TammiMcMan
Ohana
- Joined
- Jun 10, 2002
- Messages
- 6,308
Jim & Tammi - The Parents
Meagan - just finished her first year at college
Colin - extremely busy 14 year old
Casey - aka "Lola" or the "Diva"
Once again I awoke before 6am. Our final full day and I didnt want to miss a thing. I took my morning stroll, relishing the quiet and peacefulness around me. I witnessed another glorious sunrise as I sipped my coffee on deck 10. I was beginning to realize that we had somehow managed another perfect vacation. There wasnt anything missing, except the lack of days. My mind was busy going through future plans, trying to figure out if we could factor in a 7 day cruise. Probably not for another 2 or 3 years, but this was definitely a trip worth taking again. I took my stroll around the decks, making my way back to the internet café. Checked my e-mail and the disboards before going back to the stateroom. It was still dark when I entered the room and I could still hear plenty of snoring. Ill give them some time, but I pretty much figure if Im up, then everyone should be up. Plus, room service was due to arrive within the next 20 minutes with breakfast. On went the lights and I climbed over beds to open the shades to the verandah. That raised a few eyelids and as each one vacated their spot for a nature call, I quickly closed up the beds. A few half hearted groans, but they could sleep on the beach if they were tired, today was Castaway Cay. We enjoyed our continental breakfast out on the verandah as the Wonder backed her way into port. It was amazing to watch them get her secure. We had a good view of the captain as his stood on his side deck. Then, they shot what looked like nerf balls attached to long strings to the cms waiting on the dock. As they pulled on the string, the ropes emerged and we were fastened tight.
I double checked my bag for our excursion tickets and we applied our spf 50 lotion to every spot on our bodies. With hats, t-shirts, more lotion, the kids club pager and our beach toys we were ready to go ashore. I cant remember when exactly, time just seems non-existent when your on the ship, but we were off the boat fairly early. I think we might have just missed the big rush, because there was no line when we exited. We made it just as the tram was pulling up, gotta love it when the timing is right. One thing I remembered from the boards, is that its worth the extra walk to go down further on the beach. For a few hours, there was hardly anyone around us. We set up our base camp and decided to try the snorkel lagoon before it got too crowded. As we were walking to pick up our gear, a woman approached me to ask if she recognized my Boston accent correctly. I told her that she was correct and she asked if I was Tammi, because she was Carolyn from the disboards. Her family ended up being a few chairs down from us and she commented that she also took the advice on where to set up. Our girls had a great time together playing on the beach. First, it was off to Gils though and I really wanted my second snorkeling experience to be better than my first. I hyperventilated on that one and couldnt get out of the water fast enough. We outfitted all five of us and into the lagoon we went. It only took a matter of minutes for Colin to decide that he wasnt into this at all and he headed right back into the beach. Casey had moments of panic when she got some salt water in her mouth, but she did pretty well. I didnt push her and we got out after about 15 minutes. Jim and Meagan needed to go over to the boat beach for the eco tour and Colin wanted to see what was happening at the teen beach. Casey and I played on the floats and she caught minnows with Carolyns daughter. She kept checking the time though, she wanted to be at the kids club for lunch and stay there for the rest of the afternoon. Colin returned shortly and said there wasnt anything going on at the teen beach, just a few kids lying in the sun. Lola informed us that it was time to go and I covered her up as we headed to the meeting spot. She arrived just as they were serving lunch and settled right in with whoever was her best friend for today. Colin and I went right over to Cookies and enjoyed a nice meal together. As we were finishing up, we spotted Jim and Meagan going by. They joined us and we had seconds of everything. They both really liked the eco tour. Meagan is going to school for marine biology, so this whole trip was right up her alley. They said that there was a small group and they had to first have some lessons on dry land and go over all the safety rules. I dont know if they say this speech to discourage people from thinking that its an open throttle ride, but we were told when they signed up and again at the safety demonstration, that they would be going slowly, staying in a straight line between the tour guides. Maybe the guides havent heard this speech or they just take a look at who is on the tour, but my husband said that they were definitely open throttle and not always in a straight line. They both had a fantastic time as they went around the island. They stopped at a sand bar and held a crab and large starfish. The guides mentioned that on their previous tour, they did get to see a shark swimming around.
We returned to our spot on the beach for another round of snorkeling. Colin was ready to try again and I was looking forward to staying out longer. Was I surprised when I saw our little base camp. Another family had set up nearly on top of us. There was a stroller, a pop up tent and we had to climb over all their stuff. Im not kidding when I say there was a huge amount of space still available along the beach. I have no idea what these people were thinking. Were on vacation though and I let it slide, besides we were going back into the water for a while anyway. Maybe they would notice that we came back and slide over a foot or two. Our second round of snorkeling was great. I think we covered the entire lagoon. I saw the Mickey Mouse statue and the sunken submarine. We also saw a monster fish. This guy had to have been 4 or 5 feet long and he was just sitting beneath the sub. I thought there was a net around the area and I got a bit nervous that if this guy got in, what else could be lurking. We did see a fair amount of fish, but did notice that they had moved out further as the day went on. The bottom had been stirred up quite a bit with everyone snorkeling and it was pretty cloudy for the first 100 feet or so. We were pretty tired by now and decided to drop off our equipment and head back to base camp. I checked the kids pager and no messages from Casey. She must have been having a good time on her treasure hunt. The squatters were still there and now they had food spilled all around our area. Banana bread is not the nicest thing to squish your foot into. That was it, I looked over at the woman sitting on the lounge chair and asked quite bluntly, what was wrong with these people. It was just plain gross. She didnt say anything, but came over and picked the food up off the ground. We were still stuck having to climb over the pop tent as her baby was sound asleep inside. Meagan settled down with her book and cd player, Colin decided to give the teen beach one last try, so I convinced Jim to take the tram ride over to check out Serenity Bay and have a conch cooler with me. We toasted to a successful trip and just stared out into the glassy water. What a few moments that was. Back to reality though. Casey would be finished with the kids club soon and she wanted to be in the kids show with Mickey. That meant we needed to go back to the ship for a bath and a change of clothes. I was as relaxed as I was ever going to get, so I volunteered to take her back while Jim found a hammock and rested his eyes. I had a few minutes to spare, so I stopped by the store and picked out a Castaway Cay pin for my collection. As I was waiting in line, I heard a pager go off, nope it wasnt mine. Wait, theres another one, nope still not mine. Finally they get to me and its a reminder that pick up time for the kids is 3:45. No problem, Im there by 3:30 and get to watch Casey interact with the counselors. They are in the midst of a huge water fight. There are buckets and hoses. She was having a great time and the counselors were just fantastic. I checked her out and as luck would have it, theres a tram sitting right there. Were back on board in no time and Lola is soon luxuriating in the Jacuzzi tub while I hop into the shower. She picks out her on stage outfit and I remind her to also set aside clothes for dinner and something to wear off the boat tomorrow. I check her back into the kids club and return to the stateroom for the dreaded job of fitting everything back into our suitcases. Were also going straight to Disney World in the morning, so I need a bag set aside for that stuff. Im doing pretty well by the time the rest of my family gets back from the beach. They had to be kicked out of the water, so in my book, that adds up to a good day. I leave them with instructions to shower and set aside evening clothes and something for the morning.
Im off to the disembarking speech. I know that its replayed on TV, but I also read that the kids show immediately follows the speech and I wanted a good seat. There I was, front row center and the instructions were very helpful. Moments after the speech is concluded, the show starts. The kids come out in their age groups all wearing matching t-shirts. Of course, the little ones stole the show. They were so cute. They did a little song and dance with Mickey Mouse and it was a great way to end the cruise. We went back to try and check her out of the lab, but she really wanted to stay and have dinner. I explained that she would probably miss the final Disney Dreams show and she said that was okay. I told her to either page me, or Id come get her before our 8:30 dinner seating. Back to the cabin I went to finish packing. They were actually showing Disney Dreams on the television, so I decided to skip it and get everything organized. I didnt want to have it all waiting for me when we finished dinner, I wanted the suitcases out in the hallway before we left for Animators Palate. Casey paged us and Jim went up to get her. Im not sure what happened, but she got a little nervous about something. They were transferring them up to deck 10 for some games and she wasnt comfortable with that for some reason. By the time Jim tracked her down, she had no idea why he was there. When he reminded her that she had him paged, she told him that she was fine now and wanted to stay. They were going to make flubber in the lab later and she wasnt hungry, so she decided to skip dinner with us. We enjoyed Animators Palate. I dont think I noticed the food half as much as I noticed the room. It was a lot of fun. Our servers put on a little show at the end of the evening and we said our goodbyes.
After a quick stop in Shutters for a few more pictures, we caught the very end of the atrium farewell. Casey said she didnt mind missing that either because she already had a chance to say goodbye to Mickey. The boys went off to the teen lounge again and the rest of us decided to get a drink in the Promenade Lounge. Meagan ordered a bahama mama and was very surprised that it contained alcohol. She didnt even drink a third of it though. They were setting up a little buffet right outside the lounge, so we ate again. Finally, at 11pm we got the page that Casey was done. She proudly showed off her t-shirt and bucket hat. Everyone decided it was a good idea to call it a night. I hung out our breakfast order one last time and let the ship sway me to sleep.
Tomorrow, off to the next adventure ~ Disney World
Good things to know:
· Dont put your snorkeling flippers on until you get into the deeper water. I had to walk in backwards to save myself from falling face first into the sand.
· If you can, spend a little time at Serenity Bay. The water, the quiet, it was exactly how I would picture a secluded tropical island.
· If your child is in the show, attend the disembarking speech. Youll get great seats.
· 3 nights is not enough time.
For our photos: http://community.webshots.com/user/tammimcman
Trip Report Part 1: http://www.disboards.com/showthread...threadid=582493
Trip Report Part 2: http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=582595
Trip Report Part 3: http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=582780
Trip Report Part 5: http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=583196
Trip Report Final: http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=583825
Meagan - just finished her first year at college
Colin - extremely busy 14 year old
Casey - aka "Lola" or the "Diva"
Once again I awoke before 6am. Our final full day and I didnt want to miss a thing. I took my morning stroll, relishing the quiet and peacefulness around me. I witnessed another glorious sunrise as I sipped my coffee on deck 10. I was beginning to realize that we had somehow managed another perfect vacation. There wasnt anything missing, except the lack of days. My mind was busy going through future plans, trying to figure out if we could factor in a 7 day cruise. Probably not for another 2 or 3 years, but this was definitely a trip worth taking again. I took my stroll around the decks, making my way back to the internet café. Checked my e-mail and the disboards before going back to the stateroom. It was still dark when I entered the room and I could still hear plenty of snoring. Ill give them some time, but I pretty much figure if Im up, then everyone should be up. Plus, room service was due to arrive within the next 20 minutes with breakfast. On went the lights and I climbed over beds to open the shades to the verandah. That raised a few eyelids and as each one vacated their spot for a nature call, I quickly closed up the beds. A few half hearted groans, but they could sleep on the beach if they were tired, today was Castaway Cay. We enjoyed our continental breakfast out on the verandah as the Wonder backed her way into port. It was amazing to watch them get her secure. We had a good view of the captain as his stood on his side deck. Then, they shot what looked like nerf balls attached to long strings to the cms waiting on the dock. As they pulled on the string, the ropes emerged and we were fastened tight.
I double checked my bag for our excursion tickets and we applied our spf 50 lotion to every spot on our bodies. With hats, t-shirts, more lotion, the kids club pager and our beach toys we were ready to go ashore. I cant remember when exactly, time just seems non-existent when your on the ship, but we were off the boat fairly early. I think we might have just missed the big rush, because there was no line when we exited. We made it just as the tram was pulling up, gotta love it when the timing is right. One thing I remembered from the boards, is that its worth the extra walk to go down further on the beach. For a few hours, there was hardly anyone around us. We set up our base camp and decided to try the snorkel lagoon before it got too crowded. As we were walking to pick up our gear, a woman approached me to ask if she recognized my Boston accent correctly. I told her that she was correct and she asked if I was Tammi, because she was Carolyn from the disboards. Her family ended up being a few chairs down from us and she commented that she also took the advice on where to set up. Our girls had a great time together playing on the beach. First, it was off to Gils though and I really wanted my second snorkeling experience to be better than my first. I hyperventilated on that one and couldnt get out of the water fast enough. We outfitted all five of us and into the lagoon we went. It only took a matter of minutes for Colin to decide that he wasnt into this at all and he headed right back into the beach. Casey had moments of panic when she got some salt water in her mouth, but she did pretty well. I didnt push her and we got out after about 15 minutes. Jim and Meagan needed to go over to the boat beach for the eco tour and Colin wanted to see what was happening at the teen beach. Casey and I played on the floats and she caught minnows with Carolyns daughter. She kept checking the time though, she wanted to be at the kids club for lunch and stay there for the rest of the afternoon. Colin returned shortly and said there wasnt anything going on at the teen beach, just a few kids lying in the sun. Lola informed us that it was time to go and I covered her up as we headed to the meeting spot. She arrived just as they were serving lunch and settled right in with whoever was her best friend for today. Colin and I went right over to Cookies and enjoyed a nice meal together. As we were finishing up, we spotted Jim and Meagan going by. They joined us and we had seconds of everything. They both really liked the eco tour. Meagan is going to school for marine biology, so this whole trip was right up her alley. They said that there was a small group and they had to first have some lessons on dry land and go over all the safety rules. I dont know if they say this speech to discourage people from thinking that its an open throttle ride, but we were told when they signed up and again at the safety demonstration, that they would be going slowly, staying in a straight line between the tour guides. Maybe the guides havent heard this speech or they just take a look at who is on the tour, but my husband said that they were definitely open throttle and not always in a straight line. They both had a fantastic time as they went around the island. They stopped at a sand bar and held a crab and large starfish. The guides mentioned that on their previous tour, they did get to see a shark swimming around.
We returned to our spot on the beach for another round of snorkeling. Colin was ready to try again and I was looking forward to staying out longer. Was I surprised when I saw our little base camp. Another family had set up nearly on top of us. There was a stroller, a pop up tent and we had to climb over all their stuff. Im not kidding when I say there was a huge amount of space still available along the beach. I have no idea what these people were thinking. Were on vacation though and I let it slide, besides we were going back into the water for a while anyway. Maybe they would notice that we came back and slide over a foot or two. Our second round of snorkeling was great. I think we covered the entire lagoon. I saw the Mickey Mouse statue and the sunken submarine. We also saw a monster fish. This guy had to have been 4 or 5 feet long and he was just sitting beneath the sub. I thought there was a net around the area and I got a bit nervous that if this guy got in, what else could be lurking. We did see a fair amount of fish, but did notice that they had moved out further as the day went on. The bottom had been stirred up quite a bit with everyone snorkeling and it was pretty cloudy for the first 100 feet or so. We were pretty tired by now and decided to drop off our equipment and head back to base camp. I checked the kids pager and no messages from Casey. She must have been having a good time on her treasure hunt. The squatters were still there and now they had food spilled all around our area. Banana bread is not the nicest thing to squish your foot into. That was it, I looked over at the woman sitting on the lounge chair and asked quite bluntly, what was wrong with these people. It was just plain gross. She didnt say anything, but came over and picked the food up off the ground. We were still stuck having to climb over the pop tent as her baby was sound asleep inside. Meagan settled down with her book and cd player, Colin decided to give the teen beach one last try, so I convinced Jim to take the tram ride over to check out Serenity Bay and have a conch cooler with me. We toasted to a successful trip and just stared out into the glassy water. What a few moments that was. Back to reality though. Casey would be finished with the kids club soon and she wanted to be in the kids show with Mickey. That meant we needed to go back to the ship for a bath and a change of clothes. I was as relaxed as I was ever going to get, so I volunteered to take her back while Jim found a hammock and rested his eyes. I had a few minutes to spare, so I stopped by the store and picked out a Castaway Cay pin for my collection. As I was waiting in line, I heard a pager go off, nope it wasnt mine. Wait, theres another one, nope still not mine. Finally they get to me and its a reminder that pick up time for the kids is 3:45. No problem, Im there by 3:30 and get to watch Casey interact with the counselors. They are in the midst of a huge water fight. There are buckets and hoses. She was having a great time and the counselors were just fantastic. I checked her out and as luck would have it, theres a tram sitting right there. Were back on board in no time and Lola is soon luxuriating in the Jacuzzi tub while I hop into the shower. She picks out her on stage outfit and I remind her to also set aside clothes for dinner and something to wear off the boat tomorrow. I check her back into the kids club and return to the stateroom for the dreaded job of fitting everything back into our suitcases. Were also going straight to Disney World in the morning, so I need a bag set aside for that stuff. Im doing pretty well by the time the rest of my family gets back from the beach. They had to be kicked out of the water, so in my book, that adds up to a good day. I leave them with instructions to shower and set aside evening clothes and something for the morning.
Im off to the disembarking speech. I know that its replayed on TV, but I also read that the kids show immediately follows the speech and I wanted a good seat. There I was, front row center and the instructions were very helpful. Moments after the speech is concluded, the show starts. The kids come out in their age groups all wearing matching t-shirts. Of course, the little ones stole the show. They were so cute. They did a little song and dance with Mickey Mouse and it was a great way to end the cruise. We went back to try and check her out of the lab, but she really wanted to stay and have dinner. I explained that she would probably miss the final Disney Dreams show and she said that was okay. I told her to either page me, or Id come get her before our 8:30 dinner seating. Back to the cabin I went to finish packing. They were actually showing Disney Dreams on the television, so I decided to skip it and get everything organized. I didnt want to have it all waiting for me when we finished dinner, I wanted the suitcases out in the hallway before we left for Animators Palate. Casey paged us and Jim went up to get her. Im not sure what happened, but she got a little nervous about something. They were transferring them up to deck 10 for some games and she wasnt comfortable with that for some reason. By the time Jim tracked her down, she had no idea why he was there. When he reminded her that she had him paged, she told him that she was fine now and wanted to stay. They were going to make flubber in the lab later and she wasnt hungry, so she decided to skip dinner with us. We enjoyed Animators Palate. I dont think I noticed the food half as much as I noticed the room. It was a lot of fun. Our servers put on a little show at the end of the evening and we said our goodbyes.
After a quick stop in Shutters for a few more pictures, we caught the very end of the atrium farewell. Casey said she didnt mind missing that either because she already had a chance to say goodbye to Mickey. The boys went off to the teen lounge again and the rest of us decided to get a drink in the Promenade Lounge. Meagan ordered a bahama mama and was very surprised that it contained alcohol. She didnt even drink a third of it though. They were setting up a little buffet right outside the lounge, so we ate again. Finally, at 11pm we got the page that Casey was done. She proudly showed off her t-shirt and bucket hat. Everyone decided it was a good idea to call it a night. I hung out our breakfast order one last time and let the ship sway me to sleep.
Tomorrow, off to the next adventure ~ Disney World
Good things to know:
· Dont put your snorkeling flippers on until you get into the deeper water. I had to walk in backwards to save myself from falling face first into the sand.
· If you can, spend a little time at Serenity Bay. The water, the quiet, it was exactly how I would picture a secluded tropical island.
· If your child is in the show, attend the disembarking speech. Youll get great seats.
· 3 nights is not enough time.
For our photos: http://community.webshots.com/user/tammimcman
Trip Report Part 1: http://www.disboards.com/showthread...threadid=582493
Trip Report Part 2: http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=582595
Trip Report Part 3: http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=582780
Trip Report Part 5: http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=583196
Trip Report Final: http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=583825
