Wonder, Feb 3-7 2019, San Juan to PC

I appreciate the USB ports in the clock for charging devices overnight.

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When I first got up, I thought we were pulling up to Castaway Cay, but it turned out to be some other island and we went completely past it.

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We ran up to Cabana's for a quick breakfast before hitting the island. I really like the stair railings.

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I was in a British mood for some reason.

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The oval yellow thing is a smoked salmon quiche omelette type thing and the strips are ginger tofu.

I can't remember what they call it now, but the POG in Cabana's is labeled oddly. It's just a brand name. Like Meadow Fresh. Nothing else. Everything else in the dispenser is Apple Juice, Orange Juice, etc. I took it just to be adventurous and it turned out to be POG.
 
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Last time we did the stingray feeding excursion. Which was fun, but used up an awful lot of our day, especially with as early as lunch ended. We had barely an hour in the water between the excursion and lunch. And couldn't really go back in after. So this time we went straight to the beach. Well first we paused at the post office for some character photos. Something we didn't get at all on Castaway Cay last time.

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I've always preferred Chip and Dale to any of the Fab Five. (Or Six. Poor Daisy.)


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Note DH's rash guard. He got plenty of compliments. As well as high fives from the characters.
 
DH and DS both protested mightily when we passed a Mickey opportunity a little further along, but I figured it would be our only opportunity. And it went very quickly.

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And that ended up being our last character photo of the trip. I didn't do as well as planned as getting us to meets. I did see a couple photographers on the beach but never when DS and DH were nearby.
 
We did take advantage of the drink servers on the beach this time. That was a pretty fun service. Despite being early February, the water was fine. It just took a little longer to get adjusted unless you're the plunge right in and totally submerge yourself to get it over with type like DH is. And there were so many empty chairs! DS even got to try a hammock. Maybe a lot of people assumed it would be too cold and stayed on the ship. Or we just weren't very full.

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DH has sand on his legs because he totally flipped around and biffed it the first time he got in. The people nearby couldn't stifle their laughter but we couldn't blame them. He was amused as they were.

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I still love the shipwreck out there.
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Sun protection!
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Always a classic.
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Lunch at Cookie's Two was its usual mediocre self. But fine for what it is. Strangely, they never took the soft serve machine out of commission this time. Last trip, they'd emptied and disassembled it by 2:00. This time we were able to get banana-strawberry swirl around 3:30.

I do like the color palatte of DS's meal.
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Mine. That's jerk mahi mahi to the right, atop the coleslaw. Couscous in the middle.
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DH's. The burgers are completely pre-assembled.
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DH doing his best Bartholomew Cubbins.
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After lunch, we dropped DS at Scuttle's Cove, which looked pretty neat from the entrance. It's huge! He was quite happy to go play in the sand with the other kids. And the GPS in their bands works even there.

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I appreciate that last rule.
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Colorful beach rentals.
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Thoughtful service.
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Although I remembered to take a photo of the Conked Out bar menu this time, it's illegible. So I still don't know what's in a Pelican Mule.
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Then it was up to I think Heads Up bar for our second mixology class of the trip. This one was mojitos and caipirinhas. Something we've had many times before and really enjoy. The class was conducted by Andy again. It's a corner shaped bar so we lined up on the stools on both sides. This class was more hands-on. You did your own muddling of the fruit and mint, with the alcohol usually already in there, and then an assistant bartender came along with the ice. There were a couple times we added our own club soda or Sprite (depending on the drink) as well. The mojitos were regular, raspberry, mango, and pineapple. The pineapple one was with vodka instead of rum. Andy improvised the recipe that morning due to a supplies shortage. The caipirinha was the classic version. The portions were generous. Nice time with a nice view. Well worth the price.

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I did type up the recipe for the pineapple one.
Muddle one ring pineapple, 2 lime wedges, and a splash of agave syrup. Add 1.5 oz Ciroc pineapple, stir. Add ice then top with Sprite. I was surprised to see that the agave syrup was Torani, in the same sorts of bottles as coffee flavorings.
 
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The far corner of the Pelican Plunge area was to our left. We'd periodically see stray inner tubes float into view and then a CM on a jetski would round them up.

The actual Pelican Plunge. DS still isn't a strong enough swimmer, but he'll absolutely love it when he can get out there. He's a huge fan of those giant splash bucket things at water parks.
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When I went into Scuttles Cove to get DS, I found him and another boy attempting to play volleyball with a football. It doesn't work.


We paused for some official ship photos on the way back.
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And miraculously, the post office was open. And we'd remembered cash for postage, unlike last time, and had filled out a couple messages in a bottle for our respective parents. It will be interesting to see when/whether they arrive.

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Something looks strangely familiar... But wrong franchise!
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I know we managed to forget to take DS to the kids club for the cupcake class but I can't remember what we were doing instead. Probably just packing. We had Goofy luggage tags this time. Right before this trip, I removed the last Donald luggage tag from our larger suitcase and tossed it, forgetting we'd want it for the theoretical scrapbook. Dang it.

We watched the entire disembarkation video and they never mentioned Cabanas as a breakfast option. And neither did the paperwork left in the cabin. So after DS was at the kids club, we went by Guest Services to ask. DH had a question for them too, which I can't remember. It turns out that yes, Cabanas is also open for breakfast. The CM seemed to get that question a lot and agreed it should be better publicized.

Fun seashell chair in front of Guest Services.
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And I like the gift shop carpet. DS and I looked around for souvenirs, but the only thing he wanted was a Jack Sparrow accessory set that I said we'd order from Amazon instead because it would take up too much room in the suitcase. I really appreciate that about half the time he decides there's nothing he needs. I was the total opposite as a child.
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The day before I'd been in the gift shop with all the jewelry and made the mistake of pausing to look. They had a really good sales rep. I didn't buy anything but she made me think hard about it. I'm trying to learn to accessorize. Especially since I never have the energy in the morning for make-up. There were a couple necklaces I liked so, after DS was back in the kids club for the final time, I brought DH down to look at them. Not something I've done before but we were full of mojitos. I expect that's half their business model.

The really good sales clerk wasn't there, but the two that were were nice, and not too pushy. There was this very colorful fun bracelet I liked. Stones in all the colors of the rainbow plus pink. Now I'm not a jewelry person. So I didn't know what I was getting into. With all those colors, I assumed costume jewelry. I forgot that you can now get sapphires in every color. And these were all sapphires. $16,000. We goggled. And didn't buy it. Of course. But DH did talk me into the necklace I liked best. It wasn't even 10% of that. And now I remember that what he requested from Guest Services was our bill. It was about a third of the onboard charges from our first cruise so he was feeling generous. But still, stay out of the gift shops after mixology.
 
Our final dinner was in Animator's Palate. This was exciting because it's the restaurant we had missed on our last trip due to sunburn. (Although again, the room service steak sandwich is shockingly tasty.) And it turned out our table mates were there. So we had one chance to meet them. They lived in a mid-Atlantic state but regularly went to WDW and maybe even had annual passes, but I think this was their first cruise. Maybe. We had some related hobbies in common, like pin collecting and Star Wars, so conversation was easy. The boys recognized each other from the kids club and got along well. As a bonus, the other boy was also very into coloring his menu.

We didn't take any food photos. Maybe because we had table mates. At the last minute I decided to try the black truffle pursiettes, despite being really burnt out on truffle oil. They were tasty, fortunately. Nice and light. But nothing I'm going to dream about. I skipped the soup/salad course and had the grilled tuna steak. I'll usually order tuna when it's an option. And split a cookies and cream sundae with DH because neither of us were hungry enough for a whole one. In fact, the entire table ordered the cookies and cream sundaes.

The whole thing with the screens was fun. And everything turning to color later. I did not know they even went fully animated, so that was pretty cool. DS found it very exciting, with all the high-drama scenes. But I thought the waitstaff added those colored vests at the end when they all came out in a parade. This lot did not. Sorcerer Mickey appeared but very briefly.

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Final towel animal.
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I appreciated what the room steward did with my toothbrush.
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Nice nautical details on the shower curtains. I like how DCL ships make a point of looking like ships rather than floating hotels.
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Looking out our porthole the next morning at all the Disney Cruise Line shuttle buses lined up to take people to the resorts and maybe the same ones for the airport. I do like the themed windows. Good advertising.
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Fortunately we were not sad to be disembarking because we were now on our way to Walt Disney World. First time for all three of us. It wasn't part of the original plan, but the cruise ended in Port Canaveral on a Thursday. It seemed silly to not stay the weekend.

Rather than wait for the official transfers at 9:00, we walked off with our luggage at 7:30 and took Happy Limo (pre-arranged). It was a lovely drive and cost about the same so it was definitely worth gaining that extra 90 minutes.

Just like many people think you can't have any fun on a 3-4 day cruise, probably even more people think you can't have any fun on a 3-4 day parks visit. We had a blast. And it was really long enough. Also, the conventional wisdom is that it's best to do the parks and then a cruise. So you can rest and recover. I worried about the fact we had to do it backwards. But it was fine. Maybe better. We were all funned out and ready to go home at the end in a way we wouldn't be after a cruise. Although frankly I'm still kind of wiped out and it's been like two weeks since we got home.

All in all, a very successful vacation. But shockingly we did NOT get a future cruise credit. We put a lot of thought and discussion into it. But it's really time to do something else. We could very easily get sucked into happily doing nothing but cruises but we used to be much more active travelers and want to show that version to DS. If we had the credit, we'd use it. So as long as Disney doesn't announce a 2020 Mediterranean cruise that starts in Civitavecchia, we're taking a year off.

Thank for reading! Let me know if you have any questions.
 
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I am slowly making my way though your report. I need to hurry as we are off for spring break next week.

DH is 13 years younger (yes)
Statistically this is a good thing, women should marry younger men (or be like Anna Nicole Smith who married Howard Marshall :rolleyes1). The average female's life expectancy is now 81ish and the average male 76ish. Then again you need to look at your and spouse's genealogy; what is the life expectancy in your family, his family. If you like one another and hope to live together for the rest of your lives, then as a female you should marry someone younger. My dear sweet husband is ten years younger than I am and due to the average lifespan in each of our families, I still may outlive him, but I hope not :love2:. Off my soapbox, this is a heavy discussion in my classes.

The band was okay. A lot of the tables looked dissatisfied. It was strange that they had a British (?) lead singer for southern music. The bass player got some applause and DH, who is a musician, said he was the most talented of the three.

We used to live in Louisiana and when I heard the band in Tiana's, let's just say I was very disappointed. They did not sound like any band I had ever heard that was from LA. I am not sure I would have even given them an "okay". But the food was great! Not as good as what you get in Louisiana but still very good. Chocolate sauce with beignets though is just weird.

do like southern food but a lot of Cajun stuff is too spicy for me.
Cajun food should not be hot, not spicy hot, flavorful from the various spices but not hot at all. The heat should be available on the dining table for folks to add at will but not added to the cooking pot. That is why when you visit LA it is common to see on the table with salt and pepper, Tony's, Tabasco, Louisiana Hot Sauce.

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The bread was delicious and DS stole most of it. He didn't want anything on the kids appetizer menu. I think it was soup or salad.

Sarah, our child, always ate off the adult menu. Or would mix up the two, child and adult. Actually, I do this sometimes myself, especially if I am just wanting a plain salad for my app and a Mickey bar as my dessert.

And then dessert. Reader, I ordered one of each. Well, for the table. I knew ahead of time, thanks to reading the online menus over and over, that this would happen here. And only here. There was just no way to narrow it down. And it's allowed

I need to do this next time. I am not normally a "sweet" person but when it comes to Tiana's, I want all of the desserts.

My one trip to New Orleans was for my 30th birthday. With my parents, but they're fun. And put me under the table. Think the Parrothead type of Boomers.

Awesome parents! I hope our child will someday think the same about us. Did your parents take you to the N.O. Jazz Fest? That is where I became aware of Jimmy Buffet and Parrotheads.

Smiles,
Kate
 
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Just thought of something else. We never received the excellence speech from our servers. So that was nice.
 
This was wonderful. We are doing the SJ to NOLA repo next February so it makes for a nice preview.
 

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