Video Killed the Trip Report Star: A Little Halloween Magic (Western) Complete!!

[JKSWonder]

LOL, yep it was quite a meltdown too. The screaming seemed to bounce off the boat and echo, even with all those people onboard. Everyone was great about it though. at least to my face! I guess most of them had been there, done that however! Next to Savannah's meltdown on a plane when she was 3, worst.meltdown.evah. The plane one was really bad though!

You can see the pics? I'm going to have to reset the links I'm getting bandwidth exceeded.

A certain 4 1/2 year old of mine got put in time out more than once on the cruise. We had to escort him out of a restaurant at least twice until he was able to get it together.

Once, we had him stand and face the wall in Parrot Cay until he calmed down and apologized. Too bad I didn't get a picture of that......ah, memories!

 

[tinkerbelltwins]

A certain 4 1/2 year old of mine got put in time out more than once on the cruise. We had to escort him out of a restaurant at least twice until he was able to get it together.

Once, we had him stand and face the wall in Parrot Cay until he calmed down and apologized. Too bad I didn't get a picture of that......ah, memories!

And then there were my two imps. Instead of having meltdowns at the restaurant, they played the weak bladder game. We would get to the restaurant, manage to place our orders, and a short while later I'd hear one of them say "mommy I need to go to the bathroom." Of course, the other one shook their head no when I inquired if she needed to go too. I would escort one to the potty, came back, and then, lo and behold, the other one had to go. And so on, and so on. I should have worn a sign that said "headed to the ladies room, does anybody else's child need an escort?"

Beth

 

[JKSWonder]

And then there were my two imps. Instead of having meltdowns at the restaurant, they played the weak bladder game. We would get to the restaurant, manage to place our orders, and a short while later I'd hear one of them say "mommy I need to go to the bathroom." Of course, the other one shook their head no when I inquired if she needed to go too. I would escort one to the potty, came back, and then, lo and behold, the other one had to go. And so on, and so on. I should have worn a sign that said "headed to the ladies room, does anybody else's child need an escort?"

Beth

If you had, I would have taken you up on it cause my daughter does the exact same thing to me every time we go out to eat!

 

[nenner1]

[/B]

I'm with Jen- I'd pay CASH MONEY to see that!!

You are soooooo freakin' funny, Drea!!!

Yeah she is...cracks me up. The three of us on a cruise together would be downright dangerous!

Your Sarah sounds soooo much like our Sammie. She would fight sleep, I would want to pull my hair out and then she would finally crash hard.

Yep exactly!

The pictures of Sarah sleeping on the seat of the boat is very reminiscent of several pics in our family albums! Now at 10 years old, she is my easy child and the 14 year old daughter makes me want to pull my hair out!

LOL that is too funny. I have a feeling it's going to be that way around here too. Savannah was my easy baby but I have a feeling she is going to be a terror in a few years too! Hang in there!!

A certain 4 1/2 year old of mine got put in time out more than once on the cruise. We had to escort him out of a restaurant at least twice until he was able to get it together.

Once, we had him stand and face the wall in Parrot Cay until he calmed down and apologized. Too bad I didn't get a picture of that......ah, memories!

LOL that's right you told me about that!! That would have been a great pic!

Hi Jen,
The memories keep flooding back reading your trip report! Hope loved the sting rays and after going out once Skye would have nothing to do with them -- she didn't like that they were "dark and slimey" to use her words. So I stayed on the boat with her after the first attempt.

That's too funny!

And let me say here: Little Miss Sarah was a trooper! For being a toddler she has the makings for a real seasoned traveler. We've all been there, done that, with meltdowns. No one cared a whit that she was letting her feelings be known. And she looked adorable all passed out on the boat too. Isn't amazing that when they go down for the count, it happens so quickly! I loved the fact that there were people of all ages on the boat. It was fun talking to people from all over. It was a super cool Disrayday!!!


Beth

Oh I totally agree about it being such a great excursion It was the great company!! Thanks so much for your kind words I can look back and laugh now but I was pretty horrified at the time. She did it at Nachi too and I eventually gave up trying to get her to sleep and let her just do what she wanted even though I knew she really needed the nap. She got one eventually during the show I think!

And then there were my two imps. Instead of having meltdowns at the restaurant, they played the weak bladder game. We would get to the restaurant, manage to place our orders, and a short while later I'd hear one of them say "mommy I need to go to the bathroom." Of course, the other one shook their head no when I inquired if she needed to go too. I would escort one to the potty, came back, and then, lo and behold, the other one had to go. And so on, and so on. I should have worn a sign that said "headed to the ladies room, does anybody else's child need an escort?"

Beth

If you had, I would have taken you up on it cause my daughter does the exact same thing to me every time we go out to eat!

Oh yeah BTDT for sure! When Brendan and Savannah were younger...it was one...then the other....then the first one again. Like a parade!

 

[jns]

finally catching up
great report

 

[CRdisMom]

I did the bathroom dance at the Cali grill..They do know how to cause havoc...

 

[nenner1]

After our fun tour to Stingray City with Captain Marvin’s, we were excited to go relax swim, shop and have some eats and drinks at one of our favorite places in Grand Cayman…yes, another Margaritaville!

This one is way cooler than the one in Key West. I know, that’s the original, but it doesn’t have a gimmick. This one does in the form of a large pool and twirling slide. It’s a wonderful place to waste away several hours on this beautiful island.

We walked the short couple of blocks from where we were dropped off near the tenders. headed up the stairs and found ourselves a nice spot in one of the poolside cabanas and let the kids loose!!

Much of the sun had now disappeared behind the clouds and it was now totally overcast but luckily we experienced no rain. There were still lots of folks up on the pool deck when we arrived and we would find out later a couple of Disers from our meet thread had been there as well, and we must have just missed them.

While the kids swam and slid we were absolutely famished so we ordered a small bit to tide us over until we would get back onboard. Since the exchange rate in CI is appx. $1.25 USD for every $1.00 CI, food, drinks, and merchandise are pretty pricey here. We ordered a Cheeseburger in Paradise (with fries) a basket of Onion Rings, two sodas, and an iced tea put us back at least in the $30-$40 range. (Pay cash to avoid a conversion fee on your credit cards!)

It looks good, it tasted great, and as you can see it was hard to get anyone’s attention away from the food. Starving on a cruise, who woulda thunk it?

Here is the view from the top of the slide platform!

There’s our ride!

**Continued in next post**

 

[nenner1]

Before too long, we were joined by Fastpaks: Jonathan, Amy, and Adam, who also ordered lunch. We all had a blast hanging out, sharing stories of the cruise so far, swimming and sliding! We pretty much had the pool to ourselves at this point!

Brendan:

Savannah:

Adam:

Sarah:

Sarah loved the slide so much, she was constantly begging one of us to take her. Thankfully the pool is fairly shallow, and with her floatie vest on, she could ride down with Brendan and Savannah. 20 trips up those stairs was enough for me!

We couldn’t hang out for too long though, as the ship would be leaving soon. We hit the shop to get some merchandise and while very expensive, this was in fact the nicest store we would encounter on our Grand Margaritaville Tour..

Not cramped or crowded in here!

So overall, though very expensive (did I already mention that?), we still give Margaritaville Grand Cayman two thumbs up as a great place to waste away a couple of hours near the port area.


We finally headed back to the Magic in the latter half of the 3:00 hour, actually rather close to the last tender time of 4:00. As we re-entered the shopping plaza where the tenders were, we found some great kiosks set up with some reasonably priced clothing, and especially cute dresses. We got Sarah one, and also made a stop at a nearby Christmas shop where I picked up a cute resin stingray Christmas ornament.


Then we walked right up, went right through security and walked right on the tender. No waiting at all. The lines at the nearby Norwegian tent for the Dawn were horrifyingly long, and appeared to not be moving at all. Not sure if that was a time issue (most of the DCL passengers already onboard?) or if they were just running more tenders to our ship, but it was nice to not wait forever. We did accidentally throw Sarah’s bathing suit in the towel bin, but luckily we saw it, so we had to stop and dig through the bin and retrieve it. Oops!

The tender left promptly which was nice- last time at Cayman they held the tender forever until it was totally full. As we reboarded the ship, we found ourselves in the elevator with the older couple from Match your Mate…the “Mustang” people, and we had to stifle our giggles.

We spent the last hours of the afternoon relaxing on the balcony, and getting ready for dinner and the show. Mickey got a much needed nap, and his bed had quite the view.

The sunset as we sailed away from Cayman was not spectacular, but we didn’t much mind.

Up next: Villains! Tonight!

 

[nenner1]

finally catching up
great report

Thanks! Great to see ya back! The good thing about my TR's, you can take a little break then come back and it's still going! Or maybe that's not a good thing...LOL!

I did the bathroom dance at the Cali grill..They do know how to cause havoc...

Oh yeah! Can't think of a nicer place to do it though! We have not yet been to California Grill, and I want to (baaaad), would love to just hop over there for a nice romantic dinner for just Ron and I but the kids would kill us if we didn't take them too..

 

[dvc4life]

Jen - I am so thoroughly enjoying your TR. Reading yours and Ellen's at the same time is very fun. I love to see all the photos you are posting. Just makes the TR so much better. And your kids are adorable.

And I wanted to tell you that you deserve a great big medal for all the planning you did for the Trick or Treat on the ship. That can't be an easy undertaking. But you made it look like it was so easy. And I'm sure that all of those who participated really appreciated all your hard work. So I just wanted to say OUTSTANDING JOB!

Looks like Margaritaville in Cayman is really cool. We weren't able to go there when we did the Western cruise. The weather was to rough for the tenders to run so maybe next time. We will definitely have to go there.

Well, keep up the great job on your TR as I can't wait for the next installment.

 

[livingis2me]

Sarah:

As Jimmy Buffett would say, "You won't see this sh!# at Disney World!" ...or our Adventure Island in Tampa. 3 way tandem on a waterslide!!! I guess while all the adults are wastin' away it's not so hard to bend the rules a little.

Love this Margaritaville!!! Love this trip report (and trip reporter)!!!

Ron

 

[CRdisMom]

The key to Cali Grill is to book just before sunset as it is an amazing photo op. We gotr there at 5:30 armed with a DSI and an Ipod touch loaded with movies. Our server was totally cool with as he said too many kids go up there and run araound. I normally don't do that but I knew that I wanted to catch wishes from the top. Our server knew that and took his sweet time bringing out all the courses. We did 5 courses. He said he wasn't going to hurry us as we belonged there. I was perpolexed but he said we were dressed properly and knew what to expect. Then he went off about the dinning plan. So long story short I hat a custom cake delivered for my birthday and we stayed until 10 pm! Our bill was crazy! I have never spent that much on a dinner--okay work has paid for dinners that expensive but not me. His tip was good. You need to try it.

 

[DundasDad]

Really enjoying this - our first ever cruise is coming up in March - lot's of great ideas and you're doing a fantastice job describing what to expect

 

[Cheryl726]

Ooh Margaritaville looks great!

 

[knewton64]

Ooh Margaritaville looks great!

hmmmmm - me thinks we need to ask Alan Jackson and Jimmy Buffet.




love the pics!!



T.T.F.N.

 

[anewmac]

1st off, love Rons comments.. arent you just the sweetest! awww!!!

Love all the pool pics, thats a great way to end the day chillaxen at the pool with some good food and drinks, looks like the kids worked up an appetite. I love the pics of all 3 of them eatting, its soo cute!

As for the tenders, glad they got it right this time and had more tenders going and not waiting for them to fill up.. ugg that bugged me on our DD.

 

[Fastpaks]

As Jimmy Buffett would say, "You won't see this sh!# at Disney World!" ...or our Adventure Island in Tampa. 3 way tandem on a waterslide!!! I guess while all the adults are wastin' away it's not so hard to bend the rules a little.

Love this Margaritaville!!! Love this trip report (and trip reporter)!!!

Ron

Nice Touch Ron!! I agree this MArgaritville is the easily the best. I wish we would have come there sooner! I have a priceless picture of my experience on the slide..

1st off, love Rons comments.. arent you just the sweetest! awww!!!

Love all the pool pics, thats a great way to end the day chillaxen at the pool with some good food and drinks, looks like the kids worked up an appetite. I love the pics of all 3 of them eatting, its soo cute!

As for the tenders, glad they got it right this time and had more tenders going and not waiting for them to fill up.. ugg that bugged me on our DD.

My wife and I were one of the last ones off the ship since we didn't have a place to be. We found that every 10 minutes and life was good. I remember my wife's initial thoughts were full of fright as we had to walk across a plank and she doesn't swim.

 

[nenner1]

Jen - I am so thoroughly enjoying your TR. Reading yours and Ellen's at the same time is very fun. I love to see all the photos you are posting. Just makes the TR so much better. And your kids are adorable.

Aww thanks so much! I need to use this St. John downtime Ellen has going on and catch up!!

And I wanted to tell you that you deserve a great big medal for all the planning you did for the Trick or Treat on the ship. That can't be an easy undertaking. But you made it look like it was so easy. And I'm sure that all of those who participated really appreciated all your hard work. So I just wanted to say OUTSTANDING JOB!

Thank you!!! I'll tell you though the only reward I needed was seeing the kids running by from station to station, having a blast! I think some of the parents wanted to hurt me (up the stairs, down the stairs, back up..LOL), but it was wonderful. We are excited for our next cruise (on RCCL Allure of the Seas) but in a way..so disappointed that it isn't Disney because the Dis experience is so special and unlike anything else you can encounter. And being on a holiday gave it that special extra touch.

Looks like Margaritaville in Cayman is really cool. We weren't able to go there when we did the Western cruise. The weather was to rough for the tenders to run so maybe next time. We will definitely have to go there.

Oh that is a bummer! Yes M-ville is very cool. And it doesn't have to break the bank (although it easily can...). The weather hasn't been the greatest the couple of times we've been there now, no sun either time, but no rain either so....

Well, keep up the great job on your TR as I can't wait for the next installment.

Well thank you for reading, and the glowing compliments! I'm so glad you are enjoying it!!!

As Jimmy Buffett would say, "You won't see this sh!# at Disney World!" ...or our Adventure Island in Tampa. 3 way tandem on a waterslide!!! I guess while all the adults are wastin' away it's not so hard to bend the rules a little.

I think that is my favorite JB quote..ever.

Love this Margaritaville!!! Love this trip report (and trip reporter)!!!

Ron

Aww, love you too!

The key to Cali Grill is to book just before sunset as it is an amazing photo op. We gotr there at 5:30 armed with a DSI and an Ipod touch loaded with movies. Our server was totally cool with as he said too many kids go up there and run araound. I normally don't do that but I knew that I wanted to catch wishes from the top. Our server knew that and took his sweet time bringing out all the courses. We did 5 courses. He said he wasn't going to hurry us as we belonged there. I was perpolexed but he said we were dressed properly and knew what to expect. Then he went off about the dinning plan So long story short I hat a custom cake delivered for my birthday and we stayed until 10 pm! Our bill was crazy! I have never spent that much on a dinner--okay work has paid for dinners that expensive but not me. His tip was good. You need to try it.

Wow, what a great experience! Sounds fantabulous!!!!! I guarantee we *will* try it -hopefully sooner than later. Ron always is hesitant every time I get one of my "Grand Disney Ideas" but he really does enjoy them, just like I tell him he will. And I know he will love CG since he LOVES sushi and it is not something we have much.

Really enjoying this - our first ever cruise is coming up in March - lot's of great ideas and you're doing a fantastice job describing what to expect

Thanks so much for reading!! Hope it helps give you ideas and prepare you for your upcoming cruise. You will be hooked, I'm telling you!!!

Ooh Margaritaville looks great!

Yes it was! And both times we've been there we have had fantastic company from our Dis thread! That makes it all the better!!

hmmmmm - me thinks we need to ask Alan Jackson and Jimmy Buffet.




love the pics!!



T.T.F.N.

Ha! A word of caution for all cruisers, have your own watch set because all the clocks there say 5:00!

1st off, love Rons comments.. arent you just the sweetest! awww!!!

Yea, he is!

Love all the pool pics, thats a great way to end the day chillaxen at the pool with some good food and drinks, looks like the kids worked up an appetite. I love the pics of all 3 of them eatting, its soo cute!

Man, they meant business! That cheeseburger was the *only* thing keeping Sarah away from that slide!

And you would have loved the place.....well except for the prices. I almost felt like it was blasphemy being in Margaritaville and not having a margarita, but dang, they cost like $18.

As for the tenders, glad they got it right this time and had more tenders going and not waiting for them to fill up.. ugg that bugged me on our DD.

Yea that was ridiculous, they just kept going and going, and letting more, and more, and more.....ugh. And we were baking up on the top level, had gotten a bad sunburn earlier that day, and had a cranky baby. It was much, much better this time around!!!!

Nice Touch Ron!! I agree this MArgaritville is the easily the best. I wish we would have come there sooner! I have a priceless picture of my experience on the slide..

Too cool, I can't wait to see it!

My wife and I were one of the last ones off the ship since we didn't have a place to be. We found that every 10 minutes and life was good. I remember my wife's initial thoughts were full of fright as we had to walk across a plank and she doesn't swim.

Yeah...don't look down! We had a lot of fun with you guys!

 

[anewmac]

And you would have loved the place.....well except for the prices. I almost felt like it was blasphemy being in Margaritaville and not having a margarita, but dang, they cost like $18.

HA, we went there.. only for about an hour we got some chow after our bootleg tour let the kids swim then we headed over to 7mile.. I had a beer what can i say, when in Rome... go with what ya know LOL

 

[myelton01]

Looks like everyone had a great time in Margaritaville! Great update! Can't wait to read more.