2007 Disney Caribbean Cruise
Day One--Friday, November 30, 2007
Air Travel and Shuttling off to Canaveral
I’m sitting at gate C-39, in Denver International Airport waiting for our flight at 10:35, an hour and 40 minutes from now. My wife has done the majority of the planning and leg work on this vacation. I have spent most of my spare time this year writing a family history book, but that’s another story.
Anyway, our flight will take the four of us; me, my wife Margo, 23 year old daughter, Jolene, and 18 year old daughter, Jessi, to Dallas.
I don’t know about leg two, which takes us to Orlando. But, I’m getting ahead of myself.
Back in February when I was still actively planning this trip, I used frequent flyer miles to buy the three girls’ tickets, but I didn’t have enough miles to buy mine. So I had to pay cash. But, for some reason American Airlines said there were no seats available on the girls’ flight out of Denver and then from Dallas to Orlando. I bought tickets on an earlier flight..
Today when we got to the airport, our plan was to see about all getting on the same flight. We were half successful. We are OK leaving Denver, but the girls are on stand by for the flight from Dallas to Orlando, but still confirmed on their later, original flight. At least we are all on the same flight coming back home, a week from now. I think all of our bags are going on my flight, so if they girls aren’t with me I will have to go get the bags and wait in baggage claim with them, until the girls get here.
Still we are all pretty jazzed about the trip. This cruise, on Disney line, is the first vacation all four of us have taken since 2001, when we went to Mount Rushmore. The following year, 2002 just Margo, Jessi, and I went to Hawaii. Jolene decided not to go. She was nearly seventeen that year, and got it into her head that she was too grownup or, something to go with us. We could have forced her, but we decided to let her make her own choice and then live it She does regret the decision, now. In fairness, I think her idiot boyfriend, at that time, was a major reason she decided to stay at home. But, that was better than five years ago. Now we are all anxiously awaiting getting to Port Canaveral and getting on that ship.
With respect to planning what we are going to see and do, this is probably the least regimented vacation we have taken since Jolene was a toddler. But, that is OK. We have gotten time and reservations carved out for the things that we really wanted to do. We have our reservations at Palo, Disney’s upscale restaurant, and our reservations in Cozumel, where we will go horseback riding. That is something Jolene is really looking forward to. As far as what we do when we are on the boat, we are going to look at the daily schedule and just wing it. Margo and I have both looked at the guide books we purchased and have seen a Travel Channel documentary on the Disney cruise, so we have a general idea of what is what. But, this is going to be a “as the mood” kind of thing.
There are four stops on this cruise, which goes to the Western Caribbean. The first is at Key West, FL. I think we are going to either just walk around, or take a tour. We want to find the marker that designates the most southern point in the US and take a picture. Then there are shops and restaurants. If we get bored, we will go back on the ship.
Our second stop is at Grand Cayman. We really haven’t decided. I wouldn’t mind going on a tour, and stopping at a rock formation that they call “Hell”. I could send my mother a postcard. Then she could tell everyone she got a postcard from Hell. That would go over well with her sister, the nun.
Our third stop is Cozumel, Mexico. Margo, Jolene, and I have been to Tijuana, and I have been to Nogales, too. Those are both border towns, so I'm not sure how much Mexico we got out of that. I mentioned doing the riding, and then we will try to get some shopping in. I don’t know how pressed for time we will be. But, we will figure it out as we go. There are no must see sights or things to do on this vacation, so I am going to do my best just to relax. I will probably gain 10 pounds with all of this relaxing.
Our last stop is Disney’s private island called Castaway Cay. I might try snorkeling. I tried it inHawaii, but it was out in the middle of the ocean, and I didn’t do so well. I swallowed a bit of water, and was quesy for a few hours later. But, there are beaches and other things to do. I imagine I will find something to keep me busy. There are always the scantily clad women that the beaches attract. Shhussh, don’t tell Margo. She'll probably be watching the scantily clad guys.
Anyway, our flight will take the four of us; me, my wife Margo, 23 year old daughter, Jolene, and 18 year old daughter, Jessi, to Dallas.
I don’t know about leg two, which takes us to Orlando. But, I’m getting ahead of myself.
Back in February when I was still actively planning this trip, I used frequent flyer miles to buy the three girls’ tickets, but I didn’t have enough miles to buy mine. So I had to pay cash. But, for some reason American Airlines said there were no seats available on the girls’ flight out of Denver and then from Dallas to Orlando. I bought tickets on an earlier flight..
Today when we got to the airport, our plan was to see about all getting on the same flight. We were half successful. We are OK leaving Denver, but the girls are on stand by for the flight from Dallas to Orlando, but still confirmed on their later, original flight. At least we are all on the same flight coming back home, a week from now. I think all of our bags are going on my flight, so if they girls aren’t with me I will have to go get the bags and wait in baggage claim with them, until the girls get here.
Still we are all pretty jazzed about the trip. This cruise, on Disney line, is the first vacation all four of us have taken since 2001, when we went to Mount Rushmore. The following year, 2002 just Margo, Jessi, and I went to Hawaii. Jolene decided not to go. She was nearly seventeen that year, and got it into her head that she was too grownup or, something to go with us. We could have forced her, but we decided to let her make her own choice and then live it She does regret the decision, now. In fairness, I think her idiot boyfriend, at that time, was a major reason she decided to stay at home. But, that was better than five years ago. Now we are all anxiously awaiting getting to Port Canaveral and getting on that ship.
With respect to planning what we are going to see and do, this is probably the least regimented vacation we have taken since Jolene was a toddler. But, that is OK. We have gotten time and reservations carved out for the things that we really wanted to do. We have our reservations at Palo, Disney’s upscale restaurant, and our reservations in Cozumel, where we will go horseback riding. That is something Jolene is really looking forward to. As far as what we do when we are on the boat, we are going to look at the daily schedule and just wing it. Margo and I have both looked at the guide books we purchased and have seen a Travel Channel documentary on the Disney cruise, so we have a general idea of what is what. But, this is going to be a “as the mood” kind of thing.
There are four stops on this cruise, which goes to the Western Caribbean. The first is at Key West, FL. I think we are going to either just walk around, or take a tour. We want to find the marker that designates the most southern point in the US and take a picture. Then there are shops and restaurants. If we get bored, we will go back on the ship.
Our second stop is at Grand Cayman. We really haven’t decided. I wouldn’t mind going on a tour, and stopping at a rock formation that they call “Hell”. I could send my mother a postcard. Then she could tell everyone she got a postcard from Hell. That would go over well with her sister, the nun.
Our third stop is Cozumel, Mexico. Margo, Jolene, and I have been to Tijuana, and I have been to Nogales, too. Those are both border towns, so I'm not sure how much Mexico we got out of that. I mentioned doing the riding, and then we will try to get some shopping in. I don’t know how pressed for time we will be. But, we will figure it out as we go. There are no must see sights or things to do on this vacation, so I am going to do my best just to relax. I will probably gain 10 pounds with all of this relaxing.
Our last stop is Disney’s private island called Castaway Cay. I might try snorkeling. I tried it inHawaii, but it was out in the middle of the ocean, and I didn’t do so well. I swallowed a bit of water, and was quesy for a few hours later. But, there are beaches and other things to do. I imagine I will find something to keep me busy. There are always the scantily clad women that the beaches attract. Shhussh, don’t tell Margo. She'll probably be watching the scantily clad guys.
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But first we have to get there. After navigating American Airlines today, we then are going to have get from Orlando to Port Canaveral. Margo has arranged a shuttle from the airport directly to the hotel. From the hotel, the next morning, we will take the hotel’s shuttle to the docks. I rented a suite at the Residence Inn, in Port Canaveral. It is the most expensive hotel I have ever paid for, even in NYC and Chicago. If I remember right, it was about $225 or so. I don’t remember if that included tax. The four of us are all together in one suite. I booked the biggest room I could find. I hope that the girls don’t spoiled by it. The cabin on the ship won’t be nearly so comfortable. That’s it for now. The preamble is now covered. Hopefully, it will be all good news. |
Day One (cont.)
The expected did happen. We flew into Dallas OK, but my flight, which the girls were hoping to get on too, was full. They had to go on the flight they were already confirmed on. We found this out just as soon as we got to the gate. We had to hustle from Concourse A to Concourse C. They have a shuttle, which helped. But, American Airlines had been boarding for ten minutes by the time we got there. The lady at the desk told us there was no hope for the girls to get on. So I got right on my flight. I was less than thrilled, both because we were separating, and because I was starting to feel that tell tale pressure that signaled a call to nature. . I glanced at my boarding pass as I was getting on, and noticed it was in seat “A”. I thought well that’s either the window or the aisle. (Which shows how much attention I have paid in past flights.) I was hoping for the aisle so I wouldn’t have to bother anyone later in the flight. It was the window, so I resigned myself to have to crawl over two people. As it turned out, they were both guys my size, (240 and broad shouldered) so as they had established “shoulder territory” I was pretty much squished. The flight was a little over two hours, and I made up my mind to put it off as long as possible. As it turned out, I made it threw the whole flight. But, I got a shot of bad news as soon as I turned on my cell phone. Margo sent a text letting me know her flight was delayed 45 minutes. It had been due to get in at 7:15, now it was more like 8 PM. That sucks. I’m hungry and I have to deal with the luggage. But, I got one of those handy, dandy carts and after about 15 minutes of wondering if my bags had really made the flight, I got the first one. The other five showed up in rapid succession. So now I’m sitting in Baggage Claim of Orlando International Airport hoping everything else is on track. We are suppose to have a shuttle pick us up in about 15 minutes, but I suspect Margo has called them about the delay. And as I did not get a second text telling me there was another delay, I am hoping that in about an hour the girls will be walking into baggage claim. I was able to find a kiosk to buy a muffin and some water. So I have averted both dehydration and starvation for the time being……..
Our story continues…Margo’s amended flight arrival was accurate, they touched down just before8 PM. But she did not let the shuttle people know about the delay. So this tiny Oriental/Hispanic lady shows up with a sign that says “Welcome Margo Kretzer”, around 7:30 PM. She was hearing high healed sandals and was still an inch shorter than my 5 foot wife. I explained to her that the flight was delayed. I would imagine she is used to it, as she didn’t seem too upset about it. So we waited around until just before 8, when Margo texted me saying that they had landed. That got our future driver excited, so she jumped up and went over to the area with the other shuttle drivers, to hold up her sign. It would take at least 20 minutes for them to get off loaded, go to the bathroom, and make their way to baggage claim. She was going to have to hold that sign for awhile. But, at least she had something to do. Margo and my daughters finally descended the stairs and I pointed them out. Joy! Another hurdle cleared
Evidently it had been a stressful flight for my eldest daughter, as she needed to feed her nicotine monkey. Our tiny-are-you-sure-you-can handle-these-heavy-bags driver said that was OK with her. Not that it would have mattered to Jolene, as she had her desperate face on. About a minute or two later we went down to the 1st level and the driver went and got her Explorer. She brought along her daughter, who insisted on opening my door for me. Nice, but I was not used to that. I kept forgetting as we made later stops, and I would do it myself. We asked the driver to stop at a grocery store, so we could get some water. We wanted to take our own on the ship, as the water on the ship is expensive. She had no problem with that either, and she found a place that was near by. We paid $9.99 for 24 bottles, double what we would pay at home, but a third of what they will cost on the boat. After that we were finally off to Port Canaveral.
About an hour later we finally made it. I don’t know if it was company policy, or if the driver had to pay for her own gas. But 55 MPH was her own personal speed limit. The state of Florida was OK with 60 MPH, and in parts, 70 MPH. But, at least I didn’t have to drive. We got to our hotel, and the driver and her daughter loaded us all up on the hotel luggage dolley. I’m not crazy about letting a four foot woman and her barely teen daughter handle my 40 lb luggage, but she insisted. We ended up tipping her $50 for all of the extra trouble.
Our room made up for all the headaches of the day. I had rented a two room suite. I was expecting a pull out sofa bed, and a master bedroom. We got two completely separate bedrooms, two separate bathrooms, a kitchen complete with full size stove and oven, cabinets, electric dishwasher, countertop and sink, a dining area, a living area, and a total of three TVs. This thing is bigger and nicer than our first apartment.
The expected did happen. We flew into Dallas OK, but my flight, which the girls were hoping to get on too, was full. They had to go on the flight they were already confirmed on. We found this out just as soon as we got to the gate. We had to hustle from Concourse A to Concourse C. They have a shuttle, which helped. But, American Airlines had been boarding for ten minutes by the time we got there. The lady at the desk told us there was no hope for the girls to get on. So I got right on my flight. I was less than thrilled, both because we were separating, and because I was starting to feel that tell tale pressure that signaled a call to nature. . I glanced at my boarding pass as I was getting on, and noticed it was in seat “A”. I thought well that’s either the window or the aisle. (Which shows how much attention I have paid in past flights.) I was hoping for the aisle so I wouldn’t have to bother anyone later in the flight. It was the window, so I resigned myself to have to crawl over two people. As it turned out, they were both guys my size, (240 and broad shouldered) so as they had established “shoulder territory” I was pretty much squished. The flight was a little over two hours, and I made up my mind to put it off as long as possible. As it turned out, I made it threw the whole flight. But, I got a shot of bad news as soon as I turned on my cell phone. Margo sent a text letting me know her flight was delayed 45 minutes. It had been due to get in at 7:15, now it was more like 8 PM. That sucks. I’m hungry and I have to deal with the luggage. But, I got one of those handy, dandy carts and after about 15 minutes of wondering if my bags had really made the flight, I got the first one. The other five showed up in rapid succession. So now I’m sitting in Baggage Claim of Orlando International Airport hoping everything else is on track. We are suppose to have a shuttle pick us up in about 15 minutes, but I suspect Margo has called them about the delay. And as I did not get a second text telling me there was another delay, I am hoping that in about an hour the girls will be walking into baggage claim. I was able to find a kiosk to buy a muffin and some water. So I have averted both dehydration and starvation for the time being……..
Our story continues…Margo’s amended flight arrival was accurate, they touched down just before8 PM. But she did not let the shuttle people know about the delay. So this tiny Oriental/Hispanic lady shows up with a sign that says “Welcome Margo Kretzer”, around 7:30 PM. She was hearing high healed sandals and was still an inch shorter than my 5 foot wife. I explained to her that the flight was delayed. I would imagine she is used to it, as she didn’t seem too upset about it. So we waited around until just before 8, when Margo texted me saying that they had landed. That got our future driver excited, so she jumped up and went over to the area with the other shuttle drivers, to hold up her sign. It would take at least 20 minutes for them to get off loaded, go to the bathroom, and make their way to baggage claim. She was going to have to hold that sign for awhile. But, at least she had something to do. Margo and my daughters finally descended the stairs and I pointed them out. Joy! Another hurdle cleared
Evidently it had been a stressful flight for my eldest daughter, as she needed to feed her nicotine monkey. Our tiny-are-you-sure-you-can handle-these-heavy-bags driver said that was OK with her. Not that it would have mattered to Jolene, as she had her desperate face on. About a minute or two later we went down to the 1st level and the driver went and got her Explorer. She brought along her daughter, who insisted on opening my door for me. Nice, but I was not used to that. I kept forgetting as we made later stops, and I would do it myself. We asked the driver to stop at a grocery store, so we could get some water. We wanted to take our own on the ship, as the water on the ship is expensive. She had no problem with that either, and she found a place that was near by. We paid $9.99 for 24 bottles, double what we would pay at home, but a third of what they will cost on the boat. After that we were finally off to Port Canaveral.
About an hour later we finally made it. I don’t know if it was company policy, or if the driver had to pay for her own gas. But 55 MPH was her own personal speed limit. The state of Florida was OK with 60 MPH, and in parts, 70 MPH. But, at least I didn’t have to drive. We got to our hotel, and the driver and her daughter loaded us all up on the hotel luggage dolley. I’m not crazy about letting a four foot woman and her barely teen daughter handle my 40 lb luggage, but she insisted. We ended up tipping her $50 for all of the extra trouble.
Our room made up for all the headaches of the day. I had rented a two room suite. I was expecting a pull out sofa bed, and a master bedroom. We got two completely separate bedrooms, two separate bathrooms, a kitchen complete with full size stove and oven, cabinets, electric dishwasher, countertop and sink, a dining area, a living area, and a total of three TVs. This thing is bigger and nicer than our first apartment.
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The only problem we had was getting something to eat. By the time we got in and settled it was almost 10 PM local time. We had a choice of three Italian places. One we could walk to, and two others that delivered. The walk-to place closed at 10. Strike One. Our first choice of the remaining places bowed out, as their delivery driver’s car was stuck in reverse. That left plan C. The last place were out of the manicoti my daughters wanted, so they got a pizza. Margo got a pizza, too and I was supposed to get a slice or two of that. I ordered a calzone that I expected to be smallish. It turned out to be a whole pizza folded over. So much for needing a slice of the wife's pizza. I was starved so I finished all of mine. Getting into the spirit and practice of overindulging, I had some ice cream, too. After that it was off to bed. Tomorrow the adventure begins. |
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Day Two--Saturday, December, 01, 2007
Good-bye Canaveral, Hello, Mickey Mouse!
Jolene & I were the first up, somewhere around 7:20 or so. It takes me about 20 minutes to get ready. It takes Margo and the girls about an hour each. Thank God for two bathrooms, or we would still be there. I spent that time doing some typing and taking a walk. When they were finally done, we were going to go down to eat the complimtary breakfast. I told them I was going to take the stairs. As pokey as they are, when I got to the stairs, I decided to go up instead of down. We were on the 2nd floor, and the stairs go up to the 4th. So I walked up to the 4th, across to the other side of the building and down the other stairs. Then I walked to the dining area. They still weren’t there. So I walked back towards the elevators and ran into them.
The hotel breakfast sounded better than it was. Most hotel breakfasts don’t offer scrambled eggs, potatoes, and biscuits and gravy. This one did, but the biscuits and gravy made Jessi sick (I thought it was OK), but the eggs were definitely runny. Margo didn’t like the potatoes, but again I thought they were OK. After breakfast, we went back up to the room. Margo had to rearrange the stuff in our bags, so we would have both checked and carry ons. Our checked bags won’t be available until possibly 6:30 PM, so we have to make sure we have everything essential with us to last until then. That took until 10:15 AM. Our shuttle was to leave at 10:30 AM. So we got down and waited. $12 for the shuttle and then $18 tip. Margo said $2 per bag was the norm. I thought that was a bit much. I mean we got them down from the 2nd floor, and to the curb. Throwing them in vehicle was the easy part. But I’m not going to argue about money on this trip. This is about all of us being together and having a good time. We got off loaded and the bag handlers at the dock, from the cruise line, had their hands out, too. $8 later, and doing more nodding than listening to whatever they were saying about when we got back, and we were on our way to the first of many steps towards getting on the ship.
The hotel breakfast sounded better than it was. Most hotel breakfasts don’t offer scrambled eggs, potatoes, and biscuits and gravy. This one did, but the biscuits and gravy made Jessi sick (I thought it was OK), but the eggs were definitely runny. Margo didn’t like the potatoes, but again I thought they were OK. After breakfast, we went back up to the room. Margo had to rearrange the stuff in our bags, so we would have both checked and carry ons. Our checked bags won’t be available until possibly 6:30 PM, so we have to make sure we have everything essential with us to last until then. That took until 10:15 AM. Our shuttle was to leave at 10:30 AM. So we got down and waited. $12 for the shuttle and then $18 tip. Margo said $2 per bag was the norm. I thought that was a bit much. I mean we got them down from the 2nd floor, and to the curb. Throwing them in vehicle was the easy part. But I’m not going to argue about money on this trip. This is about all of us being together and having a good time. We got off loaded and the bag handlers at the dock, from the cruise line, had their hands out, too. $8 later, and doing more nodding than listening to whatever they were saying about when we got back, and we were on our way to the first of many steps towards getting on the ship.
Step number one was going through the gates. There they had a couple of people with notebooks that had a guest list. They checked IDs to names, and then pointed us towards a building that would be step number two. We stopped to take a picture of the girls and Margo with the ship in the background, then into the building. Inside was a line, that went pretty quick. It lead to a X-ray machine and metal detector. Not as bad as the airport, in that the laptops (we brought two) could stay in their cases, and we didn’t have to take off our shoes. But, I still had to take off my belt. After that we went up a set of stairs into a large atrium. There we were greeted by a couple of people with Mickey Mouse hands. They checked to make sure we had our “Bahama Form” filled out. We didn’t, so we stopped at a little kiosk and took care of that. Then the nice man told us only one of us needed to get in the lonnnnng line to finish checking in. Margo was elected as she had all of the paperwork, birth certificates, passports, credit reports, secret passwords, list of identifying scars and tattoos, IRS 1040s, letter from our parents, and whatever else we were supposed to have. What she didn’t have was the credit card we were using to pay with. I had that. But luckily I had wandered nearby, and another Disney employee had forewarned her. So Jessi took the card and darted under the queue line. Jolene described it as going through the Lion King stampede. Which, as the queue lines moved in opposite directions, did result in a near miss. She got through, and then it was off to fine a place to sit down. That is where I am at now. It is 12:24 PM. We are in group 8 to board, and they have announced #7. But, our room won’t be ready for an hour. So we will go get something to eat and then make it to our room………
Day 2 continued……..
We made it on the ship about 10 minutes after I finished the above. We walked up the gangway, someone asked our name, and they announced us as the Kre-something or other family. I told Margo you should have just told them we were the Smith Family. From there we went up to deck 9, and ate at the Topsider Buffet. The food was pretty good. The cheesecake wasn’t, but there were cookies and other choices, so it’s not like I missed out on adding to my waistline. They told us that our room would be ready at 1:30, and that our bags could be anytime between shortly thereafter and 6:30 PM. We finished eating about 1:15, and the girls decided to wander for a few minutes. Margo and I gathered up the carry ons and we waited outside the restaurant. When the girls got back about 10 minutes later, and we went to deck 7.
We only had to wait about five minutes and then they took away the barrier. We are on the forward end of the ship, but we had eaten on the aft end. So we had to walk all the way the length of the ship. But it was no big deal. We got in. As expected the place is small, but not super bad. There is a queen size bed for Margo and I. Jolene has a sofa that folds into a small bed, and Jessi and a bed that folds out of the ceiling. We had to grab a crewman to unlock it, but that was no big deal either. The girls went exploring some, and then wanted to go swimming. So they grabbed their suits and were off.
I decided to explore a little, and was back about 10-15 minutes later. That worked out, as by the time I got back our first two bags were sitting outside the room. They had just arrived, and Margo had dragged a third one into the room. So she spent the next hour or so unpacking. The three bags did not take that full time. As she was finishing up, with the first group more arrived. When she finished with those, the last had arrived. Even the water that we packed arrived. I stowed that away in the tiny refrigerator, that appears to have been a converted mini-bar. It doesn’t do a very good job of keeping things cold, but it’s what we have.
The kid’s had orders to be back by 3:30. There is a mandatory ship drill at 4 o’clock. They go over where to go, and how to operate the life jackets. So we went, and stood in the sun for about ten minutes. It could have been worse, but everyone felt a bit foolish wearing those bright orange life preservers. We were required, to wear them back to the room, which we dutifully did. But, they were off and stowed just as fast as we could.
From there we made our way to the aft section to attend the Sail Away Party. It was OK, I suppose, but personally I need more alcohol to enjoy it. I did have a beer, but that wasn’t nearly enough to make me into a social butterfly. I’m the wall flower type. It lasted until sometime around 5:15. The ship sailed at 5:00. So we made our way up one more deck, to the top, and watched the water move by. The sun was getting low, so I ran back for the camera, so I could snap a picture of the girls with the sun in the background. Mission accomplished, but I don’t think the sun was bright enough to show up. Too much haze and clouds.
We made it on the ship about 10 minutes after I finished the above. We walked up the gangway, someone asked our name, and they announced us as the Kre-something or other family. I told Margo you should have just told them we were the Smith Family. From there we went up to deck 9, and ate at the Topsider Buffet. The food was pretty good. The cheesecake wasn’t, but there were cookies and other choices, so it’s not like I missed out on adding to my waistline. They told us that our room would be ready at 1:30, and that our bags could be anytime between shortly thereafter and 6:30 PM. We finished eating about 1:15, and the girls decided to wander for a few minutes. Margo and I gathered up the carry ons and we waited outside the restaurant. When the girls got back about 10 minutes later, and we went to deck 7.
We only had to wait about five minutes and then they took away the barrier. We are on the forward end of the ship, but we had eaten on the aft end. So we had to walk all the way the length of the ship. But it was no big deal. We got in. As expected the place is small, but not super bad. There is a queen size bed for Margo and I. Jolene has a sofa that folds into a small bed, and Jessi and a bed that folds out of the ceiling. We had to grab a crewman to unlock it, but that was no big deal either. The girls went exploring some, and then wanted to go swimming. So they grabbed their suits and were off.
I decided to explore a little, and was back about 10-15 minutes later. That worked out, as by the time I got back our first two bags were sitting outside the room. They had just arrived, and Margo had dragged a third one into the room. So she spent the next hour or so unpacking. The three bags did not take that full time. As she was finishing up, with the first group more arrived. When she finished with those, the last had arrived. Even the water that we packed arrived. I stowed that away in the tiny refrigerator, that appears to have been a converted mini-bar. It doesn’t do a very good job of keeping things cold, but it’s what we have.
The kid’s had orders to be back by 3:30. There is a mandatory ship drill at 4 o’clock. They go over where to go, and how to operate the life jackets. So we went, and stood in the sun for about ten minutes. It could have been worse, but everyone felt a bit foolish wearing those bright orange life preservers. We were required, to wear them back to the room, which we dutifully did. But, they were off and stowed just as fast as we could.
From there we made our way to the aft section to attend the Sail Away Party. It was OK, I suppose, but personally I need more alcohol to enjoy it. I did have a beer, but that wasn’t nearly enough to make me into a social butterfly. I’m the wall flower type. It lasted until sometime around 5:15. The ship sailed at 5:00. So we made our way up one more deck, to the top, and watched the water move by. The sun was getting low, so I ran back for the camera, so I could snap a picture of the girls with the sun in the background. Mission accomplished, but I don’t think the sun was bright enough to show up. Too much haze and clouds.
We all had independently decided we wanted to see Wild Hogs, which was showing at the Buena Vista theatre. It started at 6:15, and took us to about 7:45 or so. I liked it, and we had a good time laughing. From there we wandered a bit, and made it back to our room, and got ready for our 8:30 dinner reservation.
The ship has three dinner restaurants, Lumiere’s, Animator’s Palate, and Parrot Cay. We dine at a different one each night, and then repeat them in order, until the cruise is over. Our first restaurant was Lumiere’s. Lumiere’s is a French-style restaurant, which means no one likes much of anything on the menu. Everyone but me ordered a steak. I ordered a Quiche appetizer, Tomato Soup, and then Roast Duck. Dinner was good. But, we got a sanctimonious assistant server, Gavin. He saw that the girls took out their cell phones between courses. I’m not sure if he was trying to “tactfully” enforce a no cell phone policy, or if he really believed what he was saying.
The ship has three dinner restaurants, Lumiere’s, Animator’s Palate, and Parrot Cay. We dine at a different one each night, and then repeat them in order, until the cruise is over. Our first restaurant was Lumiere’s. Lumiere’s is a French-style restaurant, which means no one likes much of anything on the menu. Everyone but me ordered a steak. I ordered a Quiche appetizer, Tomato Soup, and then Roast Duck. Dinner was good. But, we got a sanctimonious assistant server, Gavin. He saw that the girls took out their cell phones between courses. I’m not sure if he was trying to “tactfully” enforce a no cell phone policy, or if he really believed what he was saying.
The first of our nightly towel animals; The Swan
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But the girls got a lecture on spending time with family, and he asked for their cell phone. The girls declined and Margo backed them up. It ended kind of ackwardly, and he went away. Whatever. I’m not sure what the purpose of that was, but it gave us something to chat about.
Maybe he did accomplish what he was after.Dinner got us out at about 9:30 or so. We decided to hit the shops. Margo and I had found “Shutters” earlier. That is the place where the pictures that are taken throughout the cruise, by Disney, end up. They took our pictures when we got on. They took two of us together and then one of the girls separately. The one of the girls turned out good. We ended buying a package for $270. We can upgrade or downgrade later. found a place called Studio Sea. They were having a family Trivia contest called “Mickey Mania” she wanted to do. It looked to be kind of a game show kind of thing. They do it again on Tuesday. They have something similar called “Who Wants to be a Mouseketeer”, tomorrow night. We might try to do that. Jessi & Margo have seen all of the Disney movies and would probably rock at that. We ended up back at our room at 11 something. Margo watched a DVD, while the girls watched a Disney movie on TV. I kept watching it, too. I should have been focusing on keeping up with this journal, but I’m on vacation, OK. |
Day Three--Sunday, December 02, 2007
Chickens, Limes, and Sloppy Joe's
Today is our first Port of Call, Key West, FL. Key West is the southern most city and point of the continentalUnited States. The weather is beautiful. I was up shortly after 7 and lounged around until 7:30 or so. I slept pretty well. I was worried, a little, that the rocking would keep me awake. I not used to the bed moving. It has been since I was in my 20s that I would collapse into bed and it would move in an alcohol induced spin.
But, the only issue I had was sometime in the middle of the night, I felt the bed rocking.I was thinking that Margo was rocking. She does that when she is mad or uncomfortable. I was just about to elbow her and tell her to stop, when my brain put two and two together and I figured it was the whole boat rocking and not just the bed.
Anyway Jolene was up about the same time. I got my shower and the wandered around up top for awhile. While I was gone the others got their showers. It took a while, but by 9:30 or so we were up at Topsiders Buffet having breakfast. Topsiders is a buffet, and they have the standard breakfast buffet food. It was pretty good. We finished up, wandered the boat some more, and then went back to our room, to wait for us to get into port. I worked on this some, and watched TV more. The Jungle Book was on, and I got hooked on it. After that it was Milo and Stitch.I got into that one too. So I didn’t get a hell of lot of typing done.
But, the only issue I had was sometime in the middle of the night, I felt the bed rocking.I was thinking that Margo was rocking. She does that when she is mad or uncomfortable. I was just about to elbow her and tell her to stop, when my brain put two and two together and I figured it was the whole boat rocking and not just the bed.
Anyway Jolene was up about the same time. I got my shower and the wandered around up top for awhile. While I was gone the others got their showers. It took a while, but by 9:30 or so we were up at Topsiders Buffet having breakfast. Topsiders is a buffet, and they have the standard breakfast buffet food. It was pretty good. We finished up, wandered the boat some more, and then went back to our room, to wait for us to get into port. I worked on this some, and watched TV more. The Jungle Book was on, and I got hooked on it. After that it was Milo and Stitch.I got into that one too. So I didn’t get a hell of lot of typing done.
We finally got off the boat. Key West has a pier in deep enough water where we did not have to be tendered off the boat. Tendering is when a smaller boat takes the passengers from the larger one, because the larger one is too big to dock at the pier. But, in Key West this was not necessary. Anyway we walked off, after first having our “Key to the World Card” scanned. The Key to the World Card is a combination ID/Credit/Room card. You use it for everything. It works the electronic lock to your room. It acts as a credit card at all shops and bars. No cash is used. Finally Disney uses to track who is on the boat, and who is off the boat. They scan it when you first boarded, and then every time you left the boat at a Port of Call, and then when you returned. I guess it helps them know who they might be leaving behind.
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Anyway, we got off the boat and just a short distance away was the town of Key West. I decided I needed a pair of sunglasses, and the girls wanted to do some shopping. They all had people at home to buy things for, so we bounced from shop to shop. The first ones we came to were the most expensive, so we avoided them. Sunglasses ranged from $18 to over $100. Moving just a block off the pier, deeper into town, I found a pair for $12. I probably could have done better, but it wasn’t worth the aggravation for just a few dollars.
The main street through Key West is called Duvall Street. I wanted to hit that, but Jolene also mentioned she wanted to get a piece of Key Lime pie. I liked that idea, too. I also wanted to see a bit of the town. |
So we started to wander a bit. One of the first things we noticed about Key Westwas that there seemed to be chickens, mostly roosters, everywhere. I finally asked one of the people soliciting for tours what the story was. I was told that Cubans occupied the island, now, and for many years before. One of their favorite pastimes was cock fighting. When that practice was outlawed, according to the legend, the Cubans just turned the birds loose. The whole island is a bird sanctuary and chickens are a bird. That makes them untouchable. I do wonder about the story some. I can understand the Cubans turning loose the majority of their roosters, but to perpetuate the species you need hens too. Why set loose those birds that both lay eggs, and are good eating? But, however they got here, they are here, and some were quite handsome.
After wandering the shops and waterfront area, we decided to sign up for a tour. It was a bit expensive, $108.00 for all of us. The plan was to take the tram, it was one in which you could get on or off at any of the ten stops, and get off on stop #3. Near there was a place called the Blonde Giraffe. I suppose there is a colorful story about the naming of this establishment, but no one shared it with us. Maybe the original owner was Swedish with a very long neck. Who knows, but apparently the Swede could make a pretty good Key Lime pie. Margo had most of a slice. Jolene had one, and I had two. It was that good. Jessi had me buy a bottle of a Lime Spice. I told her I would, under the condition that she uses it to make me a roast chicken dinner. We’ll see. My youngest daughter is not known for cooking expertise. I suspect that after she moves out, should her microwave break she would likely starve to death.
After wandering the shops and waterfront area, we decided to sign up for a tour. It was a bit expensive, $108.00 for all of us. The plan was to take the tram, it was one in which you could get on or off at any of the ten stops, and get off on stop #3. Near there was a place called the Blonde Giraffe. I suppose there is a colorful story about the naming of this establishment, but no one shared it with us. Maybe the original owner was Swedish with a very long neck. Who knows, but apparently the Swede could make a pretty good Key Lime pie. Margo had most of a slice. Jolene had one, and I had two. It was that good. Jessi had me buy a bottle of a Lime Spice. I told her I would, under the condition that she uses it to make me a roast chicken dinner. We’ll see. My youngest daughter is not known for cooking expertise. I suspect that after she moves out, should her microwave break she would likely starve to death.
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There were more shops in the vicinity, so more shopping was in order. Margo found a little shop that sold full size coconuts, hand painted, and designed to be mailed back home. We couldn’t resist and sent one back to Margo’s office. It said “You’re working and we’re not!” I was getting pretty tired of the shopping however, especially as the tram only ran until 5:00 PM. That was further backed up as you needed to be on board the tram, at some place on the route by 4:30 PM. By my watch it was 3:30 PM, when we finally made it back on the tram. A compete circuit of the tram takes 90 minutes.
As we had boarded at stop #3, which was about 15 minutes into the tour, it was unlikely that we would be able to get off again. I wanted to do just that, and take our picture at the southern most marker. That marker designated that point of the United States that is the furthest south 
Key West is the the southernmost point in the Continental US. It is closer to Cuba, than it is to Miami
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The coconut that Margo is holding says "You're working and we're not". We mailed it back home to Margo's friends at work.
I had to settle for snapping a picture as we went by. We finished the tour got back to stop #1, at about 4:10. It was then that I noticed my watch was not on Eastern Standard Time. It had been advanced by one hour. I’m sure I did it trying to turn on the light, the prior night to check the time. So we would have had enough time to get off. Oh, well another hour a Mallory Square instead.
We made it back to the start of our tour, but we still had 2 ½ hours until we had to be back on board. Key West does a sunset festival each night on the waterfront. They have various craftsman, artists, and performers. It was very similar to the Buskerfest that we used to have (maybe we still do?) on the 16th Street Mall in downtown Denver. Margo & I always enjoyed that. They had a couple of different performers that would escape from a strait jacket. |
There was a guy made up in metallic makeup and costume, being a robot, repairing his bike. He would come to life when he got a tip. His performance came complete with him doing the sounds for air powered tools. We spent time with the craftsmen, too. Margo picked up some shells with the girls’ names on them, and some coconut strips.
Margo and The Key West Sunset at Mallory Square
While they shopped I snuck off to Duvall St. I wanted to have a beer at Sloppy Joes. This was Ernest Hemingway’s favorite hangout when he lived in Key West. The beer was cold and I soaked up a little atmosphere as the bartenders told a few jokes. But, I wanted to be back by sunset, so I had to hustle. I did stop at a T-shirt shop to get my daughters matching T-shirts. They said “If you think I’m a B**ch, you should meet my sister” We all share the same warped sense of humor, so I knew they would love them and at some point wear they together, just for the stares.
I got back in time and we did watch the sunset, which was not to be missed.. But soon it was time to go, and we got back on board the ship.
I got back in time and we did watch the sunset, which was not to be missed.. But soon it was time to go, and we got back on board the ship.
Dinner tonight was in Animator’s Palate. This restaurant is done in predominately black and white. There are basic drawings on the walls done in pencil. The walls are all white, and are perforated with many holes, like peg board. On the walls are also “murals”, which are really some type of television monitor. So the murals can change characters and can go from a monochrome scene to color. The columns are very large paint brushes, again in black and white. But, the bristles, at the top, have the capability to change color. The big “thing” is that as the dinner goes by the room changes from black and white to color. The white walls, end up being a swirl of color, from a distance. They make that happen because behind them, about a foot back is another wall, with lighting equipment. So those lights shine through, and are able to dominate the white. But up close, like where were sitting, you couldn’t see the effect. But, we could on the walls across the room, so we didn’t really get shortchanged.
Dinner itself was good. The presentation and quality of the food was great. I don’t consider myself to have a sophisticated palate. But, I’m a gourmet compared to my two girls. When they saw this second straight menu of food with names they had could not pronounce, much less even heard of, they were starting to long for pizza and hamburgers. But they made due. I was able to find something I liked from each category (appetizer, soup/salad, entrée) and so did Margo. The first night she was a little reluctant to try anything, but by now she was opening up. Our afternoon in Key West had us stop by a shop called Key West Winery. In there Margo and tried some watermelon wine, that she really liked. She didn’t buy a bottle, but she asked our Assistant Server for some. They didn’t have any, but he recommended something else. I tried an apple wine. This particular one was considered a dessert wine. Like it matters. They all taste the same to me.
Dinner itself was good. The presentation and quality of the food was great. I don’t consider myself to have a sophisticated palate. But, I’m a gourmet compared to my two girls. When they saw this second straight menu of food with names they had could not pronounce, much less even heard of, they were starting to long for pizza and hamburgers. But they made due. I was able to find something I liked from each category (appetizer, soup/salad, entrée) and so did Margo. The first night she was a little reluctant to try anything, but by now she was opening up. Our afternoon in Key West had us stop by a shop called Key West Winery. In there Margo and tried some watermelon wine, that she really liked. She didn’t buy a bottle, but she asked our Assistant Server for some. They didn’t have any, but he recommended something else. I tried an apple wine. This particular one was considered a dessert wine. Like it matters. They all taste the same to me.
At Animator's Palate
Animal #2--Dog or Elephant?
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We finished up dinner around 10 PM, and then went back to our room. I decided to go up on deck and see what was going on. Deck number 9 is where the pools are at. At our end, the forward end there is the adult area, called Quiet Cove. No one under 18 is allowed. The girls got carded when they were swimming there earlier in the day. They weren’t terribly pleased. But, everything was OK after that.
In the midship area is another pool. I think that is the family pool. That is where the Aerial Television is as well. The Aerial Television is just like the Jumbotron at a sports stadium. Disney airs various things through out the day and night. The aft end of deck 9 has the kiddie pool. It is also where the free food stations are at, and the free drink station. I wandered over to the aft end, after noting that the Aerial TV was showing the Sunday Night Football game, and got a drink. Pittsburgh was playing Cincinnati. Willie Parker, RB for the Steelers was having a hell of time holding on to the football. He was single handedly keeping the Bengals in the game. But Pittsburgh held them off. I had watched tail end of the 3rd quarter forward, from one of the plastic deck chairs. The temperature was in the 70s. It was really quite nice. There are worse ways to spend an evening than watching the NFL on big screen, in the middle of the Caribbean, lounging on a deck chair. 
The Jumbotron or whatever Disney calls it
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That was the end of the night, really. I went back to the room, and the others after they had done some wandering of their own, were back watching a movie on our tiny 12” TV. We really didn’t have any complaints about the TV size. We only watched it to relax us at the end of the night. It was fine for that. Nighty-night.
Day Four--Monday, December 03, 2007
Alcohol, Pictures, and Macaroni & Cheese
Today was going to be our first, of two, full days at sea. In order to keep everyone happy, Disney plans a lot of activities for their days at sea. But we decided that our first activity was going to be to sleep in. There was nothing that any of us wanted to do badly enough to get out of bed. We were finally up and got in on the last part of the breakfast at Topsiders. We discussed what we wanted to do that day. The girls thought that the pool would be a good way to spend the afternoon. Margo and I aren’t pool people. She noticed there was a Gemstone Seminar at 4 PM. There was a beer tasting class at the same time. Beer is way better than jewels, so we decided we would go our own ways at that time. Until then we would wander the shops, and deal with pictures. Disney has photographers all over the place. They are set up for every character appearance, at some of the dinners, and then on Deck three at certain times.
As today was also formal night at dinner, a lot of people, us included would be taking pictures in our Sunday best. But, I’m getting a little a head of myself. We had our picture taken as we boarded on Saturday, and then last night at Animator’s Palate. So Margo and I went down to see how they came out. All of our shots so far were 8 x10s, but they also print up some as 6 x 8s. The character appearances looked to be on 6 x 8s, but at that time we didn’t really notice that. The 6 x 8s are $10 and the 8 x 10s are $20. As they have both a captive customer base, and no competition, you have only one other option and that was to take your own pictures. We take more than a few ourselves, but their camera takes high quality pics, and we didn’t have to find someone to get all four of us in a shot.
Disney graciously offers several package deals to bring the cost down. You can change, either upgrading or downgrading on the packages to accommodate the pictures you like. We ended up buying a package for $170. It included eight 8 x 10s, and six 6 x 8s. I think buy the time we left Shutters (the photo store) we had five 8 x 10s in our folio. You are allowed to swap out “bad” shots for better pictures that might be taken later on. We had a couple that were swap candidates.
As today was also formal night at dinner, a lot of people, us included would be taking pictures in our Sunday best. But, I’m getting a little a head of myself. We had our picture taken as we boarded on Saturday, and then last night at Animator’s Palate. So Margo and I went down to see how they came out. All of our shots so far were 8 x10s, but they also print up some as 6 x 8s. The character appearances looked to be on 6 x 8s, but at that time we didn’t really notice that. The 6 x 8s are $10 and the 8 x 10s are $20. As they have both a captive customer base, and no competition, you have only one other option and that was to take your own pictures. We take more than a few ourselves, but their camera takes high quality pics, and we didn’t have to find someone to get all four of us in a shot.
Disney graciously offers several package deals to bring the cost down. You can change, either upgrading or downgrading on the packages to accommodate the pictures you like. We ended up buying a package for $170. It included eight 8 x 10s, and six 6 x 8s. I think buy the time we left Shutters (the photo store) we had five 8 x 10s in our folio. You are allowed to swap out “bad” shots for better pictures that might be taken later on. We had a couple that were swap candidates.
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From there it was off to the shops. They’re only really two, Mickey’s Mates and Treasure Ketch. Mickey’s Mates was more geared towards kids. Treasure Ketch more towards adults. Mickey’s Mates had a whole section of pirate items. Toy guns and swords, Mickey Mouse ears, but with a loop earring and bandana tail, costumes, and much more. Two days from now, on our second day at sea it will be Pirate Day, and everyone is supposed to dress as pirates. They had shirts, hoodies, cups, toys, and on and one. If you don’t like Disney, and had not yet gone over the edge, this shop might do it. But we all like Disney, and they do a first rate job on everything. The other shop, Treasure Ketch, did not hold my attention as well. They had the practical stuff. Colognes, over the counter medicine, jewelry, and such. But we wander around awhile. Margo saw a book on Towel Folding that she wanted, but we did not get it. I was later put under orders from my girls not to allow her to buy it, as they had got her a copy for a Christmas present.
By the time we got back to our room, we were able to link up with the girls. They had spent their time lounging mostly on Deck 10 overlooking the pool. Apparently at least one guy was looking back up at them, as he sent a pair of drinks to them. Jessi is only 18. That makes her a legal adult and in international waters, Grand Cayman, and Mexico old enough to drink. Disney’s official policy is to not serve anyone under 21. But, I don’t think they enforce it too strictly. I didn’t object, Jessi has drunk before and seems to be more responsible than I was at that age. Anyway, this kind of freaked them both out. I happened by about the time they were half way through their drinks. They were debating if they should go down to the pool and talk with them. I don’t think it was so much a debate, as to work up their courage. |
I left shortly thereafter, and they were about to head down a level and say hi to their benefactor.I got Margo a Pepsi and headed back to the cabin. Disney, like most cruise ships, charges (overcharges) for soft drinks, if you order them at a bar, restaurant, or almost any place on the ship. The sole exception is the drink station on deck 9, aft. Our cabin is deck 7, forward. As Margo is addicted to Pepsi this could run into serious money, if the drink station was not used. So just about anytime I went out for a walk or whatever I would swing by the drink station and get her a Pepsi. It seemed to work out, and I needed the exercise with all of the food around.
I got back to cabin, and the girls showed up not long after. They were not impressed with the guy who had bought them a drink. He ended up being on the ship with his wife/girlfriend and a couple of kids. He asked them to meet him at the Rockin D Bar later. They planned to be at the other end of the ship, regardless of what was happening there. It was nearly time for Margo’s gemstone seminar and my beer tasting seminar, so we headed out together. Her’s was in the Promenade Lounge, Deck 3 Aft. Mine was in Diversions, Deck 3 Forward. We headed over to the elevator and headed down. Margo has a bad knee and stairs are her nemesis. She can go down them reasonably well, but going up more than a flight or two is a bad idea. I had decided to use the stairs whenever possible to try to burn off calories. More often than not, I beat her to whatever floor we were going to. Anyway, we arrived on Deck 3. I walked her to the Promenade Lounge and then made my way to the other end of the ship.
I got to Diversions and sat down. I was the first one there. On the tables where we were to sit there was some beer literature. As I had nothing better to do and reading about beer seemed appropriate, I studied the pamphlet. There were three trivia questions. I didn’t know any of them. One told us the Czech Republic drinks more beer per capita than people of any other country. Another, that the first beer can was used in 1935. The last asked what the oldest continually operating brewery im America was. That was Yuengling in Pottsville, PA.
I decided I would memorize these facts, because I was bored, and there might be a test. The rest of the crowd showed up over the next 15 minutes. While we were waiting for our program leader to show up, the bartenders began filling up 6oz pilsner glasses with four different kinds of beer. As I was to find out there were two lagers and two ales. The ales were Newcastle Brown and Guinness. One of the lagers was Stella Artois. The other escapes me. But we started shortly.
The first thing our leader told us was that there are only two different kinds of beer; lagers and ales.(dejavu) No one knew that. We had had guesses of several dozen. I guess you can blame the brewers for that. They all try to make their beer sound like it is so different as to be unique. She had us taste the first one and asked us about how it tasted. She explained that unlike wines, which have tons of superlatives to describe how it tastes. Things like full-bodied, and such. There are few with beer. Sweet was one that stood out. That is because, as she explained, as a general rule a sweet beer had more alcohol in it. That is because the sugar is turned to alcohol in the fermentation process. So more sugar equals more alcohol.
One of the next questions she asked was “What is the best kind of beer” The best answer from the peanut gallery was “The one you are drinking” The correct answer is “A free one” At which point she awarded six free beers to the crowd for answering questions. Studying paid off as one of the questions was about the first beer can. Bingo free beer for Bill. I nailed another one about Anheuser Busch, so I ended up with two free beers, plus the four we were testing.
About this time we were getting to our last beer, the very dark Guinness, when one group decided to leave. They had been the last to arrive, and it was evident they had started tasting beer long before any of us had. When we glanced back at their table we saw that they were way ahead of us as well. Instead of just tasting their Guinness, and having some of the others left to finish. All beer was missing from their glasses. A mystery no one had any difficulty solving. We got a good chuckle and soon the tasting was over.
I got back to cabin, and the girls showed up not long after. They were not impressed with the guy who had bought them a drink. He ended up being on the ship with his wife/girlfriend and a couple of kids. He asked them to meet him at the Rockin D Bar later. They planned to be at the other end of the ship, regardless of what was happening there. It was nearly time for Margo’s gemstone seminar and my beer tasting seminar, so we headed out together. Her’s was in the Promenade Lounge, Deck 3 Aft. Mine was in Diversions, Deck 3 Forward. We headed over to the elevator and headed down. Margo has a bad knee and stairs are her nemesis. She can go down them reasonably well, but going up more than a flight or two is a bad idea. I had decided to use the stairs whenever possible to try to burn off calories. More often than not, I beat her to whatever floor we were going to. Anyway, we arrived on Deck 3. I walked her to the Promenade Lounge and then made my way to the other end of the ship.
I got to Diversions and sat down. I was the first one there. On the tables where we were to sit there was some beer literature. As I had nothing better to do and reading about beer seemed appropriate, I studied the pamphlet. There were three trivia questions. I didn’t know any of them. One told us the Czech Republic drinks more beer per capita than people of any other country. Another, that the first beer can was used in 1935. The last asked what the oldest continually operating brewery im America was. That was Yuengling in Pottsville, PA.
I decided I would memorize these facts, because I was bored, and there might be a test. The rest of the crowd showed up over the next 15 minutes. While we were waiting for our program leader to show up, the bartenders began filling up 6oz pilsner glasses with four different kinds of beer. As I was to find out there were two lagers and two ales. The ales were Newcastle Brown and Guinness. One of the lagers was Stella Artois. The other escapes me. But we started shortly.
The first thing our leader told us was that there are only two different kinds of beer; lagers and ales.(dejavu) No one knew that. We had had guesses of several dozen. I guess you can blame the brewers for that. They all try to make their beer sound like it is so different as to be unique. She had us taste the first one and asked us about how it tasted. She explained that unlike wines, which have tons of superlatives to describe how it tastes. Things like full-bodied, and such. There are few with beer. Sweet was one that stood out. That is because, as she explained, as a general rule a sweet beer had more alcohol in it. That is because the sugar is turned to alcohol in the fermentation process. So more sugar equals more alcohol.
One of the next questions she asked was “What is the best kind of beer” The best answer from the peanut gallery was “The one you are drinking” The correct answer is “A free one” At which point she awarded six free beers to the crowd for answering questions. Studying paid off as one of the questions was about the first beer can. Bingo free beer for Bill. I nailed another one about Anheuser Busch, so I ended up with two free beers, plus the four we were testing.
About this time we were getting to our last beer, the very dark Guinness, when one group decided to leave. They had been the last to arrive, and it was evident they had started tasting beer long before any of us had. When we glanced back at their table we saw that they were way ahead of us as well. Instead of just tasting their Guinness, and having some of the others left to finish. All beer was missing from their glasses. A mystery no one had any difficulty solving. We got a good chuckle and soon the tasting was over.
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Both beer tasting and the gemstone seminar were over at 4:45. Margo and I met back at our room. The girls were not far behind us. We all got dressed in our formal cloths and headed down to deck 3 for pictures. They had a nice moonlit sea scene for a backdrop and then their 20 foot Christmas tree as areas to have pictures taken. We opted to have both done. It was about 6:30 PM when we were finally done. Dinner wasn’t until 8:30, so we had a couple of hours to kill. Margo wanted to go to the shops because she was told that they were selling loose gemstones, at $10 per carat that she could have mounted in Cozumel. So off we went. She ended up picking out a couple.
We arrived a little early and waited for dinner. We were eating at our third restaurant, Parrot Cay, which had a Caribbean theme. Toto and Gavin our two servers were there, as expected. On Disney as you rotate from restaurant to restaurant your waiter and assistant waiter follow you. Margo and the girls were getting pretty fond of them. They would spoil everyone. Gavin would talk with the girls, and Toto would tell them of his home in the Philippines. Gavin was from South Africa. The girls were not, however, enjoying the food. Both had determined that fancy food equals gross food. Margo and I don’t have very sophisticated palates either, but we were treating it as a challenge to find something from each category, salad/soup, appetizer, and entrée to enjoy. Today both girls ordered Macaroni and Cheese, which was definitely not on the menu.. This shocked Toto to the point that he turned immediately to me and asked in a hurried voice “Is that OK?’ I got a chuckle out it. As both girls were over 18, and didn’t need their parent’s permission, it would have been a fight to talk them out of it, even if I thought it wasn’t OK. When dinner arrived they both had a gorgeous plate of macaroni and cheese, French Fries and a vegetable. Even with this culinary exception the presentation was great.
We rushed a bit through dinner, as I wanted to get down to the Rockin Bar D and see Rich Purpura, the comic that was performing there. As it turned out, tonight was a show called the Golden Mickeys, in which Rich Purpura was going to do his act. But, it would be sandwiched between the Golden Mickey After Party and Live Music with Elite, without any intermission between. So when we got there it was packed. I kept trying to drag Margo in, but the only seats were folding chairs set right up in front. I thought “Perfect. We can see” She wanted no part of being that close. She was thinking that as the first show got over people would leave. It was very noisy and I couldn’t seem to get the message across that no one was going to leave as this comic was supposed to be the headliner. She finally put two and two together and we went in and sat down. She was still pretty reluctant and I had to keep moving her along. When she finally sat down next to me she snapped at me about being grouchy and my reply let her know that I my frustration level just boiled over. I fully expected her to get up and leave, but she didn’t. It was a little tense for awhile, but this Purpura guy was good. He had us laughing in just a few minutes. He did about 45 minutes with the highlight being his story about getting his daughter Hannah Montana tickets. In the end he has spent $1200 for a pair he wasn’t going to use, had a pair for a different show a 6 hour drive from his home, and a free pair front row center. By the time we were finished we were both in much better moods.
We decided to walk to Shutters and look at/for our pictures. We would do this anytime we had a few minutes. They seemed to be taking pictures all the time, so we just felt obligated to rush on over to see if we could give them more money. Nice of us, huh? But, it was too early for our formal pictures. So we walked up to deck 9 to get Margo her Pepsi. Monday Night Football was on the Jumbtron. It was the 4th quarter and New England and Baltimore were playing. NE was undefeated and going for a perfect season. The game was tight, so Margo and I lingered to watch NE sew it up.
The girls had spent their time socializing and watching the world go by from the top deck. We all went to bed, and awaited our next port.
We arrived a little early and waited for dinner. We were eating at our third restaurant, Parrot Cay, which had a Caribbean theme. Toto and Gavin our two servers were there, as expected. On Disney as you rotate from restaurant to restaurant your waiter and assistant waiter follow you. Margo and the girls were getting pretty fond of them. They would spoil everyone. Gavin would talk with the girls, and Toto would tell them of his home in the Philippines. Gavin was from South Africa. The girls were not, however, enjoying the food. Both had determined that fancy food equals gross food. Margo and I don’t have very sophisticated palates either, but we were treating it as a challenge to find something from each category, salad/soup, appetizer, and entrée to enjoy. Today both girls ordered Macaroni and Cheese, which was definitely not on the menu.. This shocked Toto to the point that he turned immediately to me and asked in a hurried voice “Is that OK?’ I got a chuckle out it. As both girls were over 18, and didn’t need their parent’s permission, it would have been a fight to talk them out of it, even if I thought it wasn’t OK. When dinner arrived they both had a gorgeous plate of macaroni and cheese, French Fries and a vegetable. Even with this culinary exception the presentation was great.
We rushed a bit through dinner, as I wanted to get down to the Rockin Bar D and see Rich Purpura, the comic that was performing there. As it turned out, tonight was a show called the Golden Mickeys, in which Rich Purpura was going to do his act. But, it would be sandwiched between the Golden Mickey After Party and Live Music with Elite, without any intermission between. So when we got there it was packed. I kept trying to drag Margo in, but the only seats were folding chairs set right up in front. I thought “Perfect. We can see” She wanted no part of being that close. She was thinking that as the first show got over people would leave. It was very noisy and I couldn’t seem to get the message across that no one was going to leave as this comic was supposed to be the headliner. She finally put two and two together and we went in and sat down. She was still pretty reluctant and I had to keep moving her along. When she finally sat down next to me she snapped at me about being grouchy and my reply let her know that I my frustration level just boiled over. I fully expected her to get up and leave, but she didn’t. It was a little tense for awhile, but this Purpura guy was good. He had us laughing in just a few minutes. He did about 45 minutes with the highlight being his story about getting his daughter Hannah Montana tickets. In the end he has spent $1200 for a pair he wasn’t going to use, had a pair for a different show a 6 hour drive from his home, and a free pair front row center. By the time we were finished we were both in much better moods.
We decided to walk to Shutters and look at/for our pictures. We would do this anytime we had a few minutes. They seemed to be taking pictures all the time, so we just felt obligated to rush on over to see if we could give them more money. Nice of us, huh? But, it was too early for our formal pictures. So we walked up to deck 9 to get Margo her Pepsi. Monday Night Football was on the Jumbtron. It was the 4th quarter and New England and Baltimore were playing. NE was undefeated and going for a perfect season. The game was tight, so Margo and I lingered to watch NE sew it up.
The girls had spent their time socializing and watching the world go by from the top deck. We all went to bed, and awaited our next port.
Day Five--December XX, 2007
Grand Cayman and Stinko Bingo
The first tender to Grand Cayman (we couldn’t dock as their port is too shallow. We had to take a smaller boat, called a tender) was going to be at 7:30 AM. As we had nothing officially planned, we laughed at the idea of being on it, before bed last night. Our normal routine was having us take in breakfast at Topsiders each morning. That was working OK, but the food was the same and was not really great. It was good, but little things like the bacon being flat and the scrambled eggs being runny, were sometimes annoying. But, as there were a number of choices and they had pastries as well, it wasn’t hard to walk out full or even overfull.
We ended up tendering around 10:30.
Me & Margo at Jimmy's place. My 18 year old daughter had her first "legal" beer here.
Whenever you leave the ship they scan you little Key to World Card, a combination ID Card/Credit Card/Room Key. It’s the ultimate “Don’t leave home without it” card. Anyway, they keep real careful track of who is on and who is off the boat. The tendering went smooth. After being scanned, we walked onto a boat, with benches, instead of seats. It was a beautiful day, like they have all been so far, so we just soaked up the sun for the last few minutes until everyone boarded.
Once we got on Grand Cayman, which is of course foreign soil, we went through another very quick screening. It was little more than waking through a designated area. We had a map of Georgetown, the capital of Grand Cayman, so we headed to North Church Street, where a lot of the shops, plus a slice of home, Jimmy Buffet’s Margaritaville and the Hard Rock Café (Yeah, I know it’s British, but we have more of them then they do) were. Margo is always interested in jewelry. She is always happy to get a ring for a gift. If we were celebrating Ground Hog Day she would be hoping for a furry diamond ring. But, my girls have long since discovered that looking at jewelry is no where near as fun as getting jewelry. And as the chance of me buying them any was slim, they opted to wander the town on their own. We made plans to link up in an hour.
We wandered from store to store, but Margo was put off by the attendants. They were friendly enough, but they followed up and down the display case, like a vulture ready to pounce on you when you dropped dead from shopping exhaustion. To say Margo hated that was an understatement. For her to refuse to go into another jewelry store, was akin to Britney Spears saying “NoNo. I don’t want anymore drugs and alcohol today.” So we focused on souvenir shops instead. We linked up with the girls and took a picture or two. They wanted to head to the dock area, just to see the water. Margo and I continued walking up and down Church Street.
We ended up tendering around 10:30.
Me & Margo at Jimmy's place. My 18 year old daughter had her first "legal" beer here.
Whenever you leave the ship they scan you little Key to World Card, a combination ID Card/Credit Card/Room Key. It’s the ultimate “Don’t leave home without it” card. Anyway, they keep real careful track of who is on and who is off the boat. The tendering went smooth. After being scanned, we walked onto a boat, with benches, instead of seats. It was a beautiful day, like they have all been so far, so we just soaked up the sun for the last few minutes until everyone boarded.
Once we got on Grand Cayman, which is of course foreign soil, we went through another very quick screening. It was little more than waking through a designated area. We had a map of Georgetown, the capital of Grand Cayman, so we headed to North Church Street, where a lot of the shops, plus a slice of home, Jimmy Buffet’s Margaritaville and the Hard Rock Café (Yeah, I know it’s British, but we have more of them then they do) were. Margo is always interested in jewelry. She is always happy to get a ring for a gift. If we were celebrating Ground Hog Day she would be hoping for a furry diamond ring. But, my girls have long since discovered that looking at jewelry is no where near as fun as getting jewelry. And as the chance of me buying them any was slim, they opted to wander the town on their own. We made plans to link up in an hour.
We wandered from store to store, but Margo was put off by the attendants. They were friendly enough, but they followed up and down the display case, like a vulture ready to pounce on you when you dropped dead from shopping exhaustion. To say Margo hated that was an understatement. For her to refuse to go into another jewelry store, was akin to Britney Spears saying “NoNo. I don’t want anymore drugs and alcohol today.” So we focused on souvenir shops instead. We linked up with the girls and took a picture or two. They wanted to head to the dock area, just to see the water. Margo and I continued walking up and down Church Street.
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At this point I was feeling a bit guilty that I wasn’t learning anything about Grand Cayman. In my defense I did look into a tour, but of the two available, one was sold out, and the other was $51 per person. It didn’t seem worth $200 to learn about Georgetown. So to soften my shame, we headed to Margartiaville for some booze. You appease your guilt your way and I’ll do it mine. But we got sidetracked in the gift shop. After dropping $100 in there, all guilt was gone, so the beers I had with lunch weren’t necessary, but they tasted good anyway. As we were being served, we saw the girls wander down the street. We were seated outside, and had not taken it for granted that it was December and we were enjoying lunch in 80 degree weather. We got their attention and they came up. I bought both of my girls a drink. I was under no illusion that my baby had not had a beer or two prior to today, but I thought it worthwhile to buy her, her first legal drink. Drinking age onGrand Cayman is 18. We all sat back enjoyed the weather and the drinks.
The last tender back to the ship was at 4:30 PM. We were back before it left. It is hard to complain about a gorgeous day, but overall Grand Cayman was just OK. (Amazing how spoiled we were by the nice weather in less than three days!) I’m a bit jingoistic, (Yes. Yes. I'm a terrible person. I love my country.) so another country is going to have to go above and beyond to capture my attention.Grand Cayman offered less than Key West did, 48 hours earlier. But, to be fair we probably didn’t let the island take it's best shot. Next time.
We, or rather my daughters, did a little taking on the island.. Both daughters had made it onto the sand by the water and had gathered some shells. Kids! I told them that they shouldn’t and probably wouldn’t be allowed to take them with us. We were going to be inspected, at least casually, when leaving. But, the girls owned up to the inspector about having some shells. But, he was much more bored than concerned, so they kept them.
Back on the ship, we made a decision to skip our normal dining tonight. This would be our second shot at Lumieres. We had all agreed that this was our least favorite of the three, and we all wanted a break from the gourmet food. I suggested to Margo that we go play Bingo, before we ate. I’m not really a bingo fan, but Margo likes it. Her grandmother, who she was very close to, was a bit of a bingo nut. She passed away about nine years ago, and I thought Margo might want to play a bit in her honor. Because we both knew that if she was here on the cruise with us she wouldn’t have missed a game.
As it turned out, she might have been with us, a little. There were four games played. One of them was called Stinko Bingo. In this version the last person with not a single number called on his card wins. I was out early, but Margo’s card did not let her down, and she won $72. As we had paid $70 we were up big. In the short intermission between the third and final games they had a drawing for some photo packages, from Shutters, and four shower radios. The photo packages might have been nice. But we were not destined for those. Grandma must have helped a little, as Bailey, our Bingo leader, called either Margo’s or my raffle numbers (we had four total tickets) three times in a row. What are the odds? After the third one, we decline the prize. We only had two daughter to give these radios to. Bailey had not failed to notice our luck and asked, in a serious voice, “How many tickets do you have?” She obviously thought that somehow a mistake had been made, and we had gotten more than the two per person allotment. So we left thinking we should be in Vegas instead, and went back to our cabin.
The last tender back to the ship was at 4:30 PM. We were back before it left. It is hard to complain about a gorgeous day, but overall Grand Cayman was just OK. (Amazing how spoiled we were by the nice weather in less than three days!) I’m a bit jingoistic, (Yes. Yes. I'm a terrible person. I love my country.) so another country is going to have to go above and beyond to capture my attention.Grand Cayman offered less than Key West did, 48 hours earlier. But, to be fair we probably didn’t let the island take it's best shot. Next time.
We, or rather my daughters, did a little taking on the island.. Both daughters had made it onto the sand by the water and had gathered some shells. Kids! I told them that they shouldn’t and probably wouldn’t be allowed to take them with us. We were going to be inspected, at least casually, when leaving. But, the girls owned up to the inspector about having some shells. But, he was much more bored than concerned, so they kept them.
Back on the ship, we made a decision to skip our normal dining tonight. This would be our second shot at Lumieres. We had all agreed that this was our least favorite of the three, and we all wanted a break from the gourmet food. I suggested to Margo that we go play Bingo, before we ate. I’m not really a bingo fan, but Margo likes it. Her grandmother, who she was very close to, was a bit of a bingo nut. She passed away about nine years ago, and I thought Margo might want to play a bit in her honor. Because we both knew that if she was here on the cruise with us she wouldn’t have missed a game.
As it turned out, she might have been with us, a little. There were four games played. One of them was called Stinko Bingo. In this version the last person with not a single number called on his card wins. I was out early, but Margo’s card did not let her down, and she won $72. As we had paid $70 we were up big. In the short intermission between the third and final games they had a drawing for some photo packages, from Shutters, and four shower radios. The photo packages might have been nice. But we were not destined for those. Grandma must have helped a little, as Bailey, our Bingo leader, called either Margo’s or my raffle numbers (we had four total tickets) three times in a row. What are the odds? After the third one, we decline the prize. We only had two daughter to give these radios to. Bailey had not failed to notice our luck and asked, in a serious voice, “How many tickets do you have?” She obviously thought that somehow a mistake had been made, and we had gotten more than the two per person allotment. So we left thinking we should be in Vegas instead, and went back to our cabin.
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After a little lounging around our cabin, the girls met up with us and we went up to Topsiders and had a buffet dinner. Margo and I decided we wanted to go see Twice Charmed, which was a twist on the Cinderella story. In this version, Step-Mom and the two ugly step sisters, ask their fairy Godfather (Yes, he is Italian. Why do you ask?) for help. He sends them back in time, so they can make sure Prince Charming and Cinderella don’t live happily ever after.
This was a stage production, and being Disney, they did a great job. We had figured that since we were taking in the early showing, 6:15, that the kids would be eating. Nope. It was plenty crowded, but everyone was well behaved so we had a good time. The girls had gone off to socialize. We never seemed to be able to convince them to go to the same shows or stuff we wanted to. But how much trouble could they get into on a Disney ship? Plus we were all having a great time.
Next Margo and I went to the Rockin Bar D. A musician/comedian named John Charles was going on at 7:30. We just made it. John Charles plays a wide range of music, and put his own lyrics to most of them. He is very talented, and extremely funny. We were laughing most of the time. The climax of his show is when he dissected the lyrics to the song “Horse with No Name” by America. His premise was that no one knows what this song is about, and that drug use had been involved in it’s creation. I can’t possibly do his routine justice, but if you have the chance to see him, do yourself a favor.
We hadn’t been to Shutters to look at pictures yet today, so off we went. They had our formal pictures done, so we added them to our collection, and even traded in a couple of ones that we decided we didn’t like. Here at Shutters we ran into Marin, a Disney employee from Estonia. Actually this was about our third encounter with Marin (I told you we were at Shutters a lot). She was very friendly and had mentioned that she had been to St Petersburg, Russia. I was hoping to be able to talk to her a bit about that, as I wanted to visit there too. But, we weren’t the only one interested pictures, so we went back to our cabin.
Once there we met up with the girls. They had run into the guy who had bought them the drink. He was with a group of people, and they didn’t linger long. They thought it was a bit of a laugh that he had a wife/girlfriend and two kids, and was trying to pick up girls on a Disney cruise, with them there. I wonder how much luck he had.
Margo and the girls decided to watch TV. I decided I could sit on my butt anytime, plus the TV is tiny, and the room was not designed for everyone to watch comfortably. So I wandered the ship some. I had discovered that Deck 4 had a promenade that ran all the way around the ship. So you could do laps if you wanted to. I wandered around that for one circuit, went to Shutters to see if I could have that conversation with Marin. She was gone. I went up to deck 9 to people watch and to watch the water. In all I was gone about an hour. By the time I got back I was thinking I could watch some TV before bed. So I did, and we finally all went to sleep. Tomorrow was going to be Cozumel and we were all excited for this port.
This was a stage production, and being Disney, they did a great job. We had figured that since we were taking in the early showing, 6:15, that the kids would be eating. Nope. It was plenty crowded, but everyone was well behaved so we had a good time. The girls had gone off to socialize. We never seemed to be able to convince them to go to the same shows or stuff we wanted to. But how much trouble could they get into on a Disney ship? Plus we were all having a great time.
Next Margo and I went to the Rockin Bar D. A musician/comedian named John Charles was going on at 7:30. We just made it. John Charles plays a wide range of music, and put his own lyrics to most of them. He is very talented, and extremely funny. We were laughing most of the time. The climax of his show is when he dissected the lyrics to the song “Horse with No Name” by America. His premise was that no one knows what this song is about, and that drug use had been involved in it’s creation. I can’t possibly do his routine justice, but if you have the chance to see him, do yourself a favor.
We hadn’t been to Shutters to look at pictures yet today, so off we went. They had our formal pictures done, so we added them to our collection, and even traded in a couple of ones that we decided we didn’t like. Here at Shutters we ran into Marin, a Disney employee from Estonia. Actually this was about our third encounter with Marin (I told you we were at Shutters a lot). She was very friendly and had mentioned that she had been to St Petersburg, Russia. I was hoping to be able to talk to her a bit about that, as I wanted to visit there too. But, we weren’t the only one interested pictures, so we went back to our cabin.
Once there we met up with the girls. They had run into the guy who had bought them the drink. He was with a group of people, and they didn’t linger long. They thought it was a bit of a laugh that he had a wife/girlfriend and two kids, and was trying to pick up girls on a Disney cruise, with them there. I wonder how much luck he had.
Margo and the girls decided to watch TV. I decided I could sit on my butt anytime, plus the TV is tiny, and the room was not designed for everyone to watch comfortably. So I wandered the ship some. I had discovered that Deck 4 had a promenade that ran all the way around the ship. So you could do laps if you wanted to. I wandered around that for one circuit, went to Shutters to see if I could have that conversation with Marin. She was gone. I went up to deck 9 to people watch and to watch the water. In all I was gone about an hour. By the time I got back I was thinking I could watch some TV before bed. So I did, and we finally all went to sleep. Tomorrow was going to be Cozumel and we were all excited for this port.
Day Six---December XX, 2007
Tony Baloney and his Horses
We all fully expected Cozumel to be the highlight of our cruise. Everyone was looking forward to the horseback riding. My wife was also looking forward to jewelry. She had not gotten anything on Grand Cayman. But, she did purchase a couple of gemstones on board, and she had been told about a shop inCozumel that would mount them for her. It sounded to me like some type of tourist set up. Cheap gemstones and an expensive mounting. But, she wasn’t obligated to get any setting, and it made her happy. So what was the harm? Yes, I know. I’m a bit of cynic, but it keeps me warm on cold days.
But, back to the horsies.
Our guide, Tony Baloney. He did a great job!
We had orders to meet at the piano bar, Diversions, at10:15 to gather with the rest our group. But, first we needed sustenance. We had made a habit of doing Topsiders for breakfast and today was no exception. We had always eaten outside, and as this was another 70 plus day, we were not about to break the trend. Decembers in Colorado, while sunny, are not noted for 70 degree days, let alone mornings. We were definitely enjoying this.
We made it to Diversions in plenty of time, and sat around and waited for our entire riding group to show up. There ended up being about 20 of us. At the appointed time, we followed our Disney leader who lead us to the gangway, and we went through the now familiar ritual of having our Keys to the World card scanned, and reminded that we needed our ID to get back on the ship.
Back at the ranch, after our ride, we found our nomination for "The World's Ugliest Dog"
After all, it would be tragic if someone were left behind in such a dismal place. They might have to soak up the sun and drink beer for weeks.
But, back to the horsies.
Our guide, Tony Baloney. He did a great job!
We had orders to meet at the piano bar, Diversions, at10:15 to gather with the rest our group. But, first we needed sustenance. We had made a habit of doing Topsiders for breakfast and today was no exception. We had always eaten outside, and as this was another 70 plus day, we were not about to break the trend. Decembers in Colorado, while sunny, are not noted for 70 degree days, let alone mornings. We were definitely enjoying this.
We made it to Diversions in plenty of time, and sat around and waited for our entire riding group to show up. There ended up being about 20 of us. At the appointed time, we followed our Disney leader who lead us to the gangway, and we went through the now familiar ritual of having our Keys to the World card scanned, and reminded that we needed our ID to get back on the ship.
Back at the ranch, after our ride, we found our nomination for "The World's Ugliest Dog"
After all, it would be tragic if someone were left behind in such a dismal place. They might have to soak up the sun and drink beer for weeks.
Once on the dock we were introduced to our guide, from Ranchero Buenavista. His name was Tony Baloney. Somehow I think that may have been just a clever alias, so we might remember it. But, he spent a few minutes telling us what would be happening. We had a long trek through town to get to the bus that would take us to the ranch, well outside of town. It would take about an hour of marching and bus ride to get there.
We followed Tony, who had done this once or twice before, as he carried a sign to hold up, as we walked through Cozumel, that could be seen 50 yards away.
Jolene vs a shot of Tequila
He did not want to lose a customer before they even saw a horse. Once in the bus, Tony told us some history of Cozumel, and pointing out a few of the sights and restaurants. I recall specifically that he saidCozumel had no other industry, except tourism. That could be both good and bad from a tourist’s perspective.
Good, as in order for the Cozumelians to make a living, we (Mr. & Mrs. American Tourist) had to be harvested. It can be very pleasurable if great skill is used to harvest the American tourist. You must stoke him, and flatter him, and entertain him, getting his guard down, and making him feel completely at ease. Then his is ripe for the picking. But, if you are too heavy handed, and bruise him, he won’t come back so you can harvest him again, and his yield on this occasion will be low.
Mr. Baloney had chosen his nickname well. He could spread it around, and brought a smile to your face as he did it. He got many chuckles, and shortened the drive considerably with his banter. He was a good Cozumelian Harvester Later, we will have an example of a poor Cozumelian Harvester.
Upon arrival at the ranch, he set us all around in a circle and spent about 15 minutes going over safety rules and finding our the riding skills of the group. He also had to factor in the size of his guests, so as not to mount me on a Shetland sized animal.
Aaargghh, Mateys! It be us; Captain Bill and his crew. Wench (shh! don't tell her I said that) Margo be holdin the tequila she plundered in Mexico.
That part went quick, too and soon all four of were mounted and doing trying to convince our mounts to go where we wanted them to. These horses were well trained, as they had done this many, many times. As such they seemed to gravitate to the same general area, without any prompting. This, as it turned out, was where the ranch would take your picture. I love pictures. I think they are one of the best souvenirs you can bring back from a trip. What is better than a memory? I wanted to at least have the proper safety equipment for riding. Boots, long pants, and a hat. But, I forgot to bring a cowboy hat. So I had bought one in the little shop, as we mulled around moments before. It is too big inside, and too small outside, but I felt like a real cowboy anyway. I was on Trigger, had my boots and hat, all I needed was a six-shooter and a bad guy. When all four of us had our mounts, the picture was snapped, and that image is preserved for posterity.
Me daughters, Jessi & Jolene. Captain Jack don't stand a chance.
We followed Tony, who had done this once or twice before, as he carried a sign to hold up, as we walked through Cozumel, that could be seen 50 yards away.
Jolene vs a shot of Tequila
He did not want to lose a customer before they even saw a horse. Once in the bus, Tony told us some history of Cozumel, and pointing out a few of the sights and restaurants. I recall specifically that he saidCozumel had no other industry, except tourism. That could be both good and bad from a tourist’s perspective.
Good, as in order for the Cozumelians to make a living, we (Mr. & Mrs. American Tourist) had to be harvested. It can be very pleasurable if great skill is used to harvest the American tourist. You must stoke him, and flatter him, and entertain him, getting his guard down, and making him feel completely at ease. Then his is ripe for the picking. But, if you are too heavy handed, and bruise him, he won’t come back so you can harvest him again, and his yield on this occasion will be low.
Mr. Baloney had chosen his nickname well. He could spread it around, and brought a smile to your face as he did it. He got many chuckles, and shortened the drive considerably with his banter. He was a good Cozumelian Harvester Later, we will have an example of a poor Cozumelian Harvester.
Upon arrival at the ranch, he set us all around in a circle and spent about 15 minutes going over safety rules and finding our the riding skills of the group. He also had to factor in the size of his guests, so as not to mount me on a Shetland sized animal.
Aaargghh, Mateys! It be us; Captain Bill and his crew. Wench (shh! don't tell her I said that) Margo be holdin the tequila she plundered in Mexico.
That part went quick, too and soon all four of were mounted and doing trying to convince our mounts to go where we wanted them to. These horses were well trained, as they had done this many, many times. As such they seemed to gravitate to the same general area, without any prompting. This, as it turned out, was where the ranch would take your picture. I love pictures. I think they are one of the best souvenirs you can bring back from a trip. What is better than a memory? I wanted to at least have the proper safety equipment for riding. Boots, long pants, and a hat. But, I forgot to bring a cowboy hat. So I had bought one in the little shop, as we mulled around moments before. It is too big inside, and too small outside, but I felt like a real cowboy anyway. I was on Trigger, had my boots and hat, all I needed was a six-shooter and a bad guy. When all four of us had our mounts, the picture was snapped, and that image is preserved for posterity.
Me daughters, Jessi & Jolene. Captain Jack don't stand a chance.
Now it was time to ride.
We had all been riding before. Jolene was the most experienced, as she had a friend who had a horse. Jessi was the least experience, but she wasn’t afraid. But, she probably should have been. The horse she had been matched with was a spirited three year old. It had only recently been allowed to take customers on the ride. Not long into our ride, Tony, who had been keeping an eye on this combination, decided to swap horses with another of our party. The girl, my 18 year old Jessi swapped mounts with, was only 13 years old. So we razzed her about that later. In fairness the kid had much more experience.
Tony took us out for better than an hour. In parts we walked and in parts we had to trot to get where we needed to be. We saw a lot of the jungle on the ranch, and plenty of iguanas. They are native to the island, and are everywhere. We learned about the Mayans who lived there, and saw a few artifacts. But, really we were just enjoying the horses.
On the way back there were several stretches of the trail where we could gallop the horses. You didn’t have to, and it is actually a bit out of the ordinary for a trail ride group to gallop at all. They are almost always too worried about a lawsuit if someone gets hurt. But, Jessi, Jolene, and I were going to gallop. Margo preferred not to. We had a blast. At one point, I was trying to pass Jolene, and my horse leaned over to bite her mount. But, I reined him off, and went by. My horse did have a bit of ornery streak in him. He tried to bit several other horses, when we were stopped and listening to Tony tell us something earlier in the ride.
All too quick the ride was over and we were back at the base. Here they had a couple of tiny shops, a cantina, and several shaded tables with benches. When we got back we were told that we all had a free beer coming. And as it had been pointed out to me during my beer tasting class that Free Beer was the best beer, I was very pleased. And after better than an hour in the sun those Coronas tasted especially nice.
The surprises were not over. In order to earn a little more revenue, Tony has a raffle at the end of each ride. There were 8 groups in our 20 person ride, and 4 of those groups decided to buy raffle tickets. We bought a total of 12 tickets. I think there were only about twice that sold. With those odds, we figured on winning something. They were going to raffle off two shots of tequila, a Mexican blanket, and a whole bottle of tequila. The first number was called and the winner of the first shot of tequila was my youngest daughter. Jessi wanted no part of that shot, so she passed the ticket to her older sister. Jolene dutifully went up and downed her shot. The face she made was priceless, and I actually got the shot with my camera. We all got a laugh, and then it was time for shot number two. The winner was..me! I’m not a fan of tequila, and Margo “claims” she likes it. But, when I tried to pass her my ticket she grew feathers and chickened out. So up I went. I took it like a man, and showed no grimace. It actually wasn’t bad, for tequila. It was smoother than Cuervo, which my tequila-drinking friends tell me is not really a good tequila anyway. Maybe this was. The next prize was the Mexican Blanket. Our table was batting two for two. The number was drawn and this time Jolene won. The blanket was very pretty. The full bottle of tequila was last. I was hoping someone else would win, as none of were tequila drinkers. But, I knew if any of us won, we would have to take it. How could you turn down a bottle of tequila that you won inMexico? The last number came up, and we hit the Grand Slam. Margo won it. Each person at our table had won something, and we had taken home everything. If there had been a Mexican lottery, we would have bought tickets to that too.
There was time for another beer and then it was back on the bus. We were going back to Cozumel, and more shopping. Margo really wanted to get her stones mounted, and we did want to get a few things for the people back home. Both girls wanted something for the boyfriends. Margo’s mother and brother were watching the house and feeding our menagerie. Plus I always like to pick up a pilsner glass (preferably full) when I go to a city with a Hard Rock Café. I had been unlucky back in the Caymans. The one on Grand Cayman didn’t have a pilsner glass. Anyway, a half hour or so later we were back in Cozumel. We were hungry, but as we had no idea how long it would take to do Margo’s jewelry we needed to do that first. As it turned out the shop was about three quarters of a mile from where we were. At least there would be plenty of opportunities to pick up our souvenirs. We got to the shop, and Margo was able to get one stone set in a ring, and the other in a pendant for about $270, and it could be ready in an hour or so. I was expecting even more, so I was happy. Now we could eat. After a twenty minute hike through town, and then waiting while Margo did her business we were starved. We ate at a place that Tony had recommended on the tour. He said it was authentic Mexican food, and I would guess he should know. None of us really liked it. But, it wasn’t terrible either. The exchange rate was 11 pesos to the dollar, and the ticket came back priced in pesos. That was my first experience in paying in a foreign country. The other times I have been to Mexico, it was in a border town, and American greenbacks were cheerfully accepted, and everything, as I remember, was priced in dollars.
After lunch we went about our shopping. Margo and the girls each got a hoodie that said “Cozumel”, so they could make everyone back home jealous. Gifts for all of the forsaken back home were procured and we headed back to the jewelry store. We got the jewelry, which turned out very nice and went back to the ship. Right beside the shop where we had gotten the hoodies we were introduced to our bad Cozumelian Harvester. As we were saying our good ��"byes to that shopkeeper, this gentleman say “OK. Now it’s my turn, right?” As we were shopping and this was a unique greeting we decided to go in. As we walked in he shut the wide sliding glass door behind him. Now maybe he did it to save on air conditioning, but it had the immediate effect of making all of feel like we had been locked in. Really, it felt like we were being locked in, and that there would be no witnesses to whatever was done inside. In no other shop had a door been closed behind us. It might have closed on its own, but those were normal 3 foot wide doors. This one was a wide patio style sliding glass door. It was very strange. There were no other customers. Just us and him, it was like he had caught us in his trap. As it turned out this was a jewelry store. Margo had her quota and I wasn’t going to buy anything. So he had no shot. He didn’t know that, but launched into a hard sell anyway. We stayed just long enough to be polite, and then I opened the door myself (he was not going to until a sale was made), and we left.
Tony took us out for better than an hour. In parts we walked and in parts we had to trot to get where we needed to be. We saw a lot of the jungle on the ranch, and plenty of iguanas. They are native to the island, and are everywhere. We learned about the Mayans who lived there, and saw a few artifacts. But, really we were just enjoying the horses.
On the way back there were several stretches of the trail where we could gallop the horses. You didn’t have to, and it is actually a bit out of the ordinary for a trail ride group to gallop at all. They are almost always too worried about a lawsuit if someone gets hurt. But, Jessi, Jolene, and I were going to gallop. Margo preferred not to. We had a blast. At one point, I was trying to pass Jolene, and my horse leaned over to bite her mount. But, I reined him off, and went by. My horse did have a bit of ornery streak in him. He tried to bit several other horses, when we were stopped and listening to Tony tell us something earlier in the ride.
All too quick the ride was over and we were back at the base. Here they had a couple of tiny shops, a cantina, and several shaded tables with benches. When we got back we were told that we all had a free beer coming. And as it had been pointed out to me during my beer tasting class that Free Beer was the best beer, I was very pleased. And after better than an hour in the sun those Coronas tasted especially nice.
The surprises were not over. In order to earn a little more revenue, Tony has a raffle at the end of each ride. There were 8 groups in our 20 person ride, and 4 of those groups decided to buy raffle tickets. We bought a total of 12 tickets. I think there were only about twice that sold. With those odds, we figured on winning something. They were going to raffle off two shots of tequila, a Mexican blanket, and a whole bottle of tequila. The first number was called and the winner of the first shot of tequila was my youngest daughter. Jessi wanted no part of that shot, so she passed the ticket to her older sister. Jolene dutifully went up and downed her shot. The face she made was priceless, and I actually got the shot with my camera. We all got a laugh, and then it was time for shot number two. The winner was..me! I’m not a fan of tequila, and Margo “claims” she likes it. But, when I tried to pass her my ticket she grew feathers and chickened out. So up I went. I took it like a man, and showed no grimace. It actually wasn’t bad, for tequila. It was smoother than Cuervo, which my tequila-drinking friends tell me is not really a good tequila anyway. Maybe this was. The next prize was the Mexican Blanket. Our table was batting two for two. The number was drawn and this time Jolene won. The blanket was very pretty. The full bottle of tequila was last. I was hoping someone else would win, as none of were tequila drinkers. But, I knew if any of us won, we would have to take it. How could you turn down a bottle of tequila that you won inMexico? The last number came up, and we hit the Grand Slam. Margo won it. Each person at our table had won something, and we had taken home everything. If there had been a Mexican lottery, we would have bought tickets to that too.
There was time for another beer and then it was back on the bus. We were going back to Cozumel, and more shopping. Margo really wanted to get her stones mounted, and we did want to get a few things for the people back home. Both girls wanted something for the boyfriends. Margo’s mother and brother were watching the house and feeding our menagerie. Plus I always like to pick up a pilsner glass (preferably full) when I go to a city with a Hard Rock Café. I had been unlucky back in the Caymans. The one on Grand Cayman didn’t have a pilsner glass. Anyway, a half hour or so later we were back in Cozumel. We were hungry, but as we had no idea how long it would take to do Margo’s jewelry we needed to do that first. As it turned out the shop was about three quarters of a mile from where we were. At least there would be plenty of opportunities to pick up our souvenirs. We got to the shop, and Margo was able to get one stone set in a ring, and the other in a pendant for about $270, and it could be ready in an hour or so. I was expecting even more, so I was happy. Now we could eat. After a twenty minute hike through town, and then waiting while Margo did her business we were starved. We ate at a place that Tony had recommended on the tour. He said it was authentic Mexican food, and I would guess he should know. None of us really liked it. But, it wasn’t terrible either. The exchange rate was 11 pesos to the dollar, and the ticket came back priced in pesos. That was my first experience in paying in a foreign country. The other times I have been to Mexico, it was in a border town, and American greenbacks were cheerfully accepted, and everything, as I remember, was priced in dollars.
After lunch we went about our shopping. Margo and the girls each got a hoodie that said “Cozumel”, so they could make everyone back home jealous. Gifts for all of the forsaken back home were procured and we headed back to the jewelry store. We got the jewelry, which turned out very nice and went back to the ship. Right beside the shop where we had gotten the hoodies we were introduced to our bad Cozumelian Harvester. As we were saying our good ��"byes to that shopkeeper, this gentleman say “OK. Now it’s my turn, right?” As we were shopping and this was a unique greeting we decided to go in. As we walked in he shut the wide sliding glass door behind him. Now maybe he did it to save on air conditioning, but it had the immediate effect of making all of feel like we had been locked in. Really, it felt like we were being locked in, and that there would be no witnesses to whatever was done inside. In no other shop had a door been closed behind us. It might have closed on its own, but those were normal 3 foot wide doors. This one was a wide patio style sliding glass door. It was very strange. There were no other customers. Just us and him, it was like he had caught us in his trap. As it turned out this was a jewelry store. Margo had her quota and I wasn’t going to buy anything. So he had no shot. He didn’t know that, but launched into a hard sell anyway. We stayed just long enough to be polite, and then I opened the door myself (he was not going to until a sale was made), and we left.
Our street tour of the shops of Cozumel netted one humorous moment as well. Both of my daughters had dressed in layers for the day. Meaning they had worn jeans and a shirt for riding and their bikinis underneath. Well there shirts did not stay on long on that hot trail ride, so for the rest of the day they were in their bikini tops. As they are sisters they have a similar, slender build and long blonde hair. That combination tends to get male attention. They deal with it much better than I do. But even this one got me to laugh. As we are all walking down the street, we see a guy walking towards us. The street is crowded, but it is evident where is looking. His eyes had locked on my daughters for only a second, when be all but yells “Oh Shit!”. Now ordinarily I might have been upset or at least on guard. But the stunned way in which he said it, just made me laugh. You would have thought he had seen his first female. He was so enamored that he continued to stare and gawk as we walked by. The girls just laughed.
Surfer girls, Jessi & Jolene
We had not had to be tendered into Mexico, but we still had a line to wait in to get back on the ship. All aboard was at 6:30 PM. We made it with time to spare.
We were looking forward to the evening on the ship because it was Pirate Night. Everyone would be dressing in their best pirate garb, eating dinner in it, and then attending the party topside. Fireworks would follow. Sounded like fun. As Disney also knows how to harvest their customers as well, they had a couple of photographers set up. We definitely wanted to get our pictures taken in our pirate costumes so upon getting back on board we headed right to our cabin to get ready. Showers were needed as we were all hot, sticky, and smelly. With those done and everyone in the piratey best we were on our way down to Deck three for our pictures. Marin was doing duty as a photographer, but we weren’t going to bother her with the line of fellow buccaneers waiting to be photographed. So pictures were taken in a several poses, and we went back upstairs.
Dinner was in Animator’s Palate and was Caribbean themed, to go along with Pirate Night. They had a great appetizer, a banana rolled in coconut with a mango glaze. The rest of the dinner was good, too. I had been trying to eat chicken to at least maintain the illusion that I was watching my diet. Watching was all I was doing. And it all “looked” so good. Also in the maintenance of my diet I had been taking the stairs almost exclusively. It is no fun going from the 3rd Deck to Deck 9 that way. Margo has a bad knee, so one flight is her limit, and then only if there is a line for the elevator. The girls would sometimes accompany me, as it was usually faster. But they were not above wimping out and waiting for their mother and the elevator to catch up with them a couple of floors later.
We had chosen the late seating for dinner when we signed up. That meant 8:30. But we liked it, even though we never eat dinner that late at home. On the ship dinner usually lasted an hour and 15 minutes or more. Tonight was no exception, so we missed the start of the Pirate Party (officially called Pirates in the Caribbean), which kicked off at 9:45. But that was of little concern for Margo and I. We are not big partyers. We hung around for awhile and then went back to the cabin and changed out of our pirate garb. The girls had abandoned us right after dinner. We hung around the cabin for a little while, but did decide to see the finale of the party, the fireworks show, at 11 PM. It was tame as far as fireworks go. Disney does a much better job at their parks, but I imagine they have much greater resources there as well.
That was essentially it for the night. We went back to our cabin, and watched a little TV to wind down, and went to bed. We had had a full day.
We were looking forward to the evening on the ship because it was Pirate Night. Everyone would be dressing in their best pirate garb, eating dinner in it, and then attending the party topside. Fireworks would follow. Sounded like fun. As Disney also knows how to harvest their customers as well, they had a couple of photographers set up. We definitely wanted to get our pictures taken in our pirate costumes so upon getting back on board we headed right to our cabin to get ready. Showers were needed as we were all hot, sticky, and smelly. With those done and everyone in the piratey best we were on our way down to Deck three for our pictures. Marin was doing duty as a photographer, but we weren’t going to bother her with the line of fellow buccaneers waiting to be photographed. So pictures were taken in a several poses, and we went back upstairs.
Dinner was in Animator’s Palate and was Caribbean themed, to go along with Pirate Night. They had a great appetizer, a banana rolled in coconut with a mango glaze. The rest of the dinner was good, too. I had been trying to eat chicken to at least maintain the illusion that I was watching my diet. Watching was all I was doing. And it all “looked” so good. Also in the maintenance of my diet I had been taking the stairs almost exclusively. It is no fun going from the 3rd Deck to Deck 9 that way. Margo has a bad knee, so one flight is her limit, and then only if there is a line for the elevator. The girls would sometimes accompany me, as it was usually faster. But they were not above wimping out and waiting for their mother and the elevator to catch up with them a couple of floors later.
We had chosen the late seating for dinner when we signed up. That meant 8:30. But we liked it, even though we never eat dinner that late at home. On the ship dinner usually lasted an hour and 15 minutes or more. Tonight was no exception, so we missed the start of the Pirate Party (officially called Pirates in the Caribbean), which kicked off at 9:45. But that was of little concern for Margo and I. We are not big partyers. We hung around for awhile and then went back to the cabin and changed out of our pirate garb. The girls had abandoned us right after dinner. We hung around the cabin for a little while, but did decide to see the finale of the party, the fireworks show, at 11 PM. It was tame as far as fireworks go. Disney does a much better job at their parks, but I imagine they have much greater resources there as well.
That was essentially it for the night. We went back to our cabin, and watched a little TV to wind down, and went to bed. We had had a full day.
Day Seven---December xx, 2007
..and on the Seventh Day God rested...because he was bored.
This would be our second day without a port. Tomorrow would be our last full day of the cruise so we knew the end was in sight. But, it wasn’t here yet, so we still had sun to soak up and things to do. After we slept in, of course. We missed our normal breakfast, but nobody complained. Finding food was not exactly hard. There were several spots up on Deck 9 that served food. There was Goofy’s Galley, that specialized in hamburgers, hot dogs, chicken fingers, and the like. Near by we have Pinocchio’s Pizzeria. Pluto’s Dog House had healthier fare, fruits, light sandwiches, and roll-ups. To counter act that, right next door was the ice cream station.
Margo and I ate at Pluto’s Dog House and the girls went their own direction. Afterwards we sat and people watched for awhile, taking in the beautiful weather and watching the water go by.
With nothing better to do we went to Shutters and the other shops to look around. They really had not changed things since the last time we were there. We did do a little shopping for rememberances and stuff for people back home. We also noticed that the Captain would be down to sign autographs in half an hour or so. We decided to get a Disney Cruise logoed photo album (a bargain at only $20!) to put our 8x10s in, and have the Captain give it his seal of approval. The Captain, Tom Forberg, is from Norway. He signed as “Captain Tom”. The album is nicely done, and we will really enjoy it years from now.
Margo had been completely enamoured by the towel animals our room steward had done for us each night at turndown. We had been greeted by a swan, monkey, dog, and elephant, when we arrived after dinner. When she noticed that there would be a towel folding class, at 2 PM, she was all over it. I wasn’t that interested, but did remember to warn her off buying the book. I told her Santa had a copy, and she took the hint. There was a Pub Trivia contest going on at Diversions at 3 PM, so that was my destination. I like to think I am decent at trivia, so I thought it would be fun. When I got there, I watched the tail end of a Giant Jenga game. Jenga is game where you stack identical blocks of wood in a column. There are three blocks per layer, layed side by side. Then the next layer is laid crossed the layer below. You repeat the process until you have a tower. Then each player takes a turn pulling a block out. They made it to about 30 moves, before it crashed to the ground. I think I heard the record was 32. That had to be on very calm seas. As they got to 30 you have an idea of the nice weather we were having.
Margo and I ate at Pluto’s Dog House and the girls went their own direction. Afterwards we sat and people watched for awhile, taking in the beautiful weather and watching the water go by.
With nothing better to do we went to Shutters and the other shops to look around. They really had not changed things since the last time we were there. We did do a little shopping for rememberances and stuff for people back home. We also noticed that the Captain would be down to sign autographs in half an hour or so. We decided to get a Disney Cruise logoed photo album (a bargain at only $20!) to put our 8x10s in, and have the Captain give it his seal of approval. The Captain, Tom Forberg, is from Norway. He signed as “Captain Tom”. The album is nicely done, and we will really enjoy it years from now.
Margo had been completely enamoured by the towel animals our room steward had done for us each night at turndown. We had been greeted by a swan, monkey, dog, and elephant, when we arrived after dinner. When she noticed that there would be a towel folding class, at 2 PM, she was all over it. I wasn’t that interested, but did remember to warn her off buying the book. I told her Santa had a copy, and she took the hint. There was a Pub Trivia contest going on at Diversions at 3 PM, so that was my destination. I like to think I am decent at trivia, so I thought it would be fun. When I got there, I watched the tail end of a Giant Jenga game. Jenga is game where you stack identical blocks of wood in a column. There are three blocks per layer, layed side by side. Then the next layer is laid crossed the layer below. You repeat the process until you have a tower. Then each player takes a turn pulling a block out. They made it to about 30 moves, before it crashed to the ground. I think I heard the record was 32. That had to be on very calm seas. As they got to 30 you have an idea of the nice weather we were having.
My trivia game was a bit of a letdown. He just asked 20 questions, and we wrote down our answers. No snappy banter or witty comments on the questions. No hilarious psuedoanswers or smart comebacks. He read. We wrote. There were about 20 people, in about 10 groups. Most people were in pairs and played as a team. There was one group of three or four. They won, with 17 of 20. They had the most combined brain power. I came in third with 14 of 20. The second place went a husband and wife couple. But she didn’t appear to be too deeply involved.
Back at the cabin I found our that Margo had had fun at her towel class and that the girls were out watching a movie. Enchanted had premiered yesterday and there were several showings today. It was barely 4 PM, and there was nothing on the schedule that Margo and I wanted to do. We had 4 ½ hours until dinner. We ended up getting a snack to eat and going down to guest services. We had discovered that we had lost our small black luggage cart. We hadn’t missed it until now, when thoughts of packing started to loom larger. In addition to that we wanted to avoid the rush and take care of getting our tips done for our waiter, assistant waiter, room steward, and staff manager. The staff manager (or whatever his real title is), John from Scotland, was essentially Toto and Gavin’s boss in the restaurants. He would handle special arrangements and problems. Other than the macaroni and cheese of the other night, which I have no idea if he was involved in, we had nothing he would have been a part of. But we were supposed to tip him, so we tipped what it said in our handy, dandy guide book. He had introduced himself and stopped by our table once or twice, so at least he wasn’t a stranger. To do the tips, we got vouchers to put in the envelopes that Disney had provided. We would give them to them tomorrow after dinner.
From there we went to Shutters and did our photograph dance. Look for new photos, see if we like them, add them to our collection, rinse, lather, repeat.
There was a 5:45 PM showing of Enchanted and Margo & I decided to go. We liked it. When we talked with the girls later we all decided we loved the chipmunk, Pip. The ending was good too. Again, the kids in the crowd were all well behaved. Margo and I had read up on the Disney cruise, and we had heard time and time again, that you shouldn’t be scared away because there will be a lot of screaming children around. There will be, but that wasn’t the point. The point was that the ship was big enough, and had enough adults only areas that you take the kids in whatever increment you were able to handle. We all had a blast, and a lot of them were just down right cute. You could do a ghost Aunt or Uncle kinda thing (see, no touch) and watch all the cuteness and then if they fall-down-go-boom, and start to cry, you can go get a hamburger and come back later to see how it all turned out.
Back at the cabin I found our that Margo had had fun at her towel class and that the girls were out watching a movie. Enchanted had premiered yesterday and there were several showings today. It was barely 4 PM, and there was nothing on the schedule that Margo and I wanted to do. We had 4 ½ hours until dinner. We ended up getting a snack to eat and going down to guest services. We had discovered that we had lost our small black luggage cart. We hadn’t missed it until now, when thoughts of packing started to loom larger. In addition to that we wanted to avoid the rush and take care of getting our tips done for our waiter, assistant waiter, room steward, and staff manager. The staff manager (or whatever his real title is), John from Scotland, was essentially Toto and Gavin’s boss in the restaurants. He would handle special arrangements and problems. Other than the macaroni and cheese of the other night, which I have no idea if he was involved in, we had nothing he would have been a part of. But we were supposed to tip him, so we tipped what it said in our handy, dandy guide book. He had introduced himself and stopped by our table once or twice, so at least he wasn’t a stranger. To do the tips, we got vouchers to put in the envelopes that Disney had provided. We would give them to them tomorrow after dinner.
From there we went to Shutters and did our photograph dance. Look for new photos, see if we like them, add them to our collection, rinse, lather, repeat.
There was a 5:45 PM showing of Enchanted and Margo & I decided to go. We liked it. When we talked with the girls later we all decided we loved the chipmunk, Pip. The ending was good too. Again, the kids in the crowd were all well behaved. Margo and I had read up on the Disney cruise, and we had heard time and time again, that you shouldn’t be scared away because there will be a lot of screaming children around. There will be, but that wasn’t the point. The point was that the ship was big enough, and had enough adults only areas that you take the kids in whatever increment you were able to handle. We all had a blast, and a lot of them were just down right cute. You could do a ghost Aunt or Uncle kinda thing (see, no touch) and watch all the cuteness and then if they fall-down-go-boom, and start to cry, you can go get a hamburger and come back later to see how it all turned out.
After the movie we headed back to the cabin to change and get ready for dinner. We would be on our second go around at Parrot Cay. Dinner had settled into a routine, and even the girls managed to find something to their liking. Tonight, I had veal for my entrée. This was not a popular choice with any of the girls, and my daughters in particular. They asked me if I knew that veal was “baby cow”? I told them “Yes, but it is yummy, baby cow” This witty response garnered me a couple of dirty looks, and in unison they hopped their chair one jump farther away from me. Margo later claims that they did this just to get closer to each other to work on their crossword puzzle, but I’m telling this story and I say it was in protest to my dinner selection. The veal was yummy.
That crossword puzzle came into play not long after we ordered dinner. Gavin, our assistant server noticed that the girls were huddled together doing the puzzle and chided them for not spending quality time with us. Margo came to their rescue pointing out that we all working the puzzle. And it truth we were. They would routinely ask for help with one or another, and both Margo and I would offer a possibility. Gavin gave in graciously, and went about doing assistant waiter stuff.
There was nothing special going on after dinner, so after our nightly ritual of checking out Shutters, Margo went back to the cabin. The girls went off to socialize a bit, and I just took a walk. After half an hour of so of seeing the same things as the past five days, I decided to go back to the cabin and watch TV, for awhile and then off to bed. I decided I did not like the days at sea. There was just not enough to do that I enjoyed. Tomorrow would be our last full day of the cruise, so good, bad, or ugly we had better enjoy it.
That crossword puzzle came into play not long after we ordered dinner. Gavin, our assistant server noticed that the girls were huddled together doing the puzzle and chided them for not spending quality time with us. Margo came to their rescue pointing out that we all working the puzzle. And it truth we were. They would routinely ask for help with one or another, and both Margo and I would offer a possibility. Gavin gave in graciously, and went about doing assistant waiter stuff.
There was nothing special going on after dinner, so after our nightly ritual of checking out Shutters, Margo went back to the cabin. The girls went off to socialize a bit, and I just took a walk. After half an hour of so of seeing the same things as the past five days, I decided to go back to the cabin and watch TV, for awhile and then off to bed. I decided I did not like the days at sea. There was just not enough to do that I enjoyed. Tomorrow would be our last full day of the cruise, so good, bad, or ugly we had better enjoy it.
Day Eight---December xx, 2007
Beaches, Bikinis, and Luggage
Today would be a day at the beach. More accurately it would be a day on Disney’s private island, Castaway Cay, which had a lot of beach. I got up and after a shower; I headed up to Deck 9 to get Margo a Pepsi. I was greeted by rain. This had been the first we had encountered. It wasn’t bad, and there was blue sky to be seen, so I was hopeful. We had barely arrived at our final port here in the Bahamas, but we wouldn’t be able to get of the boat until 9:30 AM. I went back to the cabin and reported the weather, but an announcement was made that predicted the rain would blow away and a beautiful day was forecast.
The Flying Dutchmen from "The Pirates of the Caribbean"
I ended up eating breakfast alone today. I did manage to find a spot outside. The rain was mostly stopped by now, but most everyplace outside was wet, and there was still plenty of run off from the roof and table umbrellas. My place was barely under the roof, so it was partly dry. I found a dry chair, and ate while getting an occasional spray as a drop would land in the puddle at one part of the table. Still it was warm outside, and I wasn’t going to eat in, unless I had to.
With breakfast done and the others all showered and dressed, we made our way downstairs to get off the ship. The rain had completely stopped by now and there was mostly blue sky. Once off the ship, you had the option of waiting for a tram that would take you to any number of stops, including the far end of the island, where the adults only area was.
We opted to walk. It wasn’t far. We stopped a couple of times to take in the view or read something. But, one thing that everyone was stopping for was to see the Flying Dutchman. The Flying Dutchman is Davy Jones' ship and was seen in the last two Pirates of theCaribbean movies. I beleive I heard that this is the actual ship they used for filming. When they were done, they needed a place to put it, and figured what better spot than out in Caribbean itself. So they put it is out in the lagoon, on a sand bar, but you aren't allowed to approach it, even on a jet ski. Very photogenic, though.
We admired it for awhile, also admiring the stunning turquoise waters and the blue sky. All rain was gone, and it was going to be a beautiful day.
As we wandered up the road, we passed the Post Office, and Marge’s Barge’s. Here you could sign up to parasail or go fishing. Continuing on was Scuttle Cove, where they had the kids activities. Then you arrived at the Castaway Family Beach area. There were a couple of large covered areas for eating, well up from the beach, and several places to get food or drinks. Margo had orders from her doctor not to get sunburned while out on vacation, and I’m not a beach person. I just can’t lie around and do nothing. Not when I’ve traveled so far from home. I would rather see what can’t bee seen from home, or do what can’t be done. We did decide to make camp on one of the picnic tables in the shade. That turned out to be very pleasant. It wasn’t too hot, and turned out to be a good place to people watch. The girls thought this was a terrible idea and were not about to sit up with the old people all day (ungrateful brats) so they went off to see what there was to see.
The Flying Dutchmen from "The Pirates of the Caribbean"
I ended up eating breakfast alone today. I did manage to find a spot outside. The rain was mostly stopped by now, but most everyplace outside was wet, and there was still plenty of run off from the roof and table umbrellas. My place was barely under the roof, so it was partly dry. I found a dry chair, and ate while getting an occasional spray as a drop would land in the puddle at one part of the table. Still it was warm outside, and I wasn’t going to eat in, unless I had to.
With breakfast done and the others all showered and dressed, we made our way downstairs to get off the ship. The rain had completely stopped by now and there was mostly blue sky. Once off the ship, you had the option of waiting for a tram that would take you to any number of stops, including the far end of the island, where the adults only area was.
We opted to walk. It wasn’t far. We stopped a couple of times to take in the view or read something. But, one thing that everyone was stopping for was to see the Flying Dutchman. The Flying Dutchman is Davy Jones' ship and was seen in the last two Pirates of theCaribbean movies. I beleive I heard that this is the actual ship they used for filming. When they were done, they needed a place to put it, and figured what better spot than out in Caribbean itself. So they put it is out in the lagoon, on a sand bar, but you aren't allowed to approach it, even on a jet ski. Very photogenic, though.
We admired it for awhile, also admiring the stunning turquoise waters and the blue sky. All rain was gone, and it was going to be a beautiful day.
As we wandered up the road, we passed the Post Office, and Marge’s Barge’s. Here you could sign up to parasail or go fishing. Continuing on was Scuttle Cove, where they had the kids activities. Then you arrived at the Castaway Family Beach area. There were a couple of large covered areas for eating, well up from the beach, and several places to get food or drinks. Margo had orders from her doctor not to get sunburned while out on vacation, and I’m not a beach person. I just can’t lie around and do nothing. Not when I’ve traveled so far from home. I would rather see what can’t bee seen from home, or do what can’t be done. We did decide to make camp on one of the picnic tables in the shade. That turned out to be very pleasant. It wasn’t too hot, and turned out to be a good place to people watch. The girls thought this was a terrible idea and were not about to sit up with the old people all day (ungrateful brats) so they went off to see what there was to see.
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No long there after, I decided I didn’t want to be with the old people either, and went out to take a look around. Margo was quite content to read her book, and watch the people go by. I first wandered back to the Flying Dutchman to see how close I could get before I encountered a sign, barrier, or person telling me that was it. I never saw a sign or barrier, but a life guard got after me pretty quickly, so I got back across the invisible line, to seek other mischief. I went over to Marge’s Barges to check on parasailing. I figured the last day of vacation was the day to get hurt. But Marge had a crowd, and after 10 minutes I decided to try back later. There were plenty of pretty girls to sneak a looks at. The were also plenty of both sexes who you wondered if they had someone in there lives with enough gumption to tell them to put on more cloths, or to purchase a razor.
Our dinner at Palo. If you're a foodie, this is not to be missed.
There was at least one Sasquatch sighting. Luckily, I do have someone, (Huh, dear) so I caused minimal ocular pollution myself.
More wandering found a place to rent bikes, and a couple of kiosks and stores to buy Disney souvenirs. I found a sign, pointing me deeper into the island jungle, which told of a whale dig going on. But, I decided that the children could probably handle that without my help. Besides, I was getting thirsty. I went back to base camp to see if Margo wanted something. She had water, but would not turn down a Pepsi if I happened to find one. As the drink station was in visual range (which she knew) the chances of that were pretty good. So ten minutes, nine of which was spent in line, later I was back with a beer and a Pepsi.
More people watching, and soon the smell from Cookie’s BBQ was drifting in. I had read one review of Castaway Cay that recommended going back onboard the ship to eat, as your choices on land were limited. Now, I will give you that the number of places to eat was limited. That would be one. But Cookies is a buffet style place with a lot of variety. Gluttony was very easy to achieve, and that was before I discovered the dessert section or the ice cream station. Maybe this was new. The girls had gotten back by now too. They had explored the same general places I had. They had gone deeper into the beach, and checked into the water craft. They had their pretty little hearts set on getting on one of the water trikes. They were only checking with me, because it was my credit card propping up our Keys to the World card, and they didn’t want to spend my money without permission. If it would have been a cash situation, we would be hearing all about it instead of at least getting to witness their nautical stroll.
But they were hungry too, so we all decided to eat. As mentioned, eliminating hunger was not going to be a problem. There also wasn’t going to be a problem with crowding. More people were using the covered areas. But there was plenty of room. We ate and chatted. Margo would ask “Did you see the guy……” Or “Did you see the swimsuit on that lady?”, and we would take turns, in time honored tradition, questioning some aspect of our fellow cruisers appearance. Hey, It’s tradition, and who were we to break with tradition. With our lunch completed the girls went off to the beach. I stayed to spend time with my wife, less she get lonely. But, she wasn’t. Her book was good, and after getting her a refill I decided to take the camera and take a few pictures.
I saw several of the water trikes out in the water, and I was pretty sure one of them was the girls. But, as they were out past where my eyesight could distinguish for sure, I went back up to the Flying Dutchman to capture that instead. A few more stops and I figured I had killed enough time for the girls to get back. I had, in that I could now tell which one was theirs. Fifteen minutes or so later they were with in range and I got a couple of pictures of them. When then beached their craft they told me that a fish had been following them. I mused that it was probably a shark hoping one of them would fall in, making for an easy meal. After we had gotten the trike up onto the beach, they went off to check out the shops. I decided to go back to base camp and find another beer.
That proved to be a good idea and I sat around with Margo watch people and nursing my beer. Once that was finished it dawned on me that I hadn’t revisited Marge, so back towards the ship I went. I got there and the guy there was talking with a couple who were also interested in parasailing. He told them that the last one was scheduled to leave in tem minutes. I had no hope of getting back to Margo, finding the girls, and then getting back. I chalked it up to missed opportunity and went back to base camp.
Our dinner at Palo. If you're a foodie, this is not to be missed.
There was at least one Sasquatch sighting. Luckily, I do have someone, (Huh, dear) so I caused minimal ocular pollution myself.
More wandering found a place to rent bikes, and a couple of kiosks and stores to buy Disney souvenirs. I found a sign, pointing me deeper into the island jungle, which told of a whale dig going on. But, I decided that the children could probably handle that without my help. Besides, I was getting thirsty. I went back to base camp to see if Margo wanted something. She had water, but would not turn down a Pepsi if I happened to find one. As the drink station was in visual range (which she knew) the chances of that were pretty good. So ten minutes, nine of which was spent in line, later I was back with a beer and a Pepsi.
More people watching, and soon the smell from Cookie’s BBQ was drifting in. I had read one review of Castaway Cay that recommended going back onboard the ship to eat, as your choices on land were limited. Now, I will give you that the number of places to eat was limited. That would be one. But Cookies is a buffet style place with a lot of variety. Gluttony was very easy to achieve, and that was before I discovered the dessert section or the ice cream station. Maybe this was new. The girls had gotten back by now too. They had explored the same general places I had. They had gone deeper into the beach, and checked into the water craft. They had their pretty little hearts set on getting on one of the water trikes. They were only checking with me, because it was my credit card propping up our Keys to the World card, and they didn’t want to spend my money without permission. If it would have been a cash situation, we would be hearing all about it instead of at least getting to witness their nautical stroll.
But they were hungry too, so we all decided to eat. As mentioned, eliminating hunger was not going to be a problem. There also wasn’t going to be a problem with crowding. More people were using the covered areas. But there was plenty of room. We ate and chatted. Margo would ask “Did you see the guy……” Or “Did you see the swimsuit on that lady?”, and we would take turns, in time honored tradition, questioning some aspect of our fellow cruisers appearance. Hey, It’s tradition, and who were we to break with tradition. With our lunch completed the girls went off to the beach. I stayed to spend time with my wife, less she get lonely. But, she wasn’t. Her book was good, and after getting her a refill I decided to take the camera and take a few pictures.
I saw several of the water trikes out in the water, and I was pretty sure one of them was the girls. But, as they were out past where my eyesight could distinguish for sure, I went back up to the Flying Dutchman to capture that instead. A few more stops and I figured I had killed enough time for the girls to get back. I had, in that I could now tell which one was theirs. Fifteen minutes or so later they were with in range and I got a couple of pictures of them. When then beached their craft they told me that a fish had been following them. I mused that it was probably a shark hoping one of them would fall in, making for an easy meal. After we had gotten the trike up onto the beach, they went off to check out the shops. I decided to go back to base camp and find another beer.
That proved to be a good idea and I sat around with Margo watch people and nursing my beer. Once that was finished it dawned on me that I hadn’t revisited Marge, so back towards the ship I went. I got there and the guy there was talking with a couple who were also interested in parasailing. He told them that the last one was scheduled to leave in tem minutes. I had no hope of getting back to Margo, finding the girls, and then getting back. I chalked it up to missed opportunity and went back to base camp.
It was getting to be around 4 PM by now. We didn’t have to be on until 5, but as Margo pointed out we had a lot of packing to do. While we had been getting ready this morning we had the TV tuned to the ship information channel. Among the tidbits of information was that we had to have all our luggage, they we weren’t planning on carrying ourselves outside our cabin by 11 PM. We had brought 7 large bags, plus several carry ons. We are on the 7th deck. We would have to horse all of that down to wherever we ate, mind it while we ate, and then carry it off ourselves. That was an easy decision, let someone else do it. But, over the course of our last week we had unpacked all of those bags, and added lots of new goodies to put in them. Margo does jigsaw puzzles at home. Tonight she was going to have to use that skill just to get everything in, with the possibility of no damage. I could offer moral support and then move the packed bags. The girls could help by being in another part of the ship. We’ve done this before and it works. Margo is the Luggage Master; we are mere slaves or observers.
So in order to get the equivalent of a small gift shop into our luggage, and maybe eat dinner sometime we decided to go back to the ship. There was fair line of people with the same idea where we had gotten off. That was the aft part of the ship. But 200 yard forward, at the front of the ship, I noticed there was almost no one. Half thinking that it probably wasn’t open, explaining the lack of line, we walked that way anyway. But it was open, and the crew there was wondering why no one was taking advantage of this second point. They had just dispatched someone to yell “Hey, you can down there too!”, and start a stampede. But as we had a considerable head start I was not concerned.
We got on and got back to our cabin. There was going to be a farewell performance in the Walt Disney Theater called “Remember the Magic”. It sounded like fun, and I bounced the idea off the Luggage Master. She mulled it over and thought she should be able to get it done. I reminded her that we still had to distribute our restaurant tips. But we were figuring to go find them before the early seating tonight and take care of it then. So up to the cabin we went. Margo began doing her magic. I went to fetch a Pepsi. The girls gathered up their stuff and laid out what they would need for the next day both to wear and use in their morning beauty ritual. Being a natural beauty myself, I did not have much to contribute there.
Not too long after I got back, we broke for dinner. Tonight we had a 7:00 reservation at Palo, Disney’s upscale restaurant. It features Northern Italian cuisine, and the service is supposed to be perfect. We got ready and arrived a little early hoping to get seated early. We were. This kind of food is generally wasted on us. None of us have a sophisticated palate. Both girls had them make up a Pasta Alfredo type of dish for them, because they really didn’t see anything on the menu they wanted. I had chicken and Margo had the filet mignon. All of it was great. The food everywhere was really well done. But Palo was more so. We kind of hurried through it, which I think disappointed our server, but we were on our time.
So in order to get the equivalent of a small gift shop into our luggage, and maybe eat dinner sometime we decided to go back to the ship. There was fair line of people with the same idea where we had gotten off. That was the aft part of the ship. But 200 yard forward, at the front of the ship, I noticed there was almost no one. Half thinking that it probably wasn’t open, explaining the lack of line, we walked that way anyway. But it was open, and the crew there was wondering why no one was taking advantage of this second point. They had just dispatched someone to yell “Hey, you can down there too!”, and start a stampede. But as we had a considerable head start I was not concerned.
We got on and got back to our cabin. There was going to be a farewell performance in the Walt Disney Theater called “Remember the Magic”. It sounded like fun, and I bounced the idea off the Luggage Master. She mulled it over and thought she should be able to get it done. I reminded her that we still had to distribute our restaurant tips. But we were figuring to go find them before the early seating tonight and take care of it then. So up to the cabin we went. Margo began doing her magic. I went to fetch a Pepsi. The girls gathered up their stuff and laid out what they would need for the next day both to wear and use in their morning beauty ritual. Being a natural beauty myself, I did not have much to contribute there.
Not too long after I got back, we broke for dinner. Tonight we had a 7:00 reservation at Palo, Disney’s upscale restaurant. It features Northern Italian cuisine, and the service is supposed to be perfect. We got ready and arrived a little early hoping to get seated early. We were. This kind of food is generally wasted on us. None of us have a sophisticated palate. Both girls had them make up a Pasta Alfredo type of dish for them, because they really didn’t see anything on the menu they wanted. I had chicken and Margo had the filet mignon. All of it was great. The food everywhere was really well done. But Palo was more so. We kind of hurried through it, which I think disappointed our server, but we were on our time.
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We needed to go see Toto and Gavin. We got there, and got someone’s attention to open the door. We found everyone, said our good byes and Jolene cried. She always gets emotional at good bye. The rest of us laughed at her. We had only met them a week ago. It was certainly worthy of sadness, but actual tears, I don’t know. But it was over, and then we got something to eat.
From there Margo and I left around 8:15 to catch the 8:30 performance. The girls were just not interested, even though we told them how funny John Charles had been. Not interested. OK, they’re on vacation, too. In addition to John Charles, the musician/comedian, Michael Harrison the ventriloquist we had not had the opportunity to see, would be doing a set too.
John Charles did not disappoint. He had different material, toned down a notch as this was the “family” show, as opposed to the “cabaret” show we had seen. Of course a Disney Cabaret show might rate PG-13 if you saw it in the local cinema back home. He did a song called “I’ve got the Cleanest Hands in the World” sung to the tune of “He’s got the Whole World in his Hands”. This was a joke on Disney’s hygienic practice of passing out hand wipes before and after every meal, and then having self-serve stations everywhere. They were out to assassinate any bug that might cause disease on their ship. He also did a Hannah Montana song, which as a 44 year old, with adult daughters, I had never heard. But, at least I knew who she was, and his parting shot of asking the crowd to tell her to sing a “John Charles” song, now that he had been pestered into doing one of her’s, as it was only fair, also made sense.
It was over too quick and then Michael Harrison got up. He did most of his act by turning a 10 year old boy volunteer from the audience into his puppet. He put a special mask on him, that he could manipulate the jaw, so he could speak, and then added other props. The kid’s job was basically just to sit there. But Michael would ask him questions like “Do you like girls” 10 year old boy would be shaking his head “No”, while his mouth was contradicting him. This went on for most of his set, and is much funnier than I can do justice here. After him the show was basically over. A few bad jokes from the cruise director, and a few good bys, a left handed sales pitch, and we were on our way.
We had to get back to the cabin, but we needed to pick up our final pictures. They had taken our picture at Palo and were going to rush them through. We saw Marin nearby and I was able to chat with her for just a minute. She always seemed busy. I found out more about her than I did St. Petersburg (She was transferring to the Queen Mary in NY, after this cruise and would be going to school in NYC), but at least I got ask a question. We got our pictures and went back to the cabin.
From this point it was a rush to the finish. As Margo would finish one bag I would put it out. The first couple came hard, but as there were fewer and fewer things to pack, decisions became easier and bags filled up quicker. Soon she was done, and I had all bags outside. We were tired. Our nightly TV wind down, and off to bed. Tomorrow we would be going home.
From there Margo and I left around 8:15 to catch the 8:30 performance. The girls were just not interested, even though we told them how funny John Charles had been. Not interested. OK, they’re on vacation, too. In addition to John Charles, the musician/comedian, Michael Harrison the ventriloquist we had not had the opportunity to see, would be doing a set too.
John Charles did not disappoint. He had different material, toned down a notch as this was the “family” show, as opposed to the “cabaret” show we had seen. Of course a Disney Cabaret show might rate PG-13 if you saw it in the local cinema back home. He did a song called “I’ve got the Cleanest Hands in the World” sung to the tune of “He’s got the Whole World in his Hands”. This was a joke on Disney’s hygienic practice of passing out hand wipes before and after every meal, and then having self-serve stations everywhere. They were out to assassinate any bug that might cause disease on their ship. He also did a Hannah Montana song, which as a 44 year old, with adult daughters, I had never heard. But, at least I knew who she was, and his parting shot of asking the crowd to tell her to sing a “John Charles” song, now that he had been pestered into doing one of her’s, as it was only fair, also made sense.
It was over too quick and then Michael Harrison got up. He did most of his act by turning a 10 year old boy volunteer from the audience into his puppet. He put a special mask on him, that he could manipulate the jaw, so he could speak, and then added other props. The kid’s job was basically just to sit there. But Michael would ask him questions like “Do you like girls” 10 year old boy would be shaking his head “No”, while his mouth was contradicting him. This went on for most of his set, and is much funnier than I can do justice here. After him the show was basically over. A few bad jokes from the cruise director, and a few good bys, a left handed sales pitch, and we were on our way.
We had to get back to the cabin, but we needed to pick up our final pictures. They had taken our picture at Palo and were going to rush them through. We saw Marin nearby and I was able to chat with her for just a minute. She always seemed busy. I found out more about her than I did St. Petersburg (She was transferring to the Queen Mary in NY, after this cruise and would be going to school in NYC), but at least I got ask a question. We got our pictures and went back to the cabin.
From this point it was a rush to the finish. As Margo would finish one bag I would put it out. The first couple came hard, but as there were fewer and fewer things to pack, decisions became easier and bags filled up quicker. Soon she was done, and I had all bags outside. We were tired. Our nightly TV wind down, and off to bed. Tomorrow we would be going home.