Trip Report Surviving the Fantasy - Making the most of moments before they're gone...

Maybe other parents of teenagers can relate to yet another "season" of parenthood when your teenagers are busy people and time with them becomes less and less. You realize that the time you thought you had to do all those little things you put off when your kiddos were younger is growing ever-so short. Why does time speed up?! Ugh!

This trip was a journey of adversity before we ever left home. So many little things popped up that potentially jeopardized the whole trip beginning months prior. Even when intuition kept poking me and trying to tell me this trip isn't the thing to do, the petulant child in me refused to give in or give up. We went, by God, in the face of all the adversity that life could throw us we went. After all, time stops for no one. My boys and my brother's girls aren't getting younger and their individual lives aren't getting simpler. My favorite "big guys" in the whole world, my husband and big brother, aren't growing younger any faster than I am. Dues had to be paid, I suppose, for my stubborn nature and pay them I did. Looking back I have no regrets. I made it through with warm memories and fantastical stories to tell of our amazing adventure. Oh yes. We survived the Fantasy. No, we kicked the Fantasy's butt because we didn't let it kick ours. We went to places I never imagined I'd go and we did things I never thought I'd say I did. We did it all together as a family, a big, crazy family out to make the most of the moments we have before they're all gone.



Who?
-Me, the SweetPee
-Tracey, the devoted/entertaining husband
-Chandler, my 17 yro son
-Brian, my 15 yro son
-Jerry, my older brother (@obrienIII)
-Sydney, my 16 yro niece
-Sarah, my 14 yro niece

What?
-Family vacation, baby!

Where?
-2 nights @ Pop Century
-7 night Disney Fantasy Western Cruise (Grand Cayman, Costa Maya, Cozumel, & Castaway Cay)

When?
-May 23, 2013 - June 1, 2013



So come along with me for a wild ride of highs & lows, teenager-filled fun, amazing activities, and wild rides. You won't be disappointed!

But first....@obrienIII....I have a question: Exactly what would you do if I posted some of those forbidden pictures in my report? I would like to calculate my options.

 

[iloverags2]

Wow! Julian is truly talented! Love how he can balance that bottle and drink on his nose...very impressive! Good thing you had him teaching your class...sounds like the classmates themselves could have used a lesson in etiquette 101. *sigh* What can you do about the general public? Blah.

Love the fun you all had on formal night...way to take it up a notch and go with your own flow! Glad you were able to enjoy the rest of the day.

 

[tiaragirl]

Two quick things before I head out to work:
1) For a sick person, you are ROCKING that dress! I love it!
2) It seems most unfair that your under agers get offered drinks, while me and my friends were ID'd for just SITTING in one of the clubs when we were 19 and 20!

 

[dragwit]

Loving the report, except for the fact that a few of you got sick! I'm glad you could medicine up and still have fun!

 

[sweetpee_1993]

You are really cracking me up today, and I totally needed it! My daughter got her tonsils out this am, and after a pretty rough couple of hours ; we are now comfortably ensconced on the couch at home. In between offers of jello, pudding and popsicles; I desperately needed a happy distraction. And there was your trip report!

I love the "Holy crap that's Cuba" photo, I laughed out loud and then your little rant on the trucker hat; hilarious, what was with that lady? Sorry you were sick, but so far it sounds like you powered through...Hopefully that keeps up.

You need your own blog...Well maybe you already have one. If you don't, just know that your writing is great, you're so funny! I hope you add more soon. I will be here, on the couch with my little one the next two to three days...

Oh no! I hope your daughter is on the mend soon! Jerry had his tonsils out when he was a teenager. I remember his voice sounded all weird and stuff when he got home. We didn't make fun of him and his misfortune at all... noooooo... LOL!

Definitely trying to power thru on the sickness. I'm telling you, I oftentimes would forget Jerry was just as sick as me because he's so much tougher with it.

"Holy crap! That's Cuba!" Yeah! I was thrilled beyond words. When the kids came to the rooms we were all geeked-out: "Go out there and tell me what you see?!" They'd come back with: "Land?" Then we'd show them it's CUBA!!! I'm not sure if they were nearly as impressed as us. LOL!

Nope on my own blog. I should do it, I know, but I haven't. I also keep saying I'm going to publish these reports to hard-bound books but that hasn't happened yet either. I really do need to do the book thing. I should preserve the stories and memories.

Wow! Julian is truly talented! Love how he can balance that bottle and drink on his nose...very impressive! Good thing you had him teaching your class...sounds like the classmates themselves could have used a lesson in etiquette 101. *sigh* What can you do about the general public? Blah.

Love the fun you all had on formal night...way to take it up a notch and go with your own flow! Glad you were able to enjoy the rest of the day.

Julian was really cool. I felt so bad about him having to deal with the flaky-folks but he managed with such grace. Something tells me the man has seen and heard it all in his career.

Two quick things before I head out to work:
1) For a sick person, you are ROCKING that dress! I love it!
2) It seems most unfair that your under agers get offered drinks, while me and my friends were ID'd for just SITTING in one of the clubs when we were 19 and 20!

1) Thank you! I love that dress! It's very forgiving!
2) LOL! You got ID'd sitting in a club!!!! Now that I think about it, I'm not entirely sure what the actual rules are on DCL. I know they aren't supposed to serve anyone under 21. I wonder, though, if they're okay with parents handing the kids a drink in the public spaces. Some states within the US allow this. I remember when I was first married at 19 years old, when we were in Texas I could have drinks in the public if I was with Tracey who was 21.

Loving the report, except for the fact that a few of you got sick! I'm glad you could medicine up and still have fun!

We managed to pull through, that's for sure. It must've been good for us to keep saying, "I'd do it again tomorrow, sick and all!"

 

[sweetpee_1993]

May 27 - Just keep swimming...just keep swimming...in GRAND CAYMAN, BABY!!!




I woke up at 5:00 feeling like I was dying. I took some meds and layed back down. Continued to sleep until 8:00.

Everyone got up, dressed, & up to Cabanas for breakfast at about 8:45. I had some Starbucks Via & muesli for breakfast. I love the DCL muesli. I wish I knew how they made it.




My notes say I *may* have had a doughnut, too.

We returned to the staterooms, sunblocked up, and grabbed all our gear for the day. We got down to the tender line-up outside Animator's Palate at about 10:00. It was already a pretty long line! We have never had to use tenders to reach the pier in port before so all of this was new to us. We had a little extra level of nerves on top of that because we had booked our activity for the day on our own, not with the cruise line. What do we do when we wait in line??? Yoooouu guessed it!

It's a butt!




The butt is coming cloooooser!




Yes, unflattering pics of poor parental units happen when teens have cameras.




Are y'all ready?! I'll take this as a yes.




This, too.




Unflattering pic revenge!




Still waiting to go...




Do you need something, Brian???




Ooooohh...there's more than 1 butt out there now.




The line started moving before long and we shuffled into Animator's. They handed out tender tickets at the door. They had chairs lined up with their backs to the tiled path thru the restaurant so we were corraled thru like cattle. The monitors in Animator's were playing classic Disney cartoons which was great for keeping everyone pacified. There were only a few pauses as we passed thru the restaurant.





By 10:30 we had walked down the aft stairs, thru the tender lobby, and were sitting down on a tender boat. I was really excited because I'd seen pics of the ship taken from the tender boats. I was anxious to see the ship in a whole new way! See it, we DID! Isn't she majestic?!

 

[TrolleyFollower91]

Your family seems like such a hoot- makes me want to take a cruise with y'all! I've only done the Alaska cruise on the Wonder but I desperately want to go on the other ships- your TR is confirming that the Fantasy will be the next one!

 

[sweetpee_1993]

Jerry took pics of everyone on the tender this morning. We were all so jazzed. Even the God-awful cooties Jerry & I had couldn't keep us down!




I don't think they were intentionally impersonating one and other but, oddly, they're doing it....




Own it, Sarah! You go, girl!




It's just the Fantasy's aft. It's a cute aft, isn't it?




Full aft shot.




Is there really such thing as too much aft?




Ahoy! There be pirates out here!





So like a big dumby I didn't take any pics of the little port area right at the pier. We got off the tender quickly. Only 1 tender had been ahead of us and that was all passengers on DCL excursions. I think every one of those poor people were now in some lineup standing out in the blazing sun just steps off the pier. We walked past them and I admit, I was gloating silently inside at my cleverness at avoiding the excursion herds.

A little explanation. When I knew what our ports were we started studying each port and popular activities for each. We discussed the many options for months. At first Tracey was extremely reluctant to book anything outside the cruise line for a few reasons. The biggest of these was if whoever your activity was with didn't get you back to the pier in time the ships will not wait for you. They do if you're with the cruise line excursions. They DON'T if you aren't. I studied and studied the various activities. I spent hours and hours digging thru websites seaking out reviews and information. With all my due-dilligence I felt like I lined us up some great things to do at prices that mostly beat what the cruise line offered. Today was a great example of that.

If we'd booked a snorkel tour to Stingray City through the cruise line at $50 each, we'd have spent $350 for the 7 of us. Well, we found a highly rated private charter that put all 7 of us on a boat by ourselves for $500. $150 to avoid the lineups and the waiting around as well as the feeling of being herded about in groups of 30, 40, or 50 people was totally worth it to us. Jerry & I split the charter at $250 each then brought an extra $50 each to tip if the tour was great. I felt like we did great!

We met our charter operator, Native Way Watersports, right there in the middle of the cruise port center. We waited maybe 10 minutes for another group of guests that were also coming for another boat. We all loaded up in a mini-bus and were on our way towards the marina where we were to launch from.

I got to sit shotgun to the driver! I was totally enthralled by the fact that the steering wheel was on the WRONG side!




Oops! Is that a Carnival towel in that seat?! TskTskTsk! Then we passed a cemetary:




We also passed the famous Seven Mile Beach which we were informed is actually only about 5.5 miles but who's counting, right???

We made a pitstop for rum to go in our rum punch. I thought that was pretty awesome, stopping at a liquor store on the way to our charter. We're rollin' with it, folks.

Oooooh...and we drove on the wrong side of the road!!!




Grand Cayman is under British rule so they do the wrong sides like they do across the big pond from us. LOL! I watched as we drove along and imagined how totally backwards I would be in a manual shift car not only on the wrong side of the road but having to use the wrong hand to shift. That could be BAD.

We were on our boat with our captain for the day, Chris, and shoved off by 11:30. Jerry spotted some fishing poles on the boat right away and asked if Chris had been fishing that morning. Yep. Jerry does a lot of offshore fishing out of Pensacola so he was all fishing jibber jabber. Chris put out a couple lines while we headed out just to see if anything would bite. I thought that was pretty cool because fishing was never mentioned when I booked our charter.




On our way out to our first snorkel stop.





I took the opportunity to catch up my notes.

 

[sweetpee_1993]

Our first stop was to snorkel over a bunch of starfishies. The water here was about 12' or so. I hopped in first. Here's the kids getting their masks & snorkels on.




Kelly's toes see the starfishies!





Oooooh...I see our butt!




Hi, Tracey!




Our captain, Chris, had gotten in the water, too, and brought up a starfishy for us. Sarah has the starfishy!




Chris handed me a conch! You could see the critter down in there, too!




Sydney with the starfishy.




What's with my face?! Ack! I have a conch AND a starfishy!




Snorkelin' about.




Sydney has an old sea biscuit (skeleton) and Sarah has a sand dollar.




This is what the sea biscuit critters look like when they're still alive.




See it next to the skeleton one?




Sarah held both. She said you could feel the alive one moving against her hand. She said it was cool!




Brian held it, too, to see what it felt like.

 

[sweetpee_1993]

We snorkeled probably half and hour or so. It was really a lot of fun. But, we have other stops to make.




The kids made themselves nice and toasty in the sun on our way to the next stop.




Where to next? It's Stingray City Sandbar!




This is really a popular place so there's lots of boats and people here already. Jerry video'd part of Chris swinging our boat into position. He did really good.




Recently I read a little history about Grand Cayman's Stingray City. There's actually two locations where people go to see them, both in the North Sound. The original spot is 10'-15' deep and a great place to snorkel or dive. The other, where we went, is a sandbar that's shallow enough to stand up. Both spots are where dozens and dozens of Southern Stingrays (yes, that still have their barbs) naturally come to congregate. It's a learned behavior. One would think they learned to come here over generations for the tourists to feed them but that's not how it started. Nope. Local lore says that when the fishermen used to come in from fishing they'd anchor-up out in the North Sound inside the reef and clean their catch. The stingrays learned to come feed on the scraps that were plopped into the water over the side of the boats. Over time people started swimming with them, diving and snorkeling. The stingrays have learned this behavior over many generations so they aren't really aggressive. They're accustomed to being handled so they're fine with it. They're used to being around lots of people.

Before we hopped in the water Chris gave us the stingray shuffle bit. You don't want to walk around like normal. Keep your feet down and shuffle so you don't step on any rays.





The rays are litterally all around you all the time and it's just mind-blowing! This video is like 14 minutes long but it's good all the way thru. Parts of it still crack me up.




I admit, it is kinda freaky at first. Truly. They're sooooo big!

Chris grabbed a big female to show us.




He showed us her barb intact.




Then he let Tracey hold her. I love this pic! The girls faces are priceless!




You gotta kiss a ray for 10 years good luck! I'm all about stupid-stitions!






Sydney held our big momma ray, too.





And kissed her for luck!

 

[sweetpee_1993]

Sarah's turn! She was so funny! It is very freaky because the stingray was huuuuge but she was brave and did it! I love her expressive face, though. Awesome memories to capture!





Sarah kissed her so fast, I missed it. Jerry has it on video, though.





Brian held the big momma stingray.





Going in for the good luck smooch.




Good job!




You knew I wasn't going to miss out on the fun!






Oh yeah! Kissin' me up some luck, too!




Chandler never left the back of the boat. He wasn't down with the stingrays at all. His feet aren't even in the water! LOL!

 

[sweetpee_1993]

Tracey wanted to get some underwater shots of the stingrays.






You can see the barb pretty good in this one.




And this one!




Sooooo many!





And they're totally docile. They swim right up against you rubbing their bodies along you and letting you touch them. It's really awesome. If I had to describe how they feel, it's like a wet mushroom feels.






Chris told us in the beginning it was best to wait until the end to feed them because it causes a bit of a frenzy. I'd say it did. You can see that in Jerry's video above, too!




Here's Jerry with food and the stingrays will rush to get it.




See how they come when the food is in the water?




Kelly's toes goes to Stingray City!




We spent probably 1/2 an hour or so with the rays. We had some sprinklies while we were there but the weather was great. You can kinda see where the reef is waaaay out there as we were pulling away. When you're there you can see it more clearly because you see waves rolling in on the water but then they get to that line and stop. That's where the reef is.

 

[joanna71985]

I love the tender pictures! The Fantasy looks so pretty

 

[englanddg]

You could definitely tell Nigel was supposed to be there. There's little holes in the shutters where he should've been. My guess? Some helicopter parent let their little "angel" hang on him and broke him. That's just my guess. We definitely had a pretty good rest of the day!

Yeesh. See, this is why we can't have nice things!

 

[PartOfYourWorld]

Cousins are so awesome! I agree! One of my cousins is how I even found WDWMagic! That makes cousins even BETTER!

Cruising is amaaaaaazing! Yes, things can go awry that cause it to be less amazing at times but that can happen on any vacation. We took our first Disney cruise in September 2011. It's been less than 2 years and we just completed our 5th sailing. FIVE!!!! Isn't that nuts???? Come September I will be on 2 more cruises in the span of 2 weeks. So by the time I end September I'll have completed 7 sailings. Addictive? Juuuust a little. Not much. Nah.

We so would've opted for the Eastern, too. The Eastern is where St. Maarten and Maho Beach are. Tracey is such an aviation freak. One of his bucket list things to do is to sit on Maho Beach for a 747 flyover. Thanksgiving week this year we're booked on an Eastern on Royal Caribbean's Allure of the Seas (giganto-ship) with all of Tracey's family. They won't cruise Disney. We thought by doing the Western on Disney then the Eastern with RCI we'd have the Caribbean covered. The problem is when I go to these places I find so much cool stuff that it can't be done in 1 cruise. So now we gotta go back. Addictive. Juuuuust a little. LOL!

Oh yes, I've been sick on vacation too, it's awful, but you make the most of it! 5! That means you're Gold Castaway Club members now right? Getting all the awesome perks!

LOL! Cruises go to so many places it's crazy! I think we are going to stick with an Eastern...it has more sea days too which I think we would like to enjoy the ship! When you go back on the Fantasy after our dream cruise is it Western again or Eastern?

Looks like you guys had a lot of fun in Grand Cayman on that tour! Sounds like a lot of fun to swim with the stingrays! The whole time you're in water that you can stand in without going under right?

How was is getting onto those tender boats? It seems so strange that the boat has to port in the middle of the ocean!

 

[sweetpee_1993]

Our 3rd and final stop was at the Coral Gardens. There was some incredible snorkeling here. Kelly's toes goes to the Coral Gardens to swim with the fishies!




The water here was maybe 12' deep. There was so many fishes to see.





Toes-n-coral.








Tracey in the distance and Brian closer in.




From left to right: Sydney, Chandler, and Jerry.




Jerry feeding the fishies.




Brian in the distance. Jerry to the right.




The snorkeling was soooo good here.










Brian




Sarah




I have some video that Jerry shot while we were here but he moves around soooo much it almost makes me seasick to watch it. Ugh!

 

[sweetpee_1993]

We snorkeled at the Coral Gardens for probably half an hour to 45 minutes. It was really beautiful and we saw a lot of fish. On the way back towards the marina Chris threw some lines back out. We still didn't catch anything but it looked like something took a bite out of the bait.

On the way into the marina we saw a bunch of iguanas sunning themselves. We were so enthralled with the big ol' fat iguanas just laying around.





Chris said the iguanas are eeeeeverywhere. We even noticed some yards on the water that had these little fences up to try to keep the iguanas out.

Once we got back to the marina we took a group shot for posterity with Chris.




We had a fantastic time! Chris was an excellent captain and guide! I would recommend Native Way Watersports to anyone!

One of the owners drove us back to the pier. Sharon was super friendly. She's from New York, actually, and married a native Camanian. She took us a different route back that was more through the common areas of the island, not just the touristy areas. I like to see the way the natives live. We rode by the dump, the water treatment plant, etc. and I found it all fascinating. I've seen where some people don't like to see areas that are less pretty or desirable when the visit different islands. Some are bothered by the poverty that they see or the different way of life with simple structures, etc. I'm not bothered by this type of thing. I mean, those people can be just as happy in their lean-to's as we are in our big houses. I know I've been just as happy in simple flats as I have any of the homes we've had. I find seeing all the different ways people live to be utterly fascinating. I prefer to see it, actually.

Along the way we noticed all the iguanas, many squished in the roadway. Sharon said iguanas are like the Grand Cayman squirrels. They're eeeeeverywhere! We thought that was really wild!

Sharon dropped us off near the pier at about 3:30. The last tender/all-aboard time was 4:30. We didn't have a whole lot of time but we really did want to go see the Margaritaville in Grand Cayman. We didn't have time to eat or anything but we did grab some tshirts from the shop.

Margaritaville is across from the pier area in a shopping center.





Pics for posterity!





We hurried back across and hopped on a tender. We saw our Tennessee buddies from mixology in passing which was cool. On the way back...such a nice aft to behold...




In case we forget where we are.




We were all bad kiddies before we left the tender. We all reached out and touched the exterior of the ship. Eek! Bad kiddies!!!

We were back onboard at 3:45 with time to spare! Woot!

 

[Kristia]

Loving your report as always Kelly! You are such a great storyteller! So sorry you were sick for your trip. That really stinks. I am glad that you were able to muscle through the first of your excursions. That looks like a great one. Those stingrays are HUGE! In the one picture it looks like one is climbing on top of your brother! Everytime I read a cruise trip report it makes me want to go again so bad. Have you been on a non-Disney one yet? I know you said one is in the works. I am just wondering how they compare. I am not sure I want to go on a non-Disney one! I can't think of all I wanted to comment on since I read most of the report this morning during breaks at work. Loving it all! Keep it coming!

 

[iloverags2]

Excellent snorkeling in GC! Glad you had an awesome time...seems like maybe it got your mind off feeling icky even if only for a short while.

 

[DisneyDebNJ]

LOVE this!!!!!! The closest I got to stingrays was at Sea World! LOL I would love to do something like this!! Glad to see you started to feel better!!!

 

[sweetpee_1993]

Sarah was itching to ride the Aqua Duck. I went with her to go ride while everyone else started the shower lineup. While we were gone it looks like pics were taken off our verandahs.





The waters of Grand Cayman are so gorgeous. They still beckon us back for more.

I showered, dried my hair, and dressed as we pulled off from Grand Cayman. I'd like to pause right here to talk to the gals out there who fight the frizzies with their hair. Prior to the cruise I had a Brazillian Blowout Zero done. It's "Zero" because it has only trace amounts of formaldahyde in it vs. the regular blowout. Anywhoo, I wanted to try to blowout because fighting the frizz with all my long hair is such a pain. Normally I'd have to dry it which took at least a half hour then straighten it in sections which took another half hour to 45 minutes. When you're in and out of the water it's a nightmare to try to keep it smooth and nice. That's why I spent the money to try the blowout prior to the cruise. The "Zero" doesn't eliminate the curl entirely like the regular Brazillian Blowout but it eliminates the frizz. And it WORKS! I was hesitant to spend an extra $400 on my hair right before vacation. I casually mentioned being on the fence about it to Tracey. After I explained what it was he was like, "My God! Why wouldn't you do it?! Think of all the time you'll save!" Indeed. It's worth it. Totally. After washing my hair (yes, with the BB products) all I had to do was work in a little leave-in conditioner and blowdry. That's it. Frizz-free and smooth. WORTH IT! I had it done over a month ago and it's still working just fine. I'm hoping to do it again before my next adventure. So, to the ladies, if you have long, frizzy, or difficult hair the Brazillian Blowouts may be something to consider to shorten your beauty routine considerably. Now, back to the progam...

Tracey & I ran down to Whitcaps for more of the Contac and Halls drops. I was so afraid of running out. I'm pretty sure the Contac only came with like 4 doses that you needed to take every 5 hours. I want to say it cost just under $4. Eh, $1 per dose was worth it. It worked so well and didn't zonk me out. Meds in hand we went up to the Cove Cafe, a specialty coffee shop by the adult area on deck 11, to get me a hot cafe mocha. They made it perfectly as requested: extra sweet & 120F. There's a punch card you can get at the Cove Cafe. It's hard to remember now but I think it was 6 punches and you got a free beverage. Definitely will be back!

On our way back to the stateroom we detoured past the deck 5, aft laundry room. All the machines were empty so we hurried on back to grab up all the laundry for everyone. I felt bad waking Jerry for their laundry. He needed another dose of meds which I made him take. Tracey and I started 5 loads of wash. Between loads we returned to the stateroom where I cleaned all the pics off my iPhone and waterproof camera. We returned to the laundry to switch the loads. Back to the stateroom to throw on my sundress for dinner.

On the way to dinner at Royal Court, never too many pics of the atrium chandelier.




We ordered some cocktails with our dinner. Mine was some sort of citrus-heavy something w/the alcohol. My throat was so sore already. That drink felt like acid going down my throat. I don't think I could even really taste it. It was all sip-n-fire.




They had the Shutters photogs making the rounds tonight.




Royal Court is the home of the French onion soup!




I had this yummy salad that has peppered goat cheese and a fabulous raspberry vinaigrette. I love it so very much.




This is Jerry's shrimp something appetizer, I think.




Chandler had a double-sized serving of the mushroom risotto.




I love that darned salad so much that I ordered one in a dinner size with a simple chicken breast as my entre. Can I just say that it's flippin' awesome that they'll create a main course dish for you upon request?




Sarah didn't order cupcakes but was thrilled to get them.




We did order dessert tonight but I didn't take pics. I had a hot cafe mocha ordered from the after-dinner/dessert menu. It was good but I was feelin' mighty crumby by the time dinner was over. I was happy when we were finally leaving.

When we got back to the stateroom we found a very fitting towel critter on our bed.




Jerry had one, too!




Tracey was an angel and ran to go get the laundry from the dryers. No, nobody else had been doing wash & waiting for us to free up the dryers. He brought everything back and everyone helped fold. I think it was Sydney who said she wasn't sure how to fold laundry. Whaaaaa??? Crazy!

I was ready for bed finishing up notes around 11:00. Chandler & Sydney didn't like Vibe so much this time so they made their own nightime routine. They ordered in Mickey crispy treats and watched on-demand Disney movies. Sydney is a girl after my own heart. Oh yes, happiness is Mickey crispy treats w/chocolate dipped ears on-a-stick.





If only I could pick up the phone right now and order up a plate of 6! It's the right time at 10:20 pm, right????