Howdy everybody,
We are back and now I'm really counting down to this cruise!!!
Friday I went to the airport to pick up my daughter and her family and was I surprized to see bright PINK hair coming my way. My blonde daughter was PINK, a HOT pink!!!! I didnt ask, and finally she said it wasnt suppose to be pink, thank heavens!!! She works with physically and mentally challenged children and she often puts a couple of colored stripes in her hair because they love it and it gets thier attention. So Thursday she had put two small dark purple stripes in her hair, then about midnight she took a shower before heading out at 3 a.m. for the airport. Guess what??? The shampoo had a chemical reaction with her dye and turned it HOT PINK and faded throughout her entire head!!! Well there are no all night wig stores or time to dye it again before her flight. She thought it was funny so it stayed that way for the cruise and slowly faded out as she washed it. She was afraid to dye it again after what happened this time. So we had fun teasing her the entire trip! I have the pictures to prove it.
Saturday we arrived at the terminal about 10:30 and got #5 for boarding. I was able to find a few dis board people by their descriptions in the terminal while waiting to board. That was fun. The boarding went quickly and smoothly.
The weather was nice so the deck party went on outside with Junction 21 as the band on this trip. They were pretty good, but not as good as Charles Marshall band.
We had the Dis board meet at 3 in the promenade lounge and about 35 people showed up. That was a lot of fun, I cant wait until all of us can do this too!
For the safety drill they have new life vests that are so easy to put on compared to the last ones.
We had dinner in Parrot cay the first night and our wait staff was good, but not as good as most we have had. The food was very good. My Dh is diabetic and we were very pleased that they had added many new sugar free desserts in the dining room and buffet. Chocolate mousse, strawberry mousse, cinnamon apple crumble, chocolate fudge brownie and much more. The dessert buffet was truly awesome!!! Not to be missed. desserts at the buffet on pirate night are fantastic too.
We had a tree lighting`ceremony the first night where we sang a few carols, then characters arrived and we lit up the tree and then snow fell from the atrium. There was a large gingerbread house near the Promenade lounge and many garlands around the ship. It was very pretty.
The welcome aboard show was great, as usual. We had lots of characters and comedian Gary Lelana and magician Mike Super. We have seen them before. Great!!!
We arrived in Key West around noon. We explored on our own, while the rest of our group did the sail, snorkel, kayak tour, they said it was fantastic!!!
We went to the southern most point and the ship wreck museum then lots of shopping around the port area. We did not get to see the famous key west sunset since it was cloudy that evening. But the dock area(mallory square) is a big party stop in the evening, but we stayed on board and went to promenade lounge to hear High Society play. They were talented, but didnt play the type of songs we liked and they were way too loud!!!!! You could hear them from the aft elevators and it just vibrated through the entire area.
We went down different hallways each day watching for door signs of fellow diser's and saw lots of them. They were really good.
When we returned to our room in the late afternoon they were varnishing our verandah. It smelled so bad I had to leave the room. They said in an hour it would be ok. NOT TRUE!!! About 4 hours later I could still smell it and it gave me a headache. I am sensitive to those kinds of smells. By bedtime it was tollerble. But we had a whole afternoon and evening we couldnt use our balcony. Then the next day they came back and redid part of it that they messed up on. I couldnt believe it, so another afternoon lost to wet varnish on our balcony!! But we didnt let it ruin our trip, we wouldnt of been in the room much anyway.
The 60's dance party was fun. The CM's dress up for the 60's and then they did beatle music. they gave out glow sticks which you could wear as necklaces.
Monday was The golden Mickeys which we have seen a few times, but it is great, we went to the matinee showing. That makes the evening less rushed. Try to arrive at least 20 minutes prior to showtime, it fills up very fast!!
We had all our breakfasts at the buffet as it has so many selections. It was very good.
The big movie screen was awesome. They played a movie or sporting event every afternoon and evening, plus some cartoons and short films about the islands we were stopping at. Of course after the pirates party they played Pirates of the Carribian movie. Please excuse my spelling, my mind is still on the Magic I guess.
Gary Delena did an adult comedy show which was hilarious in the club at night. We ate in Animators palate which is my DH's favorite place.
We did watch the mickey 200 race, played a family trivia game, I did a art project, which was a mosiac picture frame. My DD and I did the towel folding to learn how to make animals like your stateroom hosts do each evening in your rooms.
At Grand Caymen we did the city tour which we saw a turtle farm, Hell, a rum cake factory which was a tiny window to peek in and then a souvenir shop where you could sample it and of course buy it. We drove by the Governors house and a very old house they call the gingerbread house. Our guide was very good and friendly. It really wasnt a huge amount of things to see, but I dont swim so most of the exciting excursions wouldnt work for me. My DD with the pink hair and her family swam with the dolphins which I would highly recommend to you. she and her kids had a blast! Worth every cent.
As we were sitting on deck 4 we saw 2 pirate ships used for excursions and one of them was touring the bay, the came close to us and then they fired their very loud cannon at us! That was a big surprize and they all cheered and the cannon glowed bright red as if it was really fired. They moved to the other end of the ship and did it again. All the deck hands were dressed as pirates too.
We saw the matinee of twiced charmed. it was a very good show, not our favorite, but well worth seeing!
The family cabaret show was a juggler named David Dimuzio. He is excellant and funny too. He actually had a class where you could go and learn to juggle one morning for families.
80's night at rock in bar d. Arrive early for this one, there is kind of a show before the music starts. It is really funny. You dont want to miss it!
Day 5 was our character breakfast. The GK's loved this. last time professional photographers took pictures, but this time they didnt, so bring your camera with you because they will pose for pictures at your table. I am only stating a few of the highlights, I dont want to give away all the little surprizes that happen with lots of these events.
We had a little rougher seas this day, not bad though. We docked at Costa Maya and did the Chacchoben ruins tour. This was an awesome tour! Our guide was excellant and we saw lots of stuff and got to climb up a mayan ruin to get to many more. Lots of great picture opportunities there. I highly recomment it to anyone. Please PM me if you have specific questions about this tour.
As we approached the ship to board it there was a very long, long line which wasnt moving. Then we saw big waves splashing betweent he dock the the ship. It was bouncing pretty good. As we stared at the gang plank to see what was happening several big waves washed over it and actually knocked it loose twice, where it connected to the ship. I was thinking, OK this doesnt look good, I cant swim!! Eventually they crew members went through the crowd asking for any towels people may have and they took them all aboard the ship. Then about 5 minutes later they said to put away your ID because you wont need it to get on board. We were really starting to wonder, we had 10 minutes until we were suppose to be on board and 25 minutes to dinner. eventually a crew member stood ON both ends of the gang plank and sent people across a few at a time between waves. When our turn came we saw the entire floor inside the ship was heaped with towels to walk on and they were oozing water everywhere and they had a machine sucking up the water too. They said a high wave sprayed through the door and flooded them out and they couldnt use their electic machine to check you in.
so we dashed to dress for dinner, which was pirate night so it took me a little longer. lots of people dressed up. It was a lot of fun. The deck party was awesome, they did make a few changes from the first one we had been too, but it was very good, then of course the deck buffet followed with the movie on the DIVE IN screen. It was very windy at first, but about 1/2 way through the party it calmed down with almost no wind. The fireworks were specataular.
The next day we took the behind the scenes theater tour, saw ice carving and enjoyed a huge seafood buffet for lunch.
Then something that almost never happens, did happen. They roped off the front part of deck 10 so a helicopter could lower down 2 coast guard men to air lift a seriously ill guest to a hospital. It was very windy out and we slowed way down, but did not stop. The coast guard pilot was so good at his job. We felt so bad for the family to have this happen, but it was fascinating to see these men risk their lives to help save someone who needed their help.
Today I read a post where someone said it was a child who was having seizures. I pray he or she is Ok now.
After that my DD and I did the towel folding to learn to make the towel animals, which was a lot of fun. They played Narnia a few times which we never got the time to go and see, but many did. They had a comedy cabaret show this night which was really great. i laughes till I got tears in my eyes.
70's disco party is fun too, and of course the late night dessert buffet was 11 to midnight tonight. Boy did people line up for that!!
Friday at CC was sunny and 75 . I thought the water was chilly, but i was in the minority as the water was full of people. as we got off the ship the dock was decorated with a tree, snowmen and snow blowing form them. Carolers were singing along the walkway and several characters for photo opportunities along the path. The tram had reindeer antlers and a big red rudolph nose on the front, garlands down the sides, and reindeers tail on the back side.
If you want to mail a post card form CC the post office takes cash only and it's a little over a dollar for a post card, depending on it's size.For those who have been there before they have anew bike path along the runway as well as the old one. we didnt get the chance to explore it this time, but we will on this cruise. DD did things like water trikes and lots of fun in the grouper game room before eating at cookies BBQ, which is delicious. We of course did a little shopping there.
we got back on the ship about 4, got all packed by dinner so we had the evening to still go out and enjoy ourselves. Of course the next morning I was kicking and screaming as they made me leave the ship!!!
I know this letter only touched the surface of what we did, but it truly was a awesome trip and we are very excited to go again!!!!!!
If I can answer any questions please ask and I will try.
Now all my company is gone and reality is setting in, time to clean the house, do the laundry and put away decorations because our house will be going up for sale in about 2 weeks maybe less. Now I am dreaming of the next vacation where I will be meeting all of you and visiting with you all over the ship, just like i did this time.
Happy New Years, everyone,
Kathy
I don't think I've owned a 2 since I was about 9! Anyway - fingers crossed for your skirt - if the machine is a pain in the butt you can get 'binding or basting tape' at 
on Monday so we thought we would celebrate a little early.
