MickeyEarrings
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Jul 1, 2012
HANGIN’ WITH THE COOL KIDS – Cartagena day, PART ONE – April 28
I’ll have two entries for our day in Cartagena, because Mark and I did different things; he went on a ship-sponsored tour of the city, and I did laundry.
Seriously.
When I researched this trip I read in several trip reports that the vendors and hawkers in Cartagena are particularly aggressive, with one writer saying a woman pulled her hair to get her into her shop. Nobody is going to pull MY hair on vacation, and I don’t handle heat and humidity well anyway, so staying on board was an easy decision for me. Besides, it was day number six, and we needed clean clothes.
My alarm was set for 6 a.m. but I woke up around 5:10, partly because we seemed to have stopped moving (the sea had been getting a little rough last night). Looking out over our “verandah” I could see we were actually crawling into port. The laundry was already sorted so all I had to do was dress and go! I chose to go to the launderette on deck 6 starboard, as it was the closest, and was thrilled to find it empty! I used three of the five washers and was happy to see they were different from the ones I had used on the Fantasy a few years ago. Instead of a central panel where you swiped your Key to the World card to start the machines, here you swiped on the machine itself. The confusing part is that you must then press “start” on the swiper box, AND on the washer or dryer! I chatted later with a woman who had neglected to do so and was so wrapped up in her book that she didn’t notice her machine wasn’t running. The washers and dryers cost $2 each, with the washers taking approximately twenty-five minutes and the dryers forty-five, creating a bit of a back-up at times. Soap and fabric softener are available for purchase (I’m not sure if they were $1 or $2), but I was trying “Washeze” sheets I purchased on Amazon – a single sheet goes into the washer, then into the dryer as well, to wash, soften, and decrease static. I was very pleased with them, and I will use them again. I was afraid they might over-soap the washers, which are very small, but there was nothing at all to worry about. The socks and heavier items didn’t get fully dry in one session, though, so I put them in for a second trip and went up to the room to hang up what I had.
Mark was up and showered, so we went to Triton’s for breakfast. I took a photo of the menu but not the food because I had to go get those pesky socks… I had the French Toast Stack and didn’t regret it at all!
We returned to the room to finish putting away the laundry and to get Mark’s things for his excursion: camera, phone, bottled water… He was doing the CT04 Historic Cartagena and Old City Walking Tour. His tour group was meeting in the Azure lounge, so I walked him downstairs and wished him good luck. I’ll review his day in Cartagena in part two.
I went on to the atrium to meet Mickey and Pals, a rather rare gathering of four of the Fab 5 (was Minnie out shopping already?!) where we got photos only; there was no time for autographs.
Afterward, I went back to the room for my shower, then tried to find a quiet indoor place to read. The atrium was quiet at the time I sat down, but it quickly became very noisy, and they were playing Latin music since we were in Colombia, instead of the usual Disney music I love. I moved up to Shutters on deck four, where the air conditioner was set on “meat locker” and the Disney tunes were playing! I finished “Free Days With George” and ran up to the pool deck for some ice water but somehow a pina colada ice cream cone found its way into my mouth too. Funny how that happens…
Back down in the room, I began setting up for the Cabin Crawl we would have later in the afternoon. This was another great activity organized by our Facebook group. Mark and I had volunteered our Secret Porthole Cabin for the crawl so people interested in seeing different types of cabins could see one first-hand. I believe we had nine different types of cabins in total, from inside to verandah to a one-bedroom suite; we would see a Navigator’s verandah and the verandah on an accessible room that was probably bigger than our cabin! But first I had to decorate. I bought some “Little Secrets” candies on Amazon to offer as treats in our “Secret Porthole” room, and I borrowed some bowls and spoons from Cabanas for the day.
Next, I made my own “towlie” to remind people later of which Secret Porthole room they had seen, because the view is different in each. I had seen Wall-E online, made from the room’s life jacket, and I knew I had to make one! His tracks took me a while, and his head fell off a couple of times, but I loved him, and more people took photos of him than they did of the view!
While all those crazy people were out in Cartagena in the blistering sun, we “cool kids” who stayed indoors in the air conditioning met for lunch in Triton’s (again, scheduled in advance in our group). We had over two dozen people for lunch and had a nice meal together! It was hard to believe it was day number six and I was still meeting new people from the group!
My lunch was the Shrimp Wontons – excellent!
Thyme Red Wine Braised Beef Short Ribs – very tasty
And Caramel Pecan Cheesecake.
Another light meal, right?...
Back in the room, Mark returned looking a little disheveled but no worse for the wear. We chatted and rested for a bit, then went to deck four to watch the runners trying to make the all-aboard at 2:45. We had a few people make it just with minutes to spare! Adam and Shonna were there again as well – Adam seems to enjoy this sport, as we traded stories we had seen on You Tube involving near-misses and actual misses!
Our group in the Cabin Crawl was meeting outside the Buena Vista Theater at 3:15, with other groups departing every five minutes. This first group was all the room hosts, so when we showed our room to this group we would stay behind to host the next group. When the last group came we joined them to complete our tour. Joh had arranged this and drawn up the map and directions for each group and she did a fantastic job – this was one of my favorite activities on the whole cruise! We were the third stop on the tour, so after seeing Thea’s room, then Joh’s, we waited for our guests to arrive. One by one the groups came to see our room, ranging from five to maybe ten people; there were never more people than would comfortably fit in the room. We joined the last group, and as all the other hosts continued to do so our group became huge – at the last room, the one-bedroom suite, we were up to thirty-one people! It took two hours in total, and left us with twenty minutes to freshen up for dinner!
Tonight we were back in Animator’s for the Seasons menu:
My appetizer was the Seafood Sampler:
And not finding anything to my liking on the main menu, I chose the Grilled Sirloin from the Lighter Offerings menu:
Our bread service tonight was a “marbled loaf” and some bonus banana bread!
So many good dessert choices tonight!! Why did they take away the Sweet Temptations tasting servings?!
I chose the poached pear for dessert and enjoyed it, but it could have benefitted from a little more spice.
As we were waiting for dessert another member of the Facebook group came up to give me a gift – the Golden Q-tip award! It springs from some random thoughts I had one evening, wondering how many Q-tips these two thousand passengers would be bringing on board with them… How much did all those Q-tips weigh?! If we put them all together, how big would that Q-tip be?... And of course, I did the math. They weigh about twenty-four pounds, and laid end-to-end, would run the full length of the ship from bow to stern seven and a quarter times. You’re welcome.
Ladies and gentlemen, my new friend Louise, and the Golden Q-tip award:
And I wonder why I have trouble sleeping…
We reviewed the Panama Canal information Agung left for us, and the elephant and I called it a day around nine, because I wanted to be up around five tomorrow for the crossing.
[/GALLERY]
I’ll have two entries for our day in Cartagena, because Mark and I did different things; he went on a ship-sponsored tour of the city, and I did laundry.
Seriously.
When I researched this trip I read in several trip reports that the vendors and hawkers in Cartagena are particularly aggressive, with one writer saying a woman pulled her hair to get her into her shop. Nobody is going to pull MY hair on vacation, and I don’t handle heat and humidity well anyway, so staying on board was an easy decision for me. Besides, it was day number six, and we needed clean clothes.
My alarm was set for 6 a.m. but I woke up around 5:10, partly because we seemed to have stopped moving (the sea had been getting a little rough last night). Looking out over our “verandah” I could see we were actually crawling into port. The laundry was already sorted so all I had to do was dress and go! I chose to go to the launderette on deck 6 starboard, as it was the closest, and was thrilled to find it empty! I used three of the five washers and was happy to see they were different from the ones I had used on the Fantasy a few years ago. Instead of a central panel where you swiped your Key to the World card to start the machines, here you swiped on the machine itself. The confusing part is that you must then press “start” on the swiper box, AND on the washer or dryer! I chatted later with a woman who had neglected to do so and was so wrapped up in her book that she didn’t notice her machine wasn’t running. The washers and dryers cost $2 each, with the washers taking approximately twenty-five minutes and the dryers forty-five, creating a bit of a back-up at times. Soap and fabric softener are available for purchase (I’m not sure if they were $1 or $2), but I was trying “Washeze” sheets I purchased on Amazon – a single sheet goes into the washer, then into the dryer as well, to wash, soften, and decrease static. I was very pleased with them, and I will use them again. I was afraid they might over-soap the washers, which are very small, but there was nothing at all to worry about. The socks and heavier items didn’t get fully dry in one session, though, so I put them in for a second trip and went up to the room to hang up what I had.
Mark was up and showered, so we went to Triton’s for breakfast. I took a photo of the menu but not the food because I had to go get those pesky socks… I had the French Toast Stack and didn’t regret it at all!
We returned to the room to finish putting away the laundry and to get Mark’s things for his excursion: camera, phone, bottled water… He was doing the CT04 Historic Cartagena and Old City Walking Tour. His tour group was meeting in the Azure lounge, so I walked him downstairs and wished him good luck. I’ll review his day in Cartagena in part two.
I went on to the atrium to meet Mickey and Pals, a rather rare gathering of four of the Fab 5 (was Minnie out shopping already?!) where we got photos only; there was no time for autographs.
Afterward, I went back to the room for my shower, then tried to find a quiet indoor place to read. The atrium was quiet at the time I sat down, but it quickly became very noisy, and they were playing Latin music since we were in Colombia, instead of the usual Disney music I love. I moved up to Shutters on deck four, where the air conditioner was set on “meat locker” and the Disney tunes were playing! I finished “Free Days With George” and ran up to the pool deck for some ice water but somehow a pina colada ice cream cone found its way into my mouth too. Funny how that happens…
Back down in the room, I began setting up for the Cabin Crawl we would have later in the afternoon. This was another great activity organized by our Facebook group. Mark and I had volunteered our Secret Porthole Cabin for the crawl so people interested in seeing different types of cabins could see one first-hand. I believe we had nine different types of cabins in total, from inside to verandah to a one-bedroom suite; we would see a Navigator’s verandah and the verandah on an accessible room that was probably bigger than our cabin! But first I had to decorate. I bought some “Little Secrets” candies on Amazon to offer as treats in our “Secret Porthole” room, and I borrowed some bowls and spoons from Cabanas for the day.
Next, I made my own “towlie” to remind people later of which Secret Porthole room they had seen, because the view is different in each. I had seen Wall-E online, made from the room’s life jacket, and I knew I had to make one! His tracks took me a while, and his head fell off a couple of times, but I loved him, and more people took photos of him than they did of the view!
While all those crazy people were out in Cartagena in the blistering sun, we “cool kids” who stayed indoors in the air conditioning met for lunch in Triton’s (again, scheduled in advance in our group). We had over two dozen people for lunch and had a nice meal together! It was hard to believe it was day number six and I was still meeting new people from the group!
My lunch was the Shrimp Wontons – excellent!
Thyme Red Wine Braised Beef Short Ribs – very tasty
And Caramel Pecan Cheesecake.
Another light meal, right?...
Back in the room, Mark returned looking a little disheveled but no worse for the wear. We chatted and rested for a bit, then went to deck four to watch the runners trying to make the all-aboard at 2:45. We had a few people make it just with minutes to spare! Adam and Shonna were there again as well – Adam seems to enjoy this sport, as we traded stories we had seen on You Tube involving near-misses and actual misses!
Our group in the Cabin Crawl was meeting outside the Buena Vista Theater at 3:15, with other groups departing every five minutes. This first group was all the room hosts, so when we showed our room to this group we would stay behind to host the next group. When the last group came we joined them to complete our tour. Joh had arranged this and drawn up the map and directions for each group and she did a fantastic job – this was one of my favorite activities on the whole cruise! We were the third stop on the tour, so after seeing Thea’s room, then Joh’s, we waited for our guests to arrive. One by one the groups came to see our room, ranging from five to maybe ten people; there were never more people than would comfortably fit in the room. We joined the last group, and as all the other hosts continued to do so our group became huge – at the last room, the one-bedroom suite, we were up to thirty-one people! It took two hours in total, and left us with twenty minutes to freshen up for dinner!
Tonight we were back in Animator’s for the Seasons menu:
My appetizer was the Seafood Sampler:
And not finding anything to my liking on the main menu, I chose the Grilled Sirloin from the Lighter Offerings menu:
Our bread service tonight was a “marbled loaf” and some bonus banana bread!
So many good dessert choices tonight!! Why did they take away the Sweet Temptations tasting servings?!
I chose the poached pear for dessert and enjoyed it, but it could have benefitted from a little more spice.
As we were waiting for dessert another member of the Facebook group came up to give me a gift – the Golden Q-tip award! It springs from some random thoughts I had one evening, wondering how many Q-tips these two thousand passengers would be bringing on board with them… How much did all those Q-tips weigh?! If we put them all together, how big would that Q-tip be?... And of course, I did the math. They weigh about twenty-four pounds, and laid end-to-end, would run the full length of the ship from bow to stern seven and a quarter times. You’re welcome.
Ladies and gentlemen, my new friend Louise, and the Golden Q-tip award:
And I wonder why I have trouble sleeping…
We reviewed the Panama Canal information Agung left for us, and the elephant and I called it a day around nine, because I wanted to be up around five tomorrow for the crossing.
[/GALLERY]
I'm really enjoying it!
(I gifted your FE with additional q-tips and their exact weight for your calculations....did you get those?)
