types of fish and a barracuda. Sianna got to see the barracuda from the boat. Between the wind and the waves, it did feel like a battle to snorkel and I was exhausted after the first stop. I don't blame Sianna for not being able to do it, it wasn't ideal conditions and certainly different from the pools where we had practiced. She was disappointed she did not get to snorkel more and upset she couldn't do it. Maybe when she is older we'll give it another shot.

On the way back we were all wet and sticky from the salt water, so the brief rain shower that came was helpful. We dried off in the wind, but really didn't bother changing. The ride back to the dock was under sail with fun Caribbean music playing. It was a nice excursion and I would recommend Capt. Bob's Buccaneer trip to anyone who visits the island. After getting back to the dock the vans took us directly to the boat terminal. We stopped in the liquor store and taste tested some of the variety of rum cakes, but I had found out I could order them shipped directly to the US cheaper than they were selling them in the stores, so we didn't buy any. We also found out that any liquor we bought would be delivered to the ship and we couldn't get it til the end of the cruise, so we decided to pass. We easily got through the terminal and onto the ship, several hours before the last tender.

After that we got showered and dressed for dinner. This was the night for Lumiere's and I was almost dreading having Sianna sit through another formal dinner. However, we didn't have to worry about it. She was very adamant about going to the kid's club and having dinner with them, so I took her to the kid's club and Mike and I went to have our French style dinner. Andrea seemed disappointed that Sianna wasn't with us, though they were prepared for her, with her soy milk and washable crayons. We ended up getting a box of washable crayons at our table everyday, since the previous day Sianna was playing 'towers' with her crayons and ended up writing on the tablecloth. Oops.

Anyway, I tried escargot and Mike tried Ratatouille. The escargot was not in the shells but rather little cups in butter. I've had them in the past and preferred them in the shell. If they were in the shell, I had planned to take one back to Sianna. Oh well. After dinner I went to see Heath Hyche's family cabaret and Mike went to Diversions and played some games. Afterwards we met up and went to see Twice Charmed. Another good show, though not as good as Dreams.

After the show we picked up Sianna and headed off to bed, exhausted.

 

[TotallyAngelic]

Really enjoying reading your report - Sianna did very well to try snorkelling - it certainly isn't the easiest thing in the world to do, especially with the currents. We missed Grand Cayman due to the weather so it was interesting to "visit" it though your eyes! Thanks.