The Incredibles' Disney Magic Cruise 11/4/06 [THE END, FINALLY!! posted 7/2]

[lindaso]

Good looking family

Thank you! I was very excited about them being dressed up.

Your pictures of the kids came out great! Can't wait to hear the rest of your report.

Thank you. I need to work on red-eye and cropping but better to keep writing before I forget too much.

 

[mruhaak]

And as far as our "spirited" children go...Kevin is getting a bum rap in my trip report but he really is a sweety. He says this trip was "the best vacation ever." Go figure. So there is hope for you

Oh believe me I understand! Maybe "spirited" children grow up to be wonderful outgoing adults?! I was too shy and reserved as a child!

Thanks for the pin information! I've been wondering about that! Look forward to hearing the rest of your report!

 

[lindaso]

Monday Nov. 6th, continued…Formal night

We head up the stairs towards the lobby. We enter the area and it’s total chaos. There are people everywhere. I take a quick scan for the white background but I don’t see it. I walk the whole lobby and it’s not there. I ask a CM at guest services and she calls over to Shutters and tells me tonight is the only night they don’t have the white background…it’s considered casual. Well, shoot, that’s the background I wanted with their black dress clothes.

OK, plan B…what else is here? We see the line for a picture with the captain but the goal is Christmas card so that line doesn’t make sense. I see the moonlight/railing background but the line is huge. So we settle on the line with the Mickey statue.

While on line, Kevin starts crying that his shoes hurt. Then he cries that his neck hurts. Then he cries that he’s thirsty. Can I cry too? I look around at the families in line around us and it seems that every family has at least one member crying. This is fun!!

They come around with free drinks (which I didn’t know were free the first time they were offered) and I grab 2 Shirley Temples for the 3 of them to share. At least now the thirsty cry has stopped.

It’s finally our turn. We take some shots with all 5 of us. The photographer works hard to get Kevin to smile. Not really a smile, but not a frown:

Then Chuck and I move out so he can take some shots of just the kids. Just then I realize that I meant to cut off the clunky kids’ club wristbands…too late for that now. Tommy has long sleeves and the photographer positions Steph with her hands over her wristband. Can you make out the little tear on Kevin’s bottom eyelid?

We’re done with the Mickey statue line at about 5:45. Tonight is Animator’s Palate and we don’t want to be late. There’s no time to wait in another line so we go off to dinner. The Boots are still in line and will meet us there.

We get seated but our servers ignore us. Chuck gets upset and calls Melroy over to get us some drinks. Chuck’s patience with our servers is wearing thin.

The Boots arrive and Melroy comes over to take their drink order. Christine says “oh, I’d love to have that drink they made this morning at Palo.” Melroy immediately shakes his head no. Keith pipes up and tells him he hasn’t even heard what it is yet. Uh oh, looks like Keith’s patience is wearing thin too. Keith explains to Melroy the drink is simply a pina colada with Bailey’s and tells him the ratios to make it. Melroy frowns and says he’ll see what he can do.

I decide to try a Miami Vice, thinking that it’s definitely time for a real drink! Glenn takes our order…tonight I have smoked salmon appetizer (good), butternut squash soup (didn’t care for it), and Filet mignon (good but not as good as Lumiere’s).

When it’s Tommy’s turn to order, he says “shrimp” (since he had it the night before). Glenn shakes his head and says “no, there’s no shrimp.” Tommy shrugs and orders chicken fingers. I got upset later when I realize there’s shrimp with the filet. Tommy eats some of our’s. Why did Glenn tell him there was no shrimp?

Melroy comes by to say they can’t make Christine’s drink. Keith bites his tongue and Christine orders a Miami Vice, which doesn’t come for a VERY long time. We notice that Glenn and Melroy have one other table, which is full of adults. We try to figure out what the problem is…maybe the other table is ordering more drinks, ie. worth more tips?

Kevin almost spills his water but I catch it before we’re both soaked. Yikes, I need to save these clothes for the white background! So when Melroy comes by the next time, I ask him for a covered cup for “him, him and her”, pointing to my 3 kids. He looks very confused, like he’s never heard of such a thing. Is this a Disney Cruise? I can’t possibly be the first parent to ask for a cover!! Chuck speaks up and points to another table…"see those kids over there with the covers on their drinks? We want those.” Melroy comes back with 4 covered cups for Kevin, Alyssa, Kyle and Tommy. Can we say “laugh to keep from crying?” Yup, that’s definitely the point I’m at. In fact, the drinks are kicking in and I’m getting quite giggly, thank you very much!

The meals come and both our servers walk away without giving us ketchup…again. Chuck calls them back over to ask for ketchup. Glenn comes back with ketchup in a dish and individually spoons it out to the kids and walks away with the dish. I start to giggle really hard now cause I know what’s coming next. You see, Chuck eats ketchup with his steak and now he has to call Glenn over AGAIN to ask for ketchup for himself. I try to hide my face in my napkin so they can’t see me laughing.

The show keeps the kids entertained but the rest of us just don’t feel the spirit. I wonder if we would have appreciated it more with a more magical dining experience? Christine reminisces about how great their servers were on the Wonder.

We order the chocolate and peanut butter pie with milk. Glenn brings the pie quickly but the milk doesn’t come until we’re almost done. Glenn partially redeems himself by bringing Kevin a huge bowl of marachino cherries. That’s one way to make him forget he's dressed up.

After dinner, we head back towards the lobby and take another set of pictures on the gray background. Then it’s right over to the Walt Disney theatre for the Golden Mickey’s. The kids get the seats in the front on the right side again. Keith goes and buys popcorn at the snack bar. Ugh, I can’t look at food right now. Chuck and I discuss the difference in the curtains. They’re not moving tonight and he’s feeling fine as long as the Bonine is running through his blood stream. We discuss the ear patch and conclude it’s a glorified band-aid.

The show starts with the interviews on the big screen. Steph recognizes Rebecca (Suzymouse’s DD) and starts bouncing in her chair saying “I know her!!” Then the whole theatre sings Happy Birthday to Rebecca…very cool! Then Lisa’s duo comes on the screen and entertains the crowd. My favorite part is hearing that the dress came from LIMITED 2, said with a little fabric flair.

The awards show starts and we all really enjoy it. I especially enjoy the part when Ursula’s legs lurch toward the audience and Kyle, sitting right on the end, jumps up and hurls himself over 4 seats towards his parents. Tommy loves the Mulan segment with the bo sticks…"hey mom, they’re doing karate!"

After the show, we head back through the crowd to the room. Steph begs to take the midship elevators but we just walk down the stairs. We say goodnight to the Boots and go inside our rooms.

The boys get undressed but Steph is just moping around the room. “Please, please can we go to the Golden Mickey’s After Party, please, pretty please?”

I stop to look at my daughter. I take a real good look. There she is in her dress, looking absolutely beautiful and soooo NOT ready to go to bed. She is literally all dressed up with nowhere to go. If she knew the saying, she’d be shouting “the night is still young!” I take pity on her and seeing as how she hasn’t had any meltdowns so far, I agree…to the Golden Mickey After Party!!

Tommy pipes in that he wants to go too, but he’s already undressed. He also begs with the pretty pleases and he quickly gets his dress clothes back on. Kevin and Chuck are in for the night so it’s just the 3 of us partying out on the town.

We knock on the Boots’ door but the kids are already in bed. Up to Studio Seas where the After Party is already hopping. We join in on the dance floor and I’m proud to say I know all the words to “Getcha Head in the Game.” I’m also proud a few minutes later when Jason knows all the words to “Summer Lovin” after he gets the microphone stuck in his face. I have a geriatric moment when the DJ plays “Thriller” and none of the kids even recognize the song. All in all, a great After Party and I’m glad I got talked into it.

After the party, we head toward the midship elevators and I see the photographers are still set up in the lobby. Having forgotten my camera when we left the room, I decide we need to capture this memory of our special night out. The night I got a glimpse into my daughter’s future. She most definitely will not be staying in on Saturday night.

We wait on a very short line for the railing background. I take some shots with them but I liked this one the best:

We head back to the room and get them in bed. As I’m tucking her in, Steph hugs me and thanks me for letting her go to the party. She may become a party girl but right now she’s still my baby, sleeping with her stuffed dolphin.

I get a second wind and decide that it’s been 3 nights…time to try room service. I order a Mickey bar and a cookie and Chuck orders a personal pizza. They come within 10 minutes and I thoroughly enjoy both. The cookie is outstanding. We will definitely be ordering more of those. Much better than the cookies at Topsiders. Chuck’s pizza is just OK, but he manages to eat it. We watch a wicked thunderstorm through the porthole window and enjoy the view of the ocean every time the sky lights up. Yup, that Bonine is still flowing nicely through a certain someone's veins.

Now that I’ve had my late-night snack, sleep will not be had for a while so I head up to the internet café and surf a bit. I do a quick search on Glenn & Melroy but I don’t find much. I find an email from my MIL that Shenzi is doing well and having fun.

Time to call it a night. Tomorrow is Grand Cayman. Chuck is happy land is in his near future.

Up Next…"I don’t wanna go to Stingray City", rain rain go away, hair braiding

 

[Holly&Joesmommy]

your TR is great, and I am so happy for you and your daughter, (and son) ...that extra time w/ her will be such a wonderful memory

It's not very often, w/ such busy lives, that we have the chance to just STOP, and say "OK, honey, lets go"..... sigh..... I'm feelin the MGAIC sigh.....
That's what it's all about.

SHEW! that was really mushy...
ok, I'm back from LAA LAA Land, please hurry w/ your next installment

 

[discruiselovers97]

I am really loving it!

 

[sejejoemmiev]

Great trip report! I am really enjoying it. I can't believe what bad service you were getting with your dining team, even after day # 3. I'm starting to get worried that I may get them on our trip. What makes them sound even worse is that it seems like they didn't have any personality. I hope things improved over the next few days and if not that you mentioned it in your feedback on the ship. We had an unbelievable server on the Wonder 12/2004. He was funny and great with the kids. He always anticipated our needs. I was looking forward to that again on our next trip. I hope we get so lucky!

 

[Destinydaddy]

Let your husban know this is the best thing he will ever do for his family. I'm going on our 16th Disney Cruise in the last sixteen years. My wonderful wife say's it better then counceling! We started with three day cruise found out it was way to short, then we went and did four four day cruises and then slid to the seven and have not stopped since. going again 12/9/06. The double dip!

 

[tjeagle]

I love your report! I have read some awesome "daddy" reports recently (thanks boys) but am loving a report from a "mommy" point of veiw! I am half way through but have to run out the door (I am already 30 minutes late!!) LOVE IT!!

 

[tubachick]

I Love your Report!!!





can't wait for land-fall

 

[lindaso]

Tuesday Nov. 7th…Grand Cayman

Some background info: Over the past 2 years, I spent many hours researching the ports and excursions available to us. When it came to Grand Cayman, I kept reading about Stingray City. The first time I mentioned it to the kids, I got a look of mild interest from Stephanie, a look of doubt from Tommy and from Kevin I got “I don’t wanna go to Stingray City.” He felt so strongly about it that any time the cruise came up as a topic of conversation, he’d say “I don’t wanna go to Stingray City.” We could be talking about the food and he’d say “I don’t wanna go to Stingray City.” Chuck and I were discussing how we were going to pay for the cruise and Kevin said “I don’t wanna go to Stingray City.” Steph would say “I got an email from Cheyenne” and Kevin would say “I don’t wanna go to Stingray City.”

OK, so Kevin doesn’t want to go to Stingray City…got it. But what really made me forego the whole idea was that Tommy didn’t want to and Steph didn’t seem to want to. And when you get right down to it…do I really want packs of creepy crawlies squirming around and touching me while wearing a bathing suit? Not really. So it was decided long before the Steve Irwin incident…no Stingray City for the Incredible family.

What did we want to do in Grand Cayman? We just wanted to go to the beach. What about the Boots? They were planning Stingray City until Steve Irwin. Alyssa read about what happened and said “no way.” So they too will join us at the beach. End of background info.

We wake up Tuesday morning and the skies look overcast. We take our time in the morning, which is so nice. No excursion meeting time, no rush for tender tickets, just a nice leisurely breakfast. We get suits on, lotion everyone up, pack towels in the Castaway Club bags (yes, they put those in our rooms and there was no way I was going to confess to not being a CC member) and went out to the movie theatre for tender tickets holding our 5 shiny new red buckets.

We walk through the back of the theatre and they hand us each a ticket. No line, no waiting. As we are following the people in front of us to wherever we need to go, Keith realizes he doesn’t have the kids’ KTTW cards on him. So we wait while he runs back to the room. Alyssa didn’t get enough sleep last night and is not a happy camper. She complains about the wait. Christine is very patient with her.

Keith makes it back but now we lost our tender crowd and don’t know where to go. We head down to deck one and see signs to where we need to go. We go through the little security area and walk on to the tender boat. We head up to the top so we can see the view. Uh-oh, it’s drizzling up here. We decide to tough it out since it’s only slightly drizzling. The water below us is the most beautiful deep blue I’ve ever seen. Alyssa complains about sitting in the rain. She says how stupid we are for going to the beach when it’s raining. Christine moves away from her to sit next to me. I’m happy it’s her kid and not one of mine.

The tender boat is ready to move and we push away from the Magic. Just then, as if it was waiting for us to start moving, the skies open up and it starts to pour. Not just any rain but a pelting rain, the kind that hurts when it hits you. We are instantly soaked. Everyone on the top deck scrambles for the stairs to the shelter below, including us. We make it to the covered area of the boat and look at ourselves…there we are sopping wet with our shiny new red buckets. We look completely ridiculous. We all laugh about what a great beach day it is.

Except Alyssa is not laughing. She starts in on Christine again…"Oh good call Mom, great beach day." She keeps it up over and over again. I try to make a joke out of it and tell Christine she is “all powerful mom” to be able to control the weather. The Boots are having their own family moment b/c apparently Keith not having the KTTW cards was Christine’s fault too. Ahh, the joys of traveling together…they witnessed our moment at the Residence and now we are witnessing theirs. I am very impressed with Christine as she did not throw Alyssa overboard. There is no where to move away from her since we’re packed liked sardines so we just listen to it. Eventually Keith tells her to knock it off and she sulks quietly.

We make it to shore and I’m pretty sure Chuck wants to kiss the ground but doesn’t b/c the ground is soaked. We walk through the receiving line of taxi drivers looking for fares. There we are with our towels and our buckets looking like absolute suckers. We hear one lady cab driver say “oh no, it’s not raining at the beach.” I am hopeful but the guys just laugh at me…of course she’s going to say that. We stop to regroup after the receiving line and one driver comes over to tell us he can fit us in his van.

Now we aren’t really sure where we want to go. I didn’t realize I needed a specific name of a beach. I knew we wanted 7 mile beach but that was it. Keith read in the Disney literature about a certain part of the beach so he tells the driver. Carlos (the driver) tells us we don’t want to go there. The guys are afraid we’re gonna get ripped off so they tell him that yes, that is the beach we want. I’m staying out of this since I have no clue where to go. Shame shame on me, obsessive vacation planner!

We load into a van with another family from the Magic. It doesn’t look like there are seats for me and Kevin until Carlos pulls down 2 jump seats. I sit behind Kevin and drape my arms over him like a human seat belt. Chuck sits up front. The other family doesn’t know what beach either so they follow us. Carlos drives up to this one resort, saying the whole time “I have a better beach for you.” We get out and Carlos goes up to the lady asking her how much. It’s still raining and we’re feeling rather silly. She quotes us some outrageous price per person and the guys say no. Carlos again says he has a better beach and they agree to go to Carlos’ beach.

We pile back in the van and drive back in the opposite direction until we come to Royal Palm Beach. Carlos asks what time to come back for us and we tell him 2:00. It’s now 11:00. It’s not raining anymore and the sun peeks through the clouds. We walk on the beach, pay $5 for chaises and get settled.

It’s extremely hot and it doesn’t take long until we’re all in the water. The water is beautiful and very calm. Even Kevin is enjoying the water, although he wants to swim with me and I’d like some time on that chaise. The sun is out in full force and the rain is becoming a distant memory. Christine takes the opportunity for payback…"yeah Alyss, we should have stayed on the ship, it’s a terrible day for the beach."

Kevin agrees to let me sit on the chaise for a while. I test out the super zoom on my Olympus:

I also get this one of the boys in the water:

I packed some cereal from Topsiders and Kevin munches on that. Steph starts to complain that she’s hungry and the cereal’s not cutting it. I convince Chuck to get some food for her. We didn’t want to have to buy food in the 3 hours we’re here but she didn’t eat too much for breakfast. The food is rather expensive and Steph gets the lecture on our family’s vacation policy…when it’s time to eat, you have to eat.

Chuck tells us he ran into Carlos while waiting for the food and we discuss how much Carlos’ kickback is for bringing cruisers to this particular beach. We wonder if the lady at the other beach is his sister. Oh well, we don’t feel cheated b/c it’s a pretty good beach. The bathrooms are clean, there’s a bar and food and the chaises were only $5. All in all, a great beach day.

It’s almost 2:00 so we get ready to go. Carlos arranged for someone else to take us back. On the way back, we pass a Del Sol store. I forgot to mention in previous installments that Christine had shopped in Del Sol in Key West and bought Steph a ring and the boys iguana key chains. For those like me who never heard of this store, it’s all stuff that looks white but turns color out in the sun. Think Animator’s Palate but with stuff. Anyway, someone accidentally stepped on her ring and it broke that morning.

Seeing that the store is so close to the tender, I agree to take Steph there while Chuck takes the boys back. Kyle wants to swim so he goes back with Chuck. The rest of the Boots will come with us to the store. There’s a scary moment as Christine can’t find the KTTW cards. She and Keith have words again until they are found hiding underneath the cardboard bottom of the Castaway Club bag.

So the 5 of us walk over to Del Sol and look around. Of course Steph convinces me to buy her a dolphin necklace in addition to a new ring. Can you say sucker? The cashier gives us free rings that the boys love. Boys are so much easier than girls when it comes to stuff!

We walk back and wait for the tender. There’s a bridal party waiting and we all have fun watching the bride in her wedding gown and listening to them talk about their day. We make it back to the Magic and head straight up to deck 9. Unlike Jason & Michael, we did not make hair braiding appointments during the sail-away party. Tomorrow is dolphin day and we want the girls to have braided hair for the pictures. We find the hair braiding lady and ask about appointments. She tells us she only has appointments at 9:00 tonight. We’ll have to take them.

We rework the schedule and decide that we’ll see the early show, go to dinner at Topsiders and then do the hair braiding. It’s not like we’ll miss our servers. Plus it’s Parrot Cay tonight and the same menu will be served at Topsiders anyway. We head over to the Mickey Pool to tell the guys the new plan.

Alyssa is still in a mood and doesn’t want to swim so Christine takes her back to the room. I try a wrap at Goofy’s Galley but it’s not so good so I eat more fruit. I haven’t mentioned it yet but I fell in love with the fruit at Goofy’s Galley. I never ate so much fruit in my life, it was very yummy. I wound up getting a huge plate every night before dinner so the kids could munch while we got ready. I just forgot to write about it until now.

Anyway, Chuck takes Kevin back to the room as they’ve both had enough sun. Keith is watching the boys in the Mickey Pool so I take Steph around for Hidden Friends. Not only do we find Rebecca and Cheyenne but we find their parents chatting at a table. Finally! A chance to sit and chat with them.

It’s soon time to leave the pool and get clean. I order some room service cookies to take to the show as a snack. I enter the bathroom and once again contemplate my arch nemisis...the shower curtain. I decide "in the tub" but fanned out like Steph had it the day before. The problem is that little pools of water form on the curtain where it's fanned out by the tub. I try to empty it in the tub but I lose hold of it and the water spills all over the floor.

We leave for the Walt Disney theatre for the early show. On our way we see Donald with no line so the kids jump in for a picture. All except you know who (and I'm not talking about Voldemort!)

Our front row seats are taken so we sit a few rows back. I introduce the rest of my party to the room service cookies and they’re a big hit. Even Christine tries one. The lady sitting in front of the kids asks about them. We have an extra cookie so we offer it to her. She loves it too. I think those cookies and the fruit were my favorite foods on the ship.

We all enjoy Twice Charmed. The shows on board are unbelievably good. By the time it’s over, we are all really hungry. We make our way up to Topsiders. It’s nice to be in shorts for dinner.

Up next…good servers do exist, a new use for digital cameras, Moms night out…WHERE?

 

[PrincessFAN2006]

Great TR can't wait to read more. Your family takes great photos!!!

Kim

 

[love2travel]

Your report is great Linda! Keep going!

 

[Ct_TiggerFan]

Love your trip reports


It brings back some memory's from our first cruise.

Thanks

 

[Babs417]

I could use a cookie right now and a big glass of milk

 

[mruhaak]

Love the Voldemort reference... as I'm a huge HP fan.

Bummer that you had such poor servers. My DH has little patience with poor service so that would be bad if it happens to us.

I've been to Grand Cayman twice and have done Stingray twice. It is a really neat experience BUT... I think you made the best choice for your age kids and since they weren't into it. The times I did it there were quite large waves and since I'm not very tall I had a hard time holding my own, I can't imagine wrangling kids too.

 

[Holly&Joesmommy]

Your camera takes great great pictures
Can't wait to read what happens next.

 

[lindaso]

Great TR can't wait to read more. Your family takes great photos!!!

Thank you. I did get some great shots and some not-so-great shots too! That will come later.

Love the Voldemort reference... as I'm a huge HP fan.

Hey, a "spirited" son and a HP fan!?! Too bad you don't live closer, we could hang out!

I could use a cookie right now and a big glass of milk

Mmmm cookie! Milk would be good but you better not ask Melroy to get it for you.

Love your trip reports. It brings back some memory's from our first cruise.

I felt pretty clueless many times!

Your report is great Linda! Keep going!

Hey Teresa, thanks for sticking with it. I'm out of notes so I hope I can finish this thing properly.

Your camera takes great great pictures. Can't wait to read what happens next.

I would have had better beach shots but I forgot about the humidity factor and many of my shots came out hazy. But they look cool in their own way too.

Let your husban know this is the best thing he will ever do for his family. I'm going on our 16th Disney Cruise in the last sixteen years. My wonderful wife say's it better then counceling! We started with three day cruise found out it was way to short, then we went and did four four day cruises and then slid to the seven and have not stopped since. Going again 12/9/06. The double dip!

Wow, 16 cruises in 16 years!! Now you did it the normal way, started out slow with a 3 day. Not me, nope, I just jumped right in!!

I Love your Report!!! can't wait for land-fall

Yup, land-fall was definitely someone's favorite part of the vacation.

I am really loving it!

Aw, thank you. It's nice to hear that people are actually reading this thing! I do tend to get a bit long-winded .

Great trip report! I am really enjoying it. I can't believe what bad service you were getting with your dining team, even after day # 3. I'm starting to get worried that I may get them on our trip. What makes them sound even worse is that it seems like they didn't have any personality. I hope things improved over the next few days and if not that you mentioned it in your feedback on the ship. We had an unbelievable server on the Wonder 12/2004. He was funny and great with the kids. He always anticipated our needs. I was looking forward to that again on our next trip. I hope we get so lucky!

I still have more to write about Glenn & Melroy. It was disappointing but we still had a fantastic time.

I love your report! I have read some awesome "daddy" reports recently (thanks boys) but am loving a report from a "mommy" point of veiw! I am half way through but have to run out the door (I am already 30 minutes late!!) LOVE IT!!

The guys around here have been doing a great job. But we mommies experience things just a tad different!!


OK, so can you tell I'm happy I figured out how to quote multiple people in one post??

 

[mruhaak]

Hey, a "spirited" son and a HP fan!?! Too bad you don't live closer, we could hang out!

I've just been listening to books 5 & 6 on my IPOD the past few weeks. While commuting to work and at work while working on a project that doesn't require a lot of brain power. So it's ironic you mention it!

Yes... bit of a jaunt from New York from here! Too bad! We could let our spirited children terrorize each other!

 

[lindaso]

Tuesday Nov. 7th cont…a new use for digital cameras, Moms’ night out…WHERE?

We get seated at Topsiders at the biggest table they have. It’s a little tight but we make it work. Our servers here are very friendly and ask all kinds of questions about where we’re from, if we’re related, which kids belong to who, etc. I can’t remember what I ate here and looking at the menus on Castawayclub.com, I don’t think we got the Master Chef menu b/c it doesn’t look at all familiar. But whatever we ate, it was as good as the regular restaurants.

The kids can tell the difference between here and the fancier restaurants as they are loud and generally misbehaved. Maybe dressing them in pants makes a difference? I reach my breaking point and raise my voice saying there will be no hair braiding or arcade for anyone if they don’t knock it off right now. I didn’t really mean to include the Boots children in my threat but it came out that way. Kyle believes me and straightens up right alongside my kids.

Kevin orders his usual chicken fingers which now makes the 8th meal in a row (not including breakfast). Up to this point, they’ve been served with just French fries. But here in Topsiders, they add a section of mixed vegetables. They place the plate in front of Kevin and he exclaims rather loudly…“WHAT are those?!?!?”, pointing to the vegetables and acting like he’s never seen such a thing in his life. I take a good ribbing b/c my son doesn’t know what vegetables are.

What we notice while eating in Topsiders is the attentiveness of our servers. They offer to cut Tommy’s chicken fingers. The ketchup is left on the table. And the biggie…they bring Chuck another coke before he finishes the old one. Plus they are smiling and just plain friendly. It’s a nice change of pace. Here are our crazy boys during dinner:

We finish our meal and head over to the hair braiding station. The boys (and men) run right into the arcade. Every trip to the arcade is an enigma for me. There are video games in the club, there are video games in the lab, there are video games on the computer I paid $90 for, there are video games at Ocean Quest family time, AND there are video games in our stateroom. Why oh why must we pay $30 per card to play video games in this arcade?

But I have to keep my mouth shut b/c we rearranged everyone’s whole evening just so 2 girls can get their hair braided for a dolphin swim that only 2 girls are doing. The boys aren’t getting anything so I try to ignore the $30 arcade card.

Here are the big boys having fun in the arcade:

The girls take one last look through the braid book and tell the ladies which ones they want. Alyssa is going for the side-parted one and Steph is going for the triangle-looking one. They sit down in their chairs but the table is in between them and they can’t see each other getting braided. They both keep asking all kinds of questions about the other…how many does she have done so far, what does it look like, is she crying, is she almost done, etc.

Christine comes up with a great idea. She takes a picture of Alyssa to show Stephanie. I jump in and we both take all kinds of weird angles of their heads so the other can see it. I know the hair braiding ladies think we’re nuts. We’re both glad the guys aren’t here to make fun of us. Gotta love digital cameras! Here's one that's gotta hurt:

Alyssa’s hair is done first and I don’t get a chance to ask Christine about the tip. Steph’s total is around $20 so I tip $5. We take some normal pictures and I finally get a chance to ask her about it. She says she tipped $10 and I immediately feel like a cheapskate. I feel horrible that I didn’t tip the same amount as her. Why didn’t we talk about this beforehand? I continue to feel bad until Keith gets wind of our conversation and asks Christine how much she tipped. He chews her out for tipping too much and I immediately feel better!!

The final result:

It’s about 9:30 and time to start thinking about bed. Christine insists on bed for Alyssa based on her morning attitude. I ask Steph if she wants to go to the camp out in the club. She doesn’t know if her DIS friends are going and I offer to wait there to see if they come. But she’s not so interested so we call it a night.

Christine and I plan to get the kids in bed and go out somewhere. Chuck wants to watch the DaVinci Code on TV so he’s fine with staying back with the kids. I get them all ready for bed, nebulize Kevin (who is doing beautifully on this vacation and hasn’t coughed once), and run out the door. FREEDOM!!!

Where should we go? What should we do? Do we go to Rockin’ Bar D? Or perhaps Sessions? Both are great choices but first we must check Shutters for our pictures of Formal night. Did I get a good enough picture for a Christmas card? What package do I need to buy? Do I need to dress everyone in their clothes from yesterday? How much is all this going to cost? These questions need my immediate attention.

We arrive at Shutters and gather all of our pictures, including the embarkation ones, the picture they took at Lumiere’s, and the character pictures. Boy, there are a lot of photos here. I start to flip through them but I just can’t get a grasp on what I have. I need to see them side-by-side b/c there are too many similar ones of the same pose. I need somewhere to spread out. I need a place to sit and really look at them carefully.

I walk around Shutters and find a spot right next to the door by the CM’s desk. There’s enough room and it’s not in the path of anyone walking by. Now sitting on the floor in Shutters seems perfectly natural to me, but apparently it’s not normal. Every CM who walks by us laughs and asks if we’re comfortable. We smile and say yes.

There is one CM in particular that keeps commenting to us. She asks if she can get us some pillows. She asks if she can get us some drinks. Her comments to us are funny but laced with sarcasm…we love her! Her name is Bahar and she becomes one of the best memories of our cruise.

Christine and I are going through each other’s photos b/c it’s easier to be objective with someone else’s family pictures. I pick through her shots and tell her which ones I like. Now, Christine has a thing about pictures of herself. She’ll make an entire scrapbook and not include one single picture of herself. I at least will throw one of myself in every few pages just to show I exist.

Christine is specifically occupied with her chin. She sees a double chin in every picture. Let me tell you…it doesn’t exist, but she sees it and hates every picture that she’s in. We argue over it, we laugh over it, I tackle her before she throws a perfectly good picture into the slot of doom. Bahar is enjoying the entertainment.

Christine says to me “I wonder if they can photoshop our pictures.”

“What part do you want photoshopped?” I ask.

“Do you think they can photoshop my double chin into a single chin?”

“I don’t know, let’s ask Bahar.” I say.

We call Bahar over and Christine says, “can you photoshop our pictures?”

Bahar says, “oh sure, we have time to photoshop everyone’s pictures.”

Christine says, “no, seriously, can you photoshop my picture?”

Bahar kneels down to see what Christine is talking about.

Christine asks hopefully, “can you fix my double chin?”

Bahar answers with a perfectly straight face, “I am not a surgeon” and walks away.

It’s a good thing I’m already on the floor b/c I would have fallen down. You know ROFLMAO? Well, we are doing that literally on the floor of Shutters. We are now getting stares from other cruisers standing there looking at their pictures.

We compose ourselves enough to look through my pictures. Christine picks out 2 horrible ones where someone has their eyes closed. She tries to convince me to put them in the slot of doom b/c I’ll never buy them and there are better ones of the same pose. Of course she’s right, I know she’s right, but putting them down that slot is just so FINAL. I can’t bring myself to do it. We have a Dr. Phil moment where she convinces me to empower myself in this decision-making process and I get up and put my 2 horrible eyes-closed pictures down the slot of doom. I did it! The world did not end b/c I threw out a picture!

I come dancing back to our spot, very proud of myself. Even Bahar congratulates me but points out that I still have about 15 pictures in my pile and it’s only Tuesday. She’s such a smartass, I just love her!!

It’s getting late but we don’t notice. We’re having too much fun. How long have we been on the floor of Shutters? I ask a CM what time they close and get a “don’t worry about it” in response. So we go back to our pictures. Christine spreads out her gray background pictures and starts talking frames and where in her house to hang them. Yes, we have a disease.

We notice the Shutters CM’s putting the big boards on top of the picture holders. Again we ask what time they close and again they say don’t worry. I don’t have a navigator so I can’t look for myself. Please tell us what time you close. It finally dawns on us that they will not kick us out and we better leave on our own (duh!). All the boards are covered up so we can’t even put our pictures back.

Bahar convinces us to buy the ones we still have left and exchange them when we come back. Oh great, now I can bring them back to the room and obsess over them there! She tells us we better come back and see her and next time she’ll have cushions and drinks for us. We say goodbye to our new Shutters friends and thank them for the fun evening.

So…our moms’ night out is spent at Shutters. Pathetic? Absolutely! But we had a blast! We laughed hard and made a new friend. While walking back to the room, Christine says “so, do you think they can really photoshop our pictures?” We start the giggles again b/c I have no idea. Neither of us could tell if Bahar was serious or kidding. We’ll have to find out tomorrow.

It’s a bit embarrassing telling Chuck that we spent the whole night in Shutters. My husband just smiles and shakes his head. I tell him all about our new friend. He thinks Christine and I are having more fun than the kids. I think we are too!!

Up next…swimming with the jellies, er dolphins; NOOOO, there are pish in the water; yo ho yo ho a pirate night for me

 

[Ski-and-Sea]

That was brilliant.

I think we all feel the same way about "letting" go of our unwanted photos in the trash can at Shutters.

Its like you can hear the photos call out to you......"don't leave me, don't send me away.......come back to meeeeee.......

Its just as scary as flushing the toilet in our staterooms.