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

sweetpee_1993 · Jun 19, 2013

TrolleyFollower91 said:
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!

I will take this as the highest of compliments! I love love love that we are so much fun. I think we're fun, anyway. I wish I could cruise with everyone because more makes it merrier! I'm so jealous! Alaska is on the bucket list for sure. I know I want to cruise Alaska but I also want to do some touring. My grandparents years and years ago did a scenic train tour when my grandfather finished up his work on the slope (north, near Barrow). Gramma still talks about how she left all the planning for the whole vacation to my grandfather. They did the scenic train across Alaska, flew to San Diego to visit one of my aunts, then went to Hawaii for like 10 days. The whole trip was like 3 weeks long. She says when they got home she looked at all the luggage in the living room and all she could think of was, "Can we leave again???" I guess Jerry & I come by our love for travel and adventure honest.

The Fantasy is a beautiful ship. I didn't get to do all I wanted to which definitely calls for a do-over! LOL!

joanna71985 said:
I love the tender pictures! The Fantasy looks so pretty

The Fantasy is magnificent. She's so much like her sister, the Dream, in layout but with all new, unique spaces in some areas. Then there's the additions the Dream didn't get like the Aqua Lab, the family pool above Quiet Cove, and Satellite Falls. Also, cannot beat a Muppets-themed case to solve with the midship detective agency!

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

I know.

It's frustrating but what can ya do? Let's make ourselves feel better and assume Disney made the helicopter parents cough up some money on their shipboard account.

PartOfYourWorld said:
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!

Yep, we're GOLD! Woot! No perks as of yet but I have a feeling we'll be able to take advantage sooner than later.

At the Stingray City sandbar, not the original Stingray City, depending on the tides you can stand up with no problems. I hear it can get as deep as your chest but I think that may be at high tide. The tour operators should be able to tell you what the expected tide times are. Nope, no going under when you're standing around with the stingrays.

Getting into the tender boats was a non-issue. They have a platform with rails that crosses the threshold from the ship to the boat. Yes, there's movement of the 2 boats but the platform is long enough that you step onto it then take a few steps before you step off. While you're in between both boats are sorta sliding back & forth a little underneath it but the platform stays still. To me it was like stepping on or off an escalator. It's not difficult to traverse. They also have 2 crew members at each side of the platform that reach out as if to hold your arms as you step on the platform and when you step off. It's very safe and I felt very secure on both trips on the tender. It's definitely different to tender. I won't say I like it better or worse. It's different. Definitely an opportunity to get some great pics of the ship!

Kristia said:
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!

Thank you! I absolutely adore a good storyteller. One of Tracey's cousins once asked me why I liked Jimmy Buffett so much. The man isn't a great singer or musician. No, he's not. He doesn't claim to be. What he IS is a great performer and storyteller. He can spin a story in such an awesome way and the stories come across in his music. It's fun listening. I think this world is short of good storytellers. Hopefully my boys will get that from me.

The stingrays were huge! That one that looked like it was climbing up Jerry totally WAS! It went right up his back over his head then whapped him on the back of the head with it's tail. It was funny! I wish I had video'd it. When it happened I only got that shot. What you didn't see was Jerry whip around and look at us on the boat like, "Holy sh--! Did you see that?!" It was funny!

Haven't done a non-Disney cruise yet. We had sorta loosely looked at the Carnival Magic out of Galveston but after everything that's gone down with Carnival in recent months that idea sorta flopped. We're supposed to do RCI in November on the Allure. I think it's still the largest cruise ship sailing. It has rock climbing walls, a zip line, a high-dive show, a flowrider, like 6 or 10 pools, etc. etc. I'd love to tell you we're just itching to sail on her but we have mixed emotions. Like I'm afraid I'll be overwhelmed by the size. All the pics I see look like it's a beautiful ship but it's a different kind of beautiful than what we're used to. Disney does their ships to elegantly with a strong nod towards classic liners of yesterday. The Allure looks like...well...Vegas on-a-boat. Glitzy. Flashy. The shopping looks like an upscale mall. That doesn't impress me because if I want to go to an upscale mall I can go downtown to the Galleria. They offer some cool activities like boxing! I've always wanted to do boxing! I know, nuts! They have a lot to offer and I know we should give it a try. I think mostly I'm afraid I'll miss my Disney boats. Ya know?

iloverags2 said:
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.

Definitely got my mind off feeling like crap! We got pretty adept at staying on top of the meds. As soon as I'd notice I felt the ick more prominently I would check the time. Almost every time I was either right on time for the next dose or within a half hour of time. I was careful not to overdose. Managing the symptoms with meds was the best option so we worked at staying on top of it. Jerry isn't as religious with staying on top of the dosing so I tried to keep an eye on him. If I saw him looking more poorly I could ask when his last meds were and he'd always be way past time for the next dose. I swear, what would he do without a girl to look after him??? At home it's my momma. On vacation it's me. LOL! We love him, though. We take care of him even when he thinks he doesn't need it happily.

DisneyDebNJ said:
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!!!

You should sooooo do something like the stingrays. It was incredible! Life is so short already. Go. Get out there. Do stuff. When I'm an old lady and can't go anymore I'm gonna be one interesting chick with some awesome tales to tell!

englanddg · Jun 20, 2013

sweetpee_1993 said:
I know. It's frustrating but what can ya do? Let's make ourselves feel better and assume Disney made the helicopter parents cough up some money on their shipboard account.

<shrug> I certainly hope so! (rumor is, Disney has cameras everywhere on those ships!)...

I was at Pop and walked the Cars section of AoA in August, and the first walkthrough, Sally had a Porche emblem on the front (caught my eye, because I wondered how much Disney paid for rights to use a real emblem, and it was pretty)...

Later in the week the kid and I walked through again...NO EMBLEM.

And, confirmed through others trip reports where I've asked the question, here we are nearly a year later, and it STILL hasn't been replaced. In fact, you can still see the discoloration where it used to be.

Nitpicky, I know...but, I hope Disney doesn't follow the pattern with the Cruise Ships...

sweetpee_1993 · Jun 20, 2013

May 28 - Cabbies, Federales, & Drugs. We <3 Costa Maya.

I woke up at 3:00 in the morning desperately in need of more meds. My throat hurt so bad I had to fight tears. I woke again around 6:30 or so. Tracey took my punch card up to the Cove Cafe to get me another cafe mocha. What a sweetheart. I swear to you, I don't know what I would've done without him watching over me in the mornings. What an angel! ((If my mom is reading this she's probably saying aloud right now something about walking on water. That's what she says about Tracey all the time.)) I took more meds just after 7:00. I laid in bed a while waiting for the meds to kick in. Tracey and I talked about my symptoms. I could feel blisters in my throat now. He looked carefully and said he'd almost bet on strep. Ugh. We talked about medical and what the consequences there would be. If it was strep we knew it was something we couldn't continue to push through because strep untreated WILL lead to more serious things like lock jaw. It's only a matter of time. Maybe it's not strep. I mean, I wasn't sensitive to light, I wasn't feverish, and my stomach wasn't upset or anything. Could just be a virus. Tracey remembered a friend once telling him he bought penicillin over the counter in Mexico. Maybe their regulations would be different and we could find something in a local drugstore once we got into Costa Maya today. We decided we'd keep doing what we'd been doing and see what we could find on land before we resorted to going down to medical. If only I'd brought some courses of antibiotics with me from home. Won't make THAT mistake again!

It was a rainy morning outside when I got up around 9 or so.

We headed up to Cabanas for a late breakfast. I think the rest of the ship slept in, too. It was hard to find a table to sit and eat! It was steady raining outside so sitting out on deck wasn't possible. Eventually the guys found us a spot to squeeze in.

Did I mention that Jerry is like a big kid??? I dunno, you tell me. I wouldn't have him any other way!

After we ate we weren't real sure what to do. Sydney looked over the Navigator.

All-ashore wasn't until 1:00 so we had plenty of time to kill. Sydney asked if a rainy day would be a good time to do the Aqua Duck. Well, it was worth a look. We went out to have a peek and, yes, it was open, running, and there was nobody on it! Score! So Jerry, Tracey, Chandler, Sydney, and I ran down to the staterooms, changed, and ran back up to hit the Duck! When we returned there was a sign at the entrance stairs that said due to high winds only 2-person rafts were allowed right now. We were an odd number of people so Tracey offered to stay and let the rest of us go. We literally walked up the stairs and right on the ride. When we all reconveined at the bottom Chandler wanted to go get a warm shower. It wasn't cold out or anything, just raining. Sydney, Jerry, Tracey, and I went back up for another ride. There was a couple people in line at the top of the steps but it was a mere minutes before we were Duckin' again. We all went back again for ride #3 this time with maybe 6 rafts ahead of us. Still not bad at all. In the span of about 20 minutes we rode the Aqua Duck 3 times! For future reference: rainy days are fabulous for riding the Aqua Duck!

After our last ride Sydney and I went down to play in the Aqua Lab. There was only a few other kids there. We played with all the features and splashed and had fun. There were 2 little boys, maybe 8 years old or so, who would get a running start and slide through the water across the deck of the Aqua Lab. We thought it looked like so much fun! They tried to coax us to do it with them but we knew our bigger bodies hitting the deck would result in bruises up and down our legs vs. fun sliding. LOL! One of them underestimated his slide distance and sorta plowed Sydney over. He was so cute and all-apologetic. Really, they were both really sweet boys, very polite. We enjoyed watching them and laughing.

Thoroughly soaked we returned to the staterooms to get into our day clothes.

Land HO!

We watched the docking procedures at the Costa Maya pier from our verandahs.

We had a few laughs at what definitely didn't look like the most coordinated efforts or safest of practices. Like, I'm pretty sure this tractor isn't rated for this many people. It was like a clown car!

And the little guy you see down there on the pier in the white shirt near the trolley was climbing all over the edges between the tie-off things and the edge and he wasn't wearing a life preserver. I kept holding my breath waiting to see him slip off the edge.

Watching the action.

sweetpee_1993 · Jun 20, 2013

While we stood looking out over the port area I spotted a big white sign with bold black letters that said: DRUGSTORE. Thank merciful God!!! I was so excited!!! The drugstore was beckoning me home like a ray of hope on a hopelessly dark day! Oi. Okay, enough of the dramatics already...

Brian asked if he could stay on the ship today. Whatever. The rest of us headed off the ship at about 1:00. I'm so glad we weren't in the big excursion lineups again. Look up! It's the part of the Aqua Duck that swings out over the edge of the ship!

We walked down the pier into the port area.

A little bit about Costa Maya. "Costa Maya" is a small town of sorts that was literally built at the end of the cruise ship pier where the tourists come ashore. It was built completely as a place for the cruise ships to come and tourists to spend money. Otherwise, it never existed. It's actually fairly new, too. Think of the port area right at the end of the pier as an encampment of sorts. It's like a big plaza circled with shops, vendors, and cantinas. There's a pool right in the middle for tourists to swim complete with a swim-up bar. Here's us walking in the port encampment area.

The problem is every shop or vendor you pass has someone out front trying to call you inside. Like there was one vendor with a booth in the middle with temporary tattoos. He saw us and said to me, "Miss! Miss! You come get a tattoo!" I said, "No, thanks." As we proceded by he could see with my low-cut cover-up that I have 2 tattoos on my back, 1 of which is fairly large. Then he said, "Another tattoo then! Add another one!" Jerry died laughing at this. LOL!

So we rush past all these shops into the first drugstore that we came across. It wasn't the same one I saw from the ship but who's being picky??? Tracey walked right up to the counter and asked for antibiotics. The shop lady asked what he needed. He asked what they had. She proceeded to produce no less than 6 different antibiotics as well as penicillin. We looked at her shelf behind her and saw muscle relaxers and pain meds that are all strictly by prescription in the US yet you can buy this stuff over the counter in Mexico. Wow. We settled on a bottle of 500 mg Cephalexin (or Keflex) and a bottle of 500 mg Cipro (or Ciprofloxacin). We knew both to be good all-around antibiotics so that's what we went with. I want to say each bottle was something like $20. Neither was more than $23, I know.

Pleased as punch with our drug purchase (oh my!) we moved on in search of the exit from this port compound. We had somewhere to go and we knew taxis would be much cheaper if we went outside the port to a taxi stand a block or so away. It was drizzling rain again but we didn't let that ruin our adventure. It was so thrilling to be on foot in another country on an expedition of sorts. We left the guarded port area and found ourselves on a quiet avenue of sorts. There weren't a lot of people around. I'm sure if the weather had been nicer we'd have seen more people. There were a few other tourists about. I was in no way fearful. We moved along up the street to the well-marked taxi stand that was right where I was carefully instructed it'd be. We walked up, told the English-speaking gentleman where we wanted to go, and he showed us to 2 taxis. Cost? $2 each. Wow!

So we split into 2 taxis for the short 5 minute ride to the neighboring village of Mahahual. If memory serves, it's pronounced Muh-hah-hoo-way. Our cab driver spoke pretty good English and was able to tell us some about the area. Now, I've heard people describe Costa Maya as "useless". Obviously I disagree. Some find the village of Mahahual unpleasant because it's NOT all built up with beautiful beach-front condos and resorts. For me, that's what I loved about it.

When Tracey & I first sought out information about Mahahual, Mexico months prior the Google Earth steet-level images we saw alarmed us. We were on the phone looking at the same thing, him at work and me at home. We both said the same thing, "OMG. Maybe we shouldn't go there. Looks really rough." We both started navigating through the streets and simultaneously realized the exact same thing. "This is all after a hurricane." We recognize that from experience. A few clicks and, yeah, understandable. In August 2007 Hurricane Dean made landfall at Mahahual as a category 4 hurricane. It completely leveled the place. Closed the port of Costa Maya for 2 years. In case you find this stuff interesting like I do, here's some images of Hurricane Dean's aftermath in Mahahual.

Like I said before, we aren't looking for the pristine beach condos or resorts. We don't need all that. We put a lot of value in having real experiences and seeing things off the beaten path. A fishing village in a state of transformation into a cool beach hangout that's rough around the edges, rich with tough locals who brought their home back from complete devastation? Yeah. That's the place for us. So today we took these little cabs out to Mahahual to call on a really cool expat from Texas and see what this place has to offer.

The cabbies we had were great. They took us right where we asked. We knew where we needed to be. We rounded the corner to look for Carolyn from UnderToe Mexico and she was right there waiting for us in her shop out of the rain. She greeted us right away. I was so excited to meet Carolyn finally! This is a very cool chicka! She's from Austin, Texas. She sold up everything at home and headed off to make a life in paradise. It's the truest term to use for her: expatriot. Hell, yeah! How many of us only dream of running off to chase our perfect paradise in some foreign land?! This chick had the cahones and DID it! I respect that! Carolyn and I discussed the less than ideal conditions for the standup paddleboard lessons I'd already booked and paid for. She said if it was alright with us she had hoped to wait it out a little to see if things improved. No problem. We proceeded over to a neighboring bar/beach club that was right there on the Melancon and got a table to wait out the rain and wind a bit. Here's Jerry lighting a cigar he just bought at another little shop with the beach out behind him.

We sat and looked over the menus. All the prices were in Pesos but I knew the conversions would come out easy on our USDs. Tracey immediately ordered a Mudslide. Me? Bottled water.

Gots to take mah druuuuugs that I jest bought in Mex-y-coe!

Yes, I took a double dose to try to kick me off fast.

The Maya Bar was far from some elegant or sophisticated joint but, hey, we had a thatched roof keeping us dry and there's swings at the bar!

You can't see it but the ship is out there between the 2 palm tree trunks. When it would rain hard you could barely see it. When it slowed you could see it better.

sweetpee_1993 · Jun 20, 2013

This is the picture I HAD to have before I could even start this darned report! I had spotted it in recent history when visiting over at Jerry's ex-wife's house. They're still great friends. I'll always adore Michelle. I think we'll always be bonded as sisters aside from my brother and all. So anyways, HAD to have THIS picture. That's Sydney on the left, Michelle in the middle, and Chandler on the right.

Before you all start thinking "OMG! They let those babies drink!!!" it's not what it looks like! Back when our kids were all itty-bitty none of us had much or could afford a whole lot of extras. Big fun was spending long weekends at each other's houses staying up late, playing cards, drinking some beers, and letting the kids play. The kids would see us drinking from our bottles that they weren't used to seeing and they wanted some, too. So, we took some empty bottles, washed them out, and put juice or kool-aid or something in them so they thought they were having what we had. It was funny seeing them toddle around with beer bottles so someone took a picture. This picture is so funny! They look like baby lushes! I HAD to have this picture for contrast to go with the following pictures of the kids 15 years later having real drinks together.

I absolutely LOVE those 3 pictures because they are so Chandler and Sydney and their relationship.

Chandler had a mudslide and Sydney had a pina colada. FYI, legal age in Mexico is 16.

The kids and I ordered some food. I figured I should eat with the antibiotics. I ordered beef nachos. I didn't eat much of the beef. I wasn't hungry. I was just making myself eat something for the meds.

We continued to sit and take it easy as we watched the rain and the beautiful beach beyond the Melancon.

Oop! There's the ship!

Carolyn came over to hang out and have a beer with us. We had a fabulous time chatting. She's really trying to get her business going more. I told her about my reports and promised to get her name out across the Disney fan boards here and on another site.

Looking down the Melancon. There's shops and bars/beach clubs all along the beach. Where that taxi is sitting is the taxi stand we needed to go to for our return taxis later.

iloverags2 · Jun 20, 2013

Oh, your day in Costa Maya looks exactly what we would love to do! If we ever make a port call there, I know just who to call!

Sans Souci · Jun 20, 2013

I've been following along & enjoying it.

It looks like you still managed to make the best out of a less than ideal situation. Strep throat pain is the worst; it's an annual event for me.

sweetpee_1993 · Jun 20, 2013

iloverags2 said:
Oh, your day in Costa Maya looks exactly what we would love to do! If we ever make a port call there, I know just who to call!

I really loved it...if only we had better weather! It could've been my favorite port day.

sweetpee_1993 · Jun 20, 2013

Sans Souci said:
I've been following along & enjoying it.

It looks like you still managed to make the best out of a less than ideal situation. Strep throat pain is the worst; it's an annual event for me.

I never did go to the doctor to find out for sure if I had strep but Tracey said my throat sure looked like it.

sweetpee_1993 · Jun 20, 2013

We hung out at the Maya Bar and relaxed a while. It was really very nice even with the weather. Jerry left to snorkel in the water by himself. Don't worry, we could see him from the bar. He got a great video of a little seahorse he had caught then released.

This is what the water was like for us. There were all these grassy patches out there. I know it's not the best but it wasn't very good weather either.

Eventually the wind let up some and there was a pause in the rain. Carolyn said it looked like the water had calmed a bit so if we were going to try to standup paddleboarding (SUP) now was our best chance. Carolyn's friend who had come to help her had already gone home. We had no problem helping haul the boards, paddles, and leashes from her shop down to the water. The SUP crew today would be Jerry, Sydney, Sarah, and me! Carolyn explained the basics to us then sent us out to give it a go.

I didn't enhance these pics at all. It was definitely a gray day for us out there.

At first we started out paddling on our knees.

Paddling on my knees like that didn't take long to wear on my right knee. I've been having problems with my right knee all spring. I tried standing but fell off pretty quickly. It's definitely harder than it looks! I'm not one to give up easily and kept trying.

Tracey said this was a cool picture because we look like stair steps.

Weeeeeell, that's flattering. It's hard to go for grace, style, and attractiveness when trying to get this. The waves weren't helping at all.

At first I kept almost chanting what Carolyn had told us about staying back on our heels when standing. I kept saying it aloud over and over, "Back on your heels. Back on your heels." You can't lean forward or you'll definitely go down. Then I heard Carolyn yell, "Kelly! Paddle!" So I did. That made it much easier. If you don't get your paddle in the water as soon as you stand up it's harder. The paddle almost has a tripod effect. If you paddle, it's easier to stay standing. Eventually, I got the hang of it.

sweetpee_1993 · Jun 20, 2013

It's not as easy as it looks, though. Thankfully, there's nothing painful about it. You just keep going. If it's any consolation to anyone considering learning to standup paddleboard, every one of us was standing to paddle in less than an hour and that's with us paddling in a little wind, drizzlies, and some chop on the water. Every one of us did this more than once:

Eventually, we all managed to do it more like this:

Sarah got it, too!

You can't give up. I'm so proud of us! I think Carolyn was proud of us, too!

Guess who else eventually got off that board? Jerry had a little harder time with shifting his weight back on his heels. It prob'ly didn't help that he'd been drinking a bit more than any of us.

Yep! We did it!

Standup paddleboarding is a great full-body workout, too. Sydney has danced ballet since she was a toddler and been in senior company for years. She doesn't go to school full days because she leaves early to go to the studio and dance. So here's a girl who dances hours and hours 5+ days per week and even she said it was a lot of work on the legs. It really is.

At the end we took some pics for posterity with Carolyn. I was sure to fix 'em up!

We helped rinse off everything and put all the gear back away in Carolyn's shop. She was so awesome! We enjoyed our paddleboarding so much. I definitely would do it again, hopefully with better weather! Carolyn also sells toe rings that she custom fits for you. The girls and I each picked one out as a souvenir. Carolyn offered to invoice me for them via PayPal once I got home instead of spending up the cash I had with us. Wow! That worked out nicely!

We were ready to head out so we settled our bill with the Maya Bar. We spent $125 for 7 plates of food, 4 beers, 2 mudlsides, 2 margaritas, 2 pina coladas, a tequilla sunrise, a bottle of Mexican Coke, 2 bottles of Sprite, and 8 bottles of water. AND, just before we left they gave Jerry a free tequila shot.

They offered Chandler the tequila shot, too, but we said no before he could even answer. He'd already had 3 drinks today. That was enough. He agreed.

Here's where the shop vendors started getting annoying. Between Carolyn's shop and the Maya Bar was a little shop with a sales lady that wanted to sell you dresses, hats, etc. It was cute stuff but nothing I would wear. When we first got there she tried to do the selling like the port shops people did but we said no. As we're packing up to leave she comes over and says, "You come buy dresses now?" "No, thanks." Then she said, "You promised." Uh, nooooo. There was a young gal that walked along the beach the whole time we were paddleboarding hovering like a circling shark. If any of us got within speaking-distance she'd try to sell us necklaces and bracelets. We all said no. So when we were leaving Carolyn's shop a few minutes ago she approached us again. "You buy necklace now, ma'am." It was a statement like instructions, not a question.

I said no again. So then she says, "You promised." ? I never promised sh--! So now my

has gone to a

. When we walked back thru the port compound with all those shops every one of them who tried to beckon you in earlier did the exact same thing! They said things like, "My turn now." or "You promised." Dude, I never promised any of these people jack sh--. I was kinda taken aback by it. This is the unpleasant part of travel in Mexico, unfortunately. For the most part I don't sweat it. I just politely say "No, thanks" and keep moving. I guess someone should clue these people in that puting words in someone's mouth and accusing them of promising you something when they didn't is pretty insulting to Americans. I'm left wondering just how often this guilt tactic actually ends with making a sale. It can't be something that produces for them. Perhaps they do it out of frustration. I dunno. Anywhoo, I think next time I'm there I'll offer some advice. You catch more bees with honey than you do vinegar. Say something appealing, not irritating.

sweetpee_1993 · Jun 20, 2013

We walked down to the little taxi stand and grabbed 2 cabs back to the port area. This time the cab I was in had a driver who spoke barely any English at all. We kept trying to converse with him but he wasn't getting what all we were saying.

Here's the Senior Frogs that's out on the beach near Mahahual. There's also one in the Costa Maya compound.

This is the Hotel Quinto Sol, also out on the beach.

The lighthouse where the road curves.

We got passed by the policia as well as the cab Tracey was in with 2 of the kids.

Our cab driver finally spoke up and said, "Little English" and laughed. Oooooh! So, Jerry the Embassador Supreme says, "That's okay. I took 2 years of Spanish and don't remember much..." He then proceded to rattle off a list of every dirty word and expletive he knew in Spanish.

I. was. dying. The cabbie was almost in tears laughing. It was quite the moment, I tell you. I bet that guy thought Jerry was out of his damned mind! It was hilarious, though. We still laugh about it!

Thankfully, the cabs drove us right into the port compound to drop us off. Less walking in the rain. Tracey and I ran by the drugstore once more to grab another bottle of Cipro. We were just a little worried about having enough. LOL! We walked past the guilt barker shop people headed for the pier. Thankfully, the rain broke so we could at least walk without being soaked to the bone.

Home sweet home.

When we got back to our stateroom Brian had left us a peace offering. Right before we left the ship earlier he got in trouble for not answering his Wave phone when we tried a bunch of times to call him. A girl in Vibe had gotten her hand stuck in something and they were trying to get it out when we were calling. Of course when he finally called back he got read the riot act. Poor kid. He had ordered us a plate of crispy treats and left Tracey's Wave phone with a text spelled out on it that said, "I'm sorry."

sweetpee_1993 · Jun 20, 2013

We went ahead and dressed for dinner. We hit the 6:15 show of Wishes in the Walt Disney Theater. It was okay. Dreams on the Magic is waaaaay better. After the show Sydney wanted a pic with Buzz Lightyear. Our pics looked bad and I think hers never made it on their Shutters account. Weird. I don't have any of them. I did take a pic of the little chandelier that's over in the side area of the atrium.

And, of course, never too many of the atrium chandelier.

Sydney & I also met Belle but I guess those pics didn't turn out so swooft either because I don't have one. Hmmm. I have a pic of Tracey & Sydney in line for the meet, tho!

We got in line for Animator's Palate to open early because Malwyn had asked us to be a little early to do our drawings. We lined up early but they didn't open the doors early. In fact, they were late opening the doors. Pics while we waited!

Making fun of the old people playing on their phones! I'm sure I was editing pics. Tracey was prob'ly playing a game.

As soon as we sat down we hurried to draw our little cartoon characters then turned them in. When our assistant server, Ferdi, came around with our drinks I had Tracey ask for me a hot tea. My throat was hurting sooooo bad I didn't even want to talk. My voice was virtually gone anyway. I had Tracey order everything for me tonight. Ferdi was such a sweetheart about my tea. He kept 'em coming thru the whole meal. When I read the packaging I wondered was he onto me, though!

The menus are super cool, too.

Instead of ordering appetizers we were told there was a pre-plated appetizer tonight. Okay. Jerry had it. The rest of us declined, I think. I missed the food but the plate was adorable!

Special order! French onion soup!

This is our assistant server, Ferdi!

Tonight's meal felt so rushed. I suspected it was because the crew were anxious to get off work. I had only ever heard of it but now we were getting to experience it. Sometimes the ships will stay in port later than usual so the crew can have some off-time ashore. Instead of having an all-aboard time at 5:00 today we had an all-aboard time of 1:00 am.

We did get to see our characters come to life. It was really amazing! All thru the video you hear me squeaking at Jerry to shut up. He kept talking and saying things I didn't want on my video! Aparently he hadn't turned in his character drawing because it wasn't very...uh...PG rated. Boys. They never grow up.

They even roll the end credits with the names of all the guest animators!

All along the tile floor areas in the restaurant there's little LED characters. Here's one I snapped on the way out.

sweetpee_1993 · Jun 20, 2013

OMGosh! During dinner we were seated not too far from one of the server's work stations. One server came in with a giant tray loaded with probably 10 or 15 plates of food. Giant tray. Anywhoo, when he went to set it down the tray tipped and every dish crashed to the floor. I was in a state of shock. Seriously. Why? Because they sell the Animator's Palate dinner plates in the ship's gift shops for the bargain price of $26 per plate. Multiply that by 10 or 15! When I heard all those dishes shattering that's the first thing that popped in my head! LOL!

After dinner we were pretty worn out but I really wanted to take this rare opportunity to get nightime pics of the ship. Tracey & I changed into comfy clothes then walked down the pier away from the ship to get a good shot. The problem was the wind! It was incredibly windy! Craaaaazy windy! It was very difficult to hold the camera still enough to get a decent picture. These were the best we could manage.

We saw a LOT of crew members on the pier coming and going. You could tell by their crew badges. I was glad to see them having a night off.

Tracey and I were pretty beat so we were in bed dead asleep by 11:30. We had told Brian we wanted him in by 12:30 so he'd be rested for tomorrow's activities. I woke up at 12:15 but thought it was 1:15 for some reason. I thought Brian was late which is NOT like him at all. I woke up Tracey to call him. As soon as the phone started ringing Tracey realized it was just 12:15. Brian was on his way back anyway so all was good. Now I could sleep!

sweetpee_1993 · Jun 20, 2013

Tonight's not over, though! Nooooooo....

While Tracey and I were fuddy-duddy'n about Jerry & Sydney were embarking on their own nightime adventures! I've heard bits and pieces of it all. I have the photographic evidence. So let's rewind here and we'll start with...

...in the meantime... LOL!

Jerry and Sydney also wanted pics of the ship at night. Sydney wanted to go back to Senior Frogs to get her boyfriend a tshirt. They set out off the ship headed for the port compound and the Senior Frogs located there. Did I mention it was a little windy out??? Sydney even had on her dad's cap trying to tame the wild hair.

I'm telling you, it's impossible to take pics with these crazy wind gusts!

They made it to Senior Frogs and decided to order a couple frozen somethings in these souvenir cups.

With drinks and tshirt successfully in hand they slowly made their way back. But that darned wind was insane!

It's almost like it was a horrible-cane or something!

Come to find out, it sorta WAS! When we got home we found out that this bad weather day and insane wind was the remnants of a Pacific hurricane that had made it's way across to where we were. That explains the huge seas on the opposite side of the ship where it's unprotected, open water. We saw it earlier and thought, "Wow! I wonder if we'll be leaving tonight at all!"

Continuing on, Jerry found a cool random native and decided a pic would be just the thing to do!

We had been telling Jerry it probably wasn't a good idea to jack with the Federales when he saw them earlier because technically if they want to they can toss your butt in jail and make you miss your ship for any reason they find. I'm guessing Jerry thought diplomacy with the Federales was the way to go. Plus, they carry machine guns! Don't eff with the dudes with machine guns! But Jerry made some new friends anyway.

And more new friends! I think these were cast and crew. I don't think anyone would get in trouble for this because I'm quite sure this is EXACTLY what Jerry wanted these folks to do. Everyone ham it up for the camera!

Looks like they tried to befriend an officer, too! This one looks like he's pointing to Jerry and Sydney as if to say, "It's their fault." I think it's highly probable it was.

I don't even know what time this pair went to bed. They had a rather fun evening, wouldn't you say?!

sweetpee_1993 · Jun 20, 2013

englanddg said:
<shrug> I certainly hope so! (rumor is, Disney has cameras everywhere on those ships!)...

I was at Pop and walked the Cars section of AoA in August, and the first walkthrough, Sally had a Porche emblem on the front (caught my eye, because I wondered how much Disney paid for rights to use a real emblem, and it was pretty)...

Later in the week the kid and I walked through again...NO EMBLEM.

And, confirmed through others trip reports where I've asked the question, here we are nearly a year later, and it STILL hasn't been replaced. In fact, you can still see the discoloration where it used to be.

Nitpicky, I know...but, I hope Disney doesn't follow the pattern with the Cruise Ships...

Disney DOES have cameras everywhere on the ships. In the news recently there's been 2 different situations that involved children. In both cases security photos were released that showed both occurances clearly. That's why anytime the subject of...uuuh...verandah "activities" has come up I've shot it down immediately. Oh HELL to the NOOOOO! The last thing anyone needs to see is ME doing THAT. LOL! I will lay you money Disney knows exactly what happened to Nigel on the Fantasy and decisions were made on how to handle it.

I hadn't heard that about Sally's Porsche emblem. That's awful! But, you know, I remember when Pop had the water play area over by the 70s/80s/90s with the old red Chevy Stingray and Goofy with the surfboard. It's my understanding they just eliminated the water jets rather than keep it going. I wonder why?! I mean, it's not like it's such a difficult technology. They use it all over the place for water play areas. Guess they just got tired of keeping it up. I don't know.

You aren't nit-picky at all. So far from what I've seen the ships are absolutely NOT managed or maintained in a fashion similar to the parks or resorts. I can say with honesty every deluxe resort room I've been in had some sort of damage to the the interior that sat unrepaired. Notsomuch with the mods or Pop. In fact, the last 3 stays we've had at Pop in the past year every room we've had was in pristine condition. The furniture was in perfect repair. The room was clean. Everything was great. I can't say the same for the Poly, Contemporary (twice), WL, AKL, or Yacht Club. Isn't that pathetic???

I've been in 5 staterooms across 3 ships now. If you want to add Jerry's room that's 6. I have yet to find something wrong, broken, out of place, dirty, or amiss. The Magic shows a little age in some spots around the ship but that's to be expected with it being constantly subjected to the brutal conditions of the salt water. However, on the Dream, Magic, and Fantasy I've never had any time of day that I've been walking about the ship and didn't see someone cleaning something, refurbing something, or lavishing care on some surface. From cleaning crew who slip in and out of the elevators all day to wipe down the surfaces to crew polishing brass handrails to exterior crew tethered to the side of the ship resurfacing or painting...there's always someone busy maintaining those ships. It's absolutely mind-boggling when you notice it.

Billy6 · Jun 20, 2013

Stop posting!! I need to work!

Great stuff though...

sweetpee_1993 · Jun 20, 2013

Billy6 said:
Stop posting!! I need to work!

Great stuff though...

Billy! I've got to hurry and finish! We're running out of groceries!!! LOL!

DisneyDebNJ · Jun 20, 2013

Kelly, your censored pics crack me up!!!!! Ahhhhhh Senor Frogs!! DEFINATELY hitting that in Nassau!

Billy6 · Jun 20, 2013

sweetpee_1993 said:
Billy! I've got to hurry and finish! We're running out of groceries!!! LOL!

LOLOLOLOL...

I get the email alerts and just have to look, ya know!

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