Pirates in the Caribbean - At Year's End

[PE_TCR]

This is my first attempt at a trip report so please bear with me. There is so much that happened wit this trip that I feel like I need to share.

A little bit about me. My name is Brian. I am 36 and a middle school Physical Education teacher is a suburb of Milwaukee, Wisconsin. My wife (Debbie) was a traffic reporter at the big FM radio station in Milwaukee before they changed formats and let every on-air personality go. Now she is a long term Spanish substitute teacher at a middle school in a different school district. We got married this past Valentine's Day and since we have both lived on our own before getting married we didn't need anything for the house so we registered on disneyhoneymoonregistry.com and almost everyone used it. That left us with money left over from out land/sea trip for our honeymoon. We went out our honeymoon over spring break and agreed that a 3 day cruise is way too short. So we booked another one for the 7 day cruise that left on Dec. 26. We planned on leaving Dec. 24 and going to EPCOT on the 25th for the candlelight processional. The going to the ship on the 26th. This would give us a little extra time in case the Wisconsin weather went bad.

This is a trip that almost never happened.
We found out in August that we were expecting a baby. However, we realized that this would mean we couldn't cruise because Debbie would be almost 7 months pregnant. We held onto the reservation just in case. Well about 6 weeks later we found out the baby had not developed a heart and we had a miscarriage at about 9 weeks. The silver lining was the cruise was back on.

Then fast forward to October. My grandmother's health took a turn for the worse. The doctors said she might make it through the holidays but not to make any plans just in case. Well at the end of October my grandmother (age 93) passed away.
Then a week before our cruise my other grandmother (age 95) went into the hospital. The last day of school (Dec. 22) my dad called me at school and said I should go see her before we left. I asked how serious it was because we hadn't started packing yet and I had 3 appointments the only free day we had before we left. All he said was I needed to make time. As soon as I got home from school Debbie and I went to my parent's place to get directions and asked my mom if she wanted to go with us. She said no she would go the next day. We pushed her to go with us for some reason and she agreed. After a 2 1/2 hour drive to Illinois we got to the hospital we got to the room where my uncle told us she had passed away just 15 minutes before we got there. We were about to cancel the cruise when my uncle told us that they couldn't get the family to Illinois until Jan 2 because of some medical issues with my aunt and a surgery she had just had. The rest of the family insisted we go on the cruise. We talked things over with my mom on the drive back and decided to still go on the cruise. When we woke up the next morning the news predicted a major ice storm for Dec 24th. Yep- the day we were supposed to leave. I decided to go to the gym and work out to clear my mind a little. When I was done my dad called and told me that the airlines were allowing Milwaukee passengers to change flights with no charge due to the weather. I got on the phone right away and got a flight for that night at 6:20. I called Debbie and told her to start packing because we had about 3 hours to pack for the trip. I packed a lot the night before so when I was done I booked a room at the Hyatt at the Orlando airport. We left pretty early for the airport. I knew it would be crazy so we got there about 3 hours early. As soon as we got to out gate they told us the weather coming out way delayed out flight that was coming from Phoenix. The new flight time was at 7:20. Well it started snowing HARD at 6:30. We should have been gone by then. Well we finally boarded the plane at 7:40. We sat on the plane for about 15 minutes and the pilot came over the speakers and told us the runways had just been closed. They hoped they would be opened in 45 minutes. We waited at the end of the runway for 50 minutes while they plowed them. The at about 8:30 we got clearance to take off. We found out we were one of 5 planes allowed out that night. Boy were we happy when we got into the air. We finally landed about 11:45 local time and just crashed in out room.

I feel like I have already written a book and I haven't even gotten to our pre-cruise part. I will continue this later tonight or tomorrow. Hope you enjoy it.

 

[HunterB]

Brian,
That is such an amazing story. I am sorry to hear about your grandmothers. I am sure their spirit was on the cruise with you and that is why we had a week of beautiful weather. It was a bubble of hot weather the entire week. It was cold when we got there and cold when we left. We also were on that cruise.

I filmed the entire week including the Pirate night and the New Years eve fireworks. I met my wife 12/31/88 at a party and we have been together ever since. We celebrated our 21st anniversary together. If I ever have the time to edit the footage I will send you a copy. It is in HD so it is about 50 GB of video that I need to go through. I filmed the entire Pirate night with Mickey flying over my head from the stack (I was the geek on deck 10 with the camera-LOL).

I can't wait to read the rest of your story.

hb

 

[PE_TCR]

Don't want to spoil a later event from my story but did you get video of the suprise we had leaving Castaway Cay? I filmed it but the video showed up as a green screen and no picture at all

 

[jessrose18]

subscribing

 

[praisehisname]

Joining in!

 

[HunterB]

Wasn't that amazing? It was so windy that day. Did you have the Sony camera? I think I walked past you.

 

[PE_TCR]

After our series of events leading us to Orlando we were very happy to be waking up at the airport Hyatt. We went to the small gym at the hotel and had a little workout before we proceeded to the Magical Express. Since we changed flights we had our bags with us as we headed to the busses and we began the Disney experience for real now! The ride to the All-Star Movies resort was great. We called home and found out the airport had been opening and closing all morning and we were now here in the high 70s headed to Walt Disney World.
When we got to the resort the room was ready so we went right to the room and of course we had the furthest building and the third flood to top it off. We really didn’t care because we were finally here. We had no real plans for the day so we dumped our bags in the room and headed to Downtown Disney to explore.
The first thing we did was walked through Downtown Disney right to Bongos. Debbie’s family is Cuban so this is a must-stop place to eat when we come to Disney. We both had the Sandwich Cubano. Debbie substituted fried plantain chips for the fries. We both got a Materva as well and I had to get a Mojito. It was a great way to start our Disney vacation.
We continued making our way back through Downtown Disney. My sunglasses had broken on the flight over so I went into several shops to look for new ones. However, I did not want to spend $200 for sunglasses. I wear mine so often and doing so many different things they never last long. After all the specialty shops I finally found an inexpensive pair (by Disney standards) at the Wonderful World of Disney. I also had to get a nice workout shirt that I liked and a set of Mickey ears for my car. I was only going to get the sunglasses but then realized if I spent a little more I would qualify for the Disney Rewards Visa discount. That was all the reasoning I needed. Now you are starting to see how I think as well After shopping for a bit we came across some traditional Christmas Carolers singing next to the store and sat down and just watched and listened to them for a while.
It was starting to get a little bit chilly so we headed back to the room. We had dinner reservations at Narcoossee’s later that night anyway. After a short nap we got ready to go out to eat and took the shuttle to the Magic Kingdom where we hopped onto the monorail to the Grand Floridian. We got there early so we could explore a little and check out the gingerbread house. We also watched a big band play in the lobby for a bit and had fun watching the people get pictures with Santa. We did notice Mickey had a longer line. I wonder how Santa felt about that. We started walking to Narcoossee’s and got there a bit early. We decided to sit on the pier and relax. As soon as we sat down music started playing and we got to watch the castle freezing over at the Magic Kingdom. We had an amazing view. As soon as it was done we were ready to eat.
We walked into Narcoossee’s and we were given a paged. I love to cook so it was nice to watch the kitchen in action. Debbie thought so too until she saw one of the chefs grab a lobster, shove the thermometer into the tail, and then throw it (literally) into the steamer. Of course the lobster was still alive. Luckily we were called to eat right away. Narcoossee’s is amazing. The bread was great and I ordered the fried calamari and Debbie had some crab cakes. They were both amazing. Then a server came to our table and brought us each a Caesar salad. We hadn’t ordered it but we just thought maybe it came with the meal. It tasted great. Then our waitress came by and did a double take. She asked how that happened and we said we wondered the same thing. She said Merry Christmas with a smile and talked to the table next to us. Well a minute later they had their Caesar salads delivered to their table. Both tables looked at each other and just started laughing. The waitress said she would not charge us for the salad. For being so nice about it she was well compensated later. For the main course I ordered Yellow Finned Tuna and Debbie ordered the tilapia. Her tilapia was perfect! When I ordered the tuna my waitress told me it would be a whole fish – head and tail. That was fine with me but what came out I was not expecting at all. The drop the fish in a fryer and bring the fish out on the plate standing up like it was swimming (see the picture). It tasted wonderful but the initial shock made us both laugh. When I was done there was a head, tail, and bones. I would recommend it to anyone who likes seafood. What happened next amazed both of us. We were so full we skipped desert!
We took the monorail back to the TTC and a bus back to the resort where we went to bed ready for our next day. Christmas Day at EPCOT!

 

[E&BMom]

Hey Brian! So glad you decided to start a tr because I'm always too lazy. WE had fun on the cruise with you guys and we're already missing it :[


We were at Epcot on Christmas Day too!
I'll be reading for sure!
Kim

 

[JerseyPride]

Enjoying your trip report so far, Brian... Look forward to reading more.

 

[TotallyAngelic]

Wow .... great title.

Sorry to hear about your sad losses leading up to your cruise. Really enjoying your repor so far.

 

[PE_TCR]

Well the name was my wife's idea. It became the name of our group for the cruise as well.

 

[PE_TCR]

Sorry for the delay. We got almost 12 inches of snow today and things have been crazy. I promise I will have the Christmas Day report up tomorrow with pistures.

 

[MagicMe]

Geez you really needed this trip!!!!

Sorry to hear about your losses. So glad you made it out of the airport!

 

[PE_TCR]

We woke up nice and early to begin out Christmas Day at EPCOT. We took the bus EPCOT. We got there and were in time for rope drop. We had never actually been to a rope drop before. We always go to early extra magic hours so we usually just walk in and go right to the rides we want with no waiting. This time we got to wait for the rope to drop. We got to see several of the characters playing around. Then came the National Anthem. I am an Air Force veteran so maybe I notice these things a little more but I was surprised that less than half of the men in the crowd removed their hats for the playing of out National Anthem. Some may have been from other countries but not half of these people. It just seemed a little disrespectful. But that’s just my opinion. After the rope drop we briskly walked to Soarin’. I left Debbie at the main entrance as I got the Fastpass. When I came out to find her she was gone. I looked all around the entrance and even went back to the area between Innoventions since we agreed we would try to get to Test Track right away. I still couldn’t find her. I went back into The Land to find her chatting it up with one of the cast members. We told the cast member that it looked like it was going to rain so we were going to head right aver to Test Track before they closed it. She said good idea and showed us the fastest way to Soarin’. She even took down one of the ropes for us. We followed her since we thought there might be a shortcut the way she was showing us but nope. She directed us right to the line for Soarin’. Well we hustled it over to Test Track and had no wait at all. The last two times we were there it was closed for various reasons. We finally got to ride it. Once that was done we headed right to The Sum of All Thrills. We decided I would design the first ride. Of course I did the fighter jet. We had a blast and got right back in line. The wait was probably about 20 minutes so it wasn’t bad at all. Debbie then designed her ride and since we had learned the tricks from the first time we were able to get the wildest/highest scoring ride possible. If I can load the ride onto here I will. We then went to Mission Space. It is one of my favorites and we always make sure to ride it. When we were done it was just about time to ride Soarin’ so we took a ride on Living with the Land then hopped on Soarin’. We then went to Mission Space (one of my favorites) and got a Fast Pass. On the way out we noticed the percussion group was banging away on the garbage cans so we stayed for the little concert. Being a Drum and Bugle guy I always love watching these guys. When they were done we headed back to Mission Space after looking around the shops a little. The line was a bit longer than usual because one of the simulators was temporarily out of order. I guess they had to clean up a little.
After a few rides we decided to head over to the World Showcase. We were getting a little hungry but we had a big dinner planned so we decided to snack a little. One of my favorite snacks is the schoolbread from Norway. So we stopped there to ride Maelstrom and get a schoolbread. Then we headed over to Japan so Debbie could get some sushi. I had one of the sushi rolls and we had taken care of our cravings. After our snacks we decided just to explore a little. That is when we started running into the storytellers. The first one was in England. He was going a little quick because it looked like rain. We got our picture with him right before the rain started. Once it started it came down pretty hard. We headed into France to catch the movie and wait out the storm. When we came out we headed over toward Canada where Off Kilter was playing. I had heard them at EPCOT before as well as at Irishfest here in Milwaukee. Debbie is also a huge fan so we listened to them play their entire set. After that we went to see O’ Canada and torture ourselves by walking past Le Cellier. It is by far our favorite place to eat but there were no reservations to be had on Christmas  When we came out Pere Noel was starting his talk and we had fun listening to the Canadian Christmas traditions. We continued walking around and came to a mariachi band outside of the Mexico pavilion. Of course they finished by playing and singing Feliz Navidad. Next was the story of the Monkey King at China. We didn’t catch all of it but it was really good and had a great message. Then we ended up in Italy where we heard my favorite storyteller. La Befana was great. She is a witch that was asked by the three wisemen to join them to go see baby Jesus but decided not to go. So now every Jan 6th she goes into houses of children and leaves them gifts hoping maybe she will see the face of the baby Christ.
Then we had our dinner at Chefs de France. This was part of the Candlelight Processional Package. The mean was amazing. I started out with lobster bisque and Debbie had the French onion soup. Then I had the beef tenderloin while Debbie had the duck. Both were truly magnificent. For desert I had the crepes and Debbie had her favorite, crème brule. Right after that we went to see the Candlelight Processional. Neither of us had ever seen it before. I can say I think everyone must see this at least once in their lifetime. It is an unbelievable show. We happened to have Edward James Olmos as our narrator. I have heard from many people that he is one of the best narrators one can ask for. At the start of the program he announced that this was an emotional performance because it would be his last. He had been narrating for the past thirteen years and became very close with Roy Disney. He felt that with Roy’s passing this was the best time for him to close out his run as a narrator. The show was truly moving and the director was the best I had ever seen. She had complete control of the entire orchestra and choir. I had as much fun watching her as I did enjoying the rest of the show. We did have a little guilty pleasure during the show. We had fun watching for and counting the people who were passing out while singing. They have cast members whose job it is just to watch for people who pass out then try to get them without disrupting the show. After the Candlelight Processional we jogged all the way around the pavilion to our reserved seating for Illuminations. We made it just in time. The show was the regular Illuminations but at the end they had a special ending. They did fireworks coordinated to the song “Let There Be Peace on Earth.” It was amazing and a little tough. I played that sound for my grandparent’s 50th anniversary and they always talked about it. It was also the last song they played at my grandma’s funeral in October. Once Illuminations was over he headed to ride Soarin’ once more since extra magic hours had just opened. We had never waited in the regular line before and kind of enjoyed the games they had on the wall while waiting in the queue (that term is especially for Michelle). When we finished the ride we decided to head to The Sea with Nemo and friends and just look around. I enjoyed watching the rays that seemed to be in a playful mood. I watched them while we waited to see Turtle Talk with Crush. This was the first time we had waited to see this show as well. I must admit it was really good even though it is mostly for kids. We were getting a little sleepy so we decided to head out. On the way out we rode Spaceship Earth. We took the bus back to the room and Debbie fell asleep on my shoulder.
We straightened out our bags and got ready for bed. We had a wake-up call scheduled for early the next morning so we could get our rental car and head to port nice and early and get on the ship nice and early.
OR SO WE THOUGHT…………

 

[IceSk8ersMom]

I am really enjoying reading your trip report. I have been to the candlelighting ceremony at Disneyland but never at Epcot. Thank you for sharing that experience. I cannot wait to read about your cruise adventures, because I will be cruising on the Magic this Christmas. I know that I still have awhile to wait, but reading trip reports help.
I am glad that you and your wife were able to take the trip. It sounds like you had a rough year and needed this time to recharge.
I too work at a middle school. I am an assistant principal. It is a difficult age, but oh so rewarding.
I cannot wait to read more. Keep the posts coming!

 

[Tinkerkell123]

I am so sorry to hear about your losses and am glad you got to go on your trip. Must have been meant to be! Subbing, and can't wait to read more...

 

[PE_TCR]

We woke up nice and early so we would be ready to go and get to the ship nice and early and relax and really start enjoying our vacation on the Disney Magic. I had called Avis the day before we left to arrange our pick-up from the All-Star Movies resort at 9:30. We got packed and went down to the lobby to wait for our ride. It was a bit chilly (about 45) out so Debbie waited in the lobby while I went outside to catch the ride. 9:30 came. 9:30 went. 9:45 came and there was still no ride. I called the Avis location that was supposed to pick me up directly and they said they don’t have any transportation available before 10:30. The person on the phone said we could get a cab but they would not pay for it. I didn’t want to get stressed out too much so I just talked to the Disney people and they got me a cab in under a minute. Well 5 minutes and $15 later we were at the Orlando Maingate Radisson. I found the Avis desk right inside the door. There were 2 couples in front of me. Well, the first couple spoke very little English and they wanted to change their reservation. From what I understood that wanted to make the reservation longer, change cars half way through the reservation, and not pay any more. They could not understand why they would have to pay more. Then when they found out they would have to pay the Avis insurance since they were from another country they were not happy. 50 minutes later they decided to stay with what they had reserved in the first place and come back later. Now just one more couple in front of me and we are on our way. Well this couple was from England so they spoke English at least. The problem- they had a discount voucher but it was a photocopy. The worked said they required the actual voucher. After several phone calls, faxes, and runs to the computer at the business center of the hotel they got their keys. However they wanted a GPS but had no idea how to use it. So the Avis worker had to explain all of the features of the TomTom. After another 45 minutes it was now my time to get my car. I had waited in line for over an hour and a half and the worker now tells me, “If I knew you just wanted to pick up a car you could have come to the front of the line.” The he says, “Let’s see which car we can give you.” Well the first three cars he looked up had no gas in them. Finally, he found two cars. He asked which one I wanted and started to tell me the features of each car. I said, “I don’t care. I am only driving it to Port Canaveral.” Then he said, “You should have come to the front of the line. I hope you don’t miss your boat. By the way my printer is down so I have to write out your rental agreement.” I had had just about enough of him so I just laughed and got ready to get the car. He pulled the car around and Debbie did a quick inspection, got in, and left. We were finally on the way to the ship. That lasted until we got onto the freeway. The moment we got onto the freeway we were at a crawl.
We planned on leaving at 9:30 and to the boat by 11:00. It was now noon. We were still in Orlando and we were going less than 10 miles per hour. It got to be 12:45 and we had finally gone the 6 miles to the Bee-Line. Let me say, I was starting to get worried. Luckily just before the Bee-Line was a 5 car accident that caused all the delays and that was now behind us. I was making pretty good time the rest of the way. We finally could see the port and our ship. It was still in port I was now 1:45 and we knew we had until 4:00 but it was good to be there. All we had to do was drop the car off and get the shuttle to the port and we would be there. The Avis was about 5 minutes away. We pulled right in and followed the signs that said “Return Cars Here” (Remember this part) I went to turn in the keys. The worker behind the desk gave me a weird look and asked where I rented this from because they had no record of this car ever being rented out. I explained and he just said, “We will take care of it. The shuttle will be here in less than 5 minutes.” There was another family that arrived at the same time and they were headed on the Disney Cruise as well. We waited outside for about 10 minutes. 4 other cars came in to be returned and just liked up by the door. I guess they didn’t see that sign. Well the shuttle finally arrived. HOWEVER, since the cars were lined up in the wrong place it couldn’t get into the lot because these cars were blocking the entrance now. No one did anything and the shuttle driver had to move each car individually. This took another 15-20 minutes. We were finally all in the shuttle and ready to go. The driver just had to turn in the keys for the cars she moved. Well, remember that other family that was there when we checked in? They waited with us for 10 minutes for the shuttle than 25 minutes for her to move the cars. Now the dad looks at his wife and says, “I think I am going to go to the bathroom in case there is a long line at the terminal.” He then left and when the driver came back she asked where he went. We had to wait another 5 minutes for him to come back. When he got back on the shuttle I think the driver had started pulling away before his back foot had even entered the shuttle. God love her After a quick ride to port we were finally there. I gave the porter a few bucks to take our bags and we headed to the Castaway Club line. It was empty. We checked in and then heard the words we had waited so long to hear - “The Disney Magic welcomes aboard the Marx family!” We had made it!!!

Our room was already ready so we dropped off our carry-on bags and headed to Topsiders to get a bite to eat. On our way to Topsider we walked by the pools. I stopped dead in my tracks and Debbie asked, “What’s wrong?” I said, “No way!” She got worried until I pointed and said, “That can’t be? Is it?” Debbie said, Holy crap.” We had just seen Tisa. She was in charge of the adult activities on our honeymoon cruise on the Wonder and we loved her to death. We now saw she would be in charge of the adult activities on this cruise too. Our luck was finally changing. We decided to eat and come back and say hi when she wasn’t as busy. Lunch was great. We walked back and talked to Tisa and after a few stories from our last cruise and a few embarrassing stories (We were on Match Your Mate) she remembered us. We went to our room to grab a sweatshirt and then back to deck 9 to get our spot for the Sail Away Party. The party was great and the drinks were just as good. After the party we went to the gym and got in a good workout. We had both started working out a few months before and wanted to get in a workout while we were still motivated and had time. After a good workout with an amazing view we returned to the room to change for the show and dinner. We then Aboard show and got a review of some of the entertainers. They looked like a lot of fun. It was now time for dinner. We would be at Parrot Cay.

We were a little worried about who we would sit with. Last cruise we were seated with 3 other couples. One couple was alright and we got to know them some. Another seemed like they never wanted to talk and the third couple spoke hardly any English. They were from Japan. We were shown to our table where a Japanese couple was sitting. We said, “Hello.” They smiled and nodded. This could be a long series of dinners. Our assistant waited, Jose, came by and took out drink orders and then Leroy came to take our meal orders. As soon as he left we saw two women coming toward our table. The sat down and introduced themselves – Michelle and Laura. Michelle would make our trip one we will never forget. We got really lucky! We had a great dinner. Debbie and I actually skipped desert again. We were stuffed and we were running a little late and wanted to make sure we saw Magicquest and Match Your Mate.

We made it down to the lounge in time and Tisa explained Magicquest. We matched up with a couple and their daughter who looked like she was MAYBE 18 but was drinking so she had to be over 21. We were doing really well and then the big item came out. Tisa said, “I want to see your number and a man wearing a bra.” Well this girl who was wearing a strapless top wasted no time and took off her bra, falling out of her top in the process. Debbie and I quickly looked away as she handed it to us and Debbie put it on me. We did well in the game but didn’t win. Match Your Mate was very funny as always but really can’t be mentioned in too much detail because it got very detailed. We headed back to our room after a full day and quickly fell asleep.

 

[DMMarla07860]

love your report so far.

Tisa is awesome. I met her on my back-2-back cruise Feb/March 2009 and during the second week she named me party girl in Rockin' Bar D since I went every night

 

[hollypoast]

Great start! We are your neighbors in Sauk City, WI (1/2 way between Madison & WI Dells) We cruise in February... trip reports like yours keep me going until our turn. Thanks!
Holly

 

[PE_TCR]

It’s great waking up on the ship! You really know you are on vacation when you wake up to the slight movement of the ship. We woke up and headed to Topsiders for a good breakfast. The server at the head of the line called down to the drink station and yelled, “Give this guy the drink of the day!” I asked what that was. He said, “Chocolate milk.” How could I refuse? After breakfast we headed to the spa for a quick workout. Debbie found her elliptical right away but the place was packed. There were no treadmills or bikes available. I was about to call it a day and skip working out until I remembered I could run on deck 4. It was actually a lot of fun jogging while the ship was sailing. There is no better view in the world than jogging on a cruise ship. After the jog I returned to the room. Debbie was just about done getting ready for the day so I jumped into the shower so we could get up to deck 10 to watch us dock. After watching the ship pull in we headed down to Rockin’ Bar D to meet up with our tour group. We were going on the trolley tour of Key West. They cast member walked us to the trolley and we began our trip. It was a nice relaxing tour with some good information. It was a great way to get an overview of Key West and we could plan out our exploring on the trip. When we were finished with the tour we headed to the Cuban restaurant where the trolley dropped us off at. Debbie is Cuban so we had to see what they had. There wasn’t really anything of interest so we moved on. We decided to walk down Duval Street. The first place we really stopped was Jimmy Buffett’s Margaretville. We figured since we were there we had to have a margarita. It was a little pricey but well worth it. At that time we also found out the Packers were beating Seattle and beating them soundly. This would clinch a play-off spot for our beloved Pack so it was even better now. Our next stop was a Cuban store. I bought Debbie two t-shirts and she got a few small things for her family. We then continued on down to the southernmost point. We waited in line for 15-20 minutes to take our picture. I guess when you visit Key West for the first time you have to take the picture. We didn’t really have anything else to do so we gladly waited. The only thing else I really wanted to do was get a piece of Key Lime Pie dipped in chocolate on a stick. We saw the place on out tour and eventually found it after a few interesting turns. It was so rich so oh so yummy!
We now decided to try and catch the sunset on the pier. We had heard it is the best place in the world to watch it. We got down there and the crowd was crazy. The performers left a lot to be desired. We thought we would stick it out since we were here. Well that quickly changed. I decided to make a quick stop in the restroom. I took one step into the public restroom and saw it was overflowing and there was – well – all over the floor and walls. I quickly left and told Debbie. She said the women’s was the same way. With that we just decided to go back to the ship and watch the sunset from the ship. We wanted to avoid the rush, it was getting pretty cloudy, and we also wanted to catch the hypnotist for the 6:30 show. We got on the ship and went right up to deck 10. We found lounge chairs and lay back as we watched the sun set behind the clouds. Once the sun went down it got chilly and fast!
It was pirate night that night. We are huge fans (I have season tickets) of our local AHL hockey team, the Milwaukee Admirals. Well the jersey they wear looks like the skeleton of a pirate. I thought it would be nice to get some “formal” pictures with them on and it fit the night so that’s what we wore. We got great comments from everyone we came across. They really seemed to like the jerseys, especially the crew members. We headed to the show. I really liked it. Debbie was a little skeptical but I figured even if it was fake it was a really funny show. We got a few more pictures taken and went to Animators Palate for dinner. It was a great dinner. The servers were all dressed up and the atmosphere was amazing. Michelle also helped out right away by taking her rolled up menu and using it as a telescope searching for who knows what. After an amazing dinner we headed up to deck 10 to watch the Pirate Party. For some reason our table was always the last one served and the last one done so we were a little late but didn’t really miss much. There were no fireworks because we were going to have fireworks on New Year’s Eve. We later found out the boat is only allowed a certain amount of pyrotechnics onboard at a time. The party was great and we were headed to the Adult Cabaret show of Albert and Seymour. They are a hip hop comedy paid that was amazing! They truly were a highlight of the cruise. After we finished with the show we talked to the newlywed couple from Match your mate the night before. We share a few stories as we were taking the elevator together. Well they got out on the same floor. We started walking down the LONG hallway toward our room and they followed us. We got to midship and they followed us. We got closer to our room and we started laughing a little until we got to our room and the burst out laughing as they opened the door directly across the hall from us. We had a good laugh as we fell asleep and got ready for our next day. The first full day at sea.