“Just Me and You” Mother/Daughter Eastern 9/30

[grumpydude]

I am enjoying your report. I am so glad you had a wonderful time. I am also happy that the casinos paid for your trip. I was talkling to my friend in St Paul tonight and he told me it was in the 30's. I bet you're missing that Island weather. I miss a lot of things about The Cities, but snow before Halloween is not one of them.

What cabin were you in? (if you don't mind my asking) We were 2074 and I thought mid ship was perfect. Maybe next time I will spring for a verandah.

GD

 

[DISNEYMOMTO1]

Kendall, I also have some great pics of the girls and a cute one of Tyler feeding the stingrays. You guys are pretty amazing yourself. I felt a tear drop reading your wonderful words. Yes, disembarking was terrible. She cried at dinner the night before saying goodbye to Paz, too. (that will be later in a report, too, LOL) She is very emotional and so sensitive. Baylee talks about Maddie all the time. I did a DVD slideshow and she has watched it twice.

How was your Saturday? Did you get to go to Animal Kingdom? Hope you got home okay and the kids got settled in. All Baylee talks about is going in 2008! I guess I'll have to make it happen again

I will e-mail those pics to you!

Grumpydude - YES! It is freezing up here. Supposed to be in the 20's tonight for a low. We had a few flurries this morning and I thought I was going to freeze my tushie off coming home from work. Feels more like January than October. We had our winter coats on today! Far cry from the 80s and 90s we had last week in the Caribbean!

We were in room 2562. Right around the corner from Ocean Quest and the midship elevators. Half the time we took the stairs up to 3. Also, we were under Lumiere's (I think) and it was sometimes very noisy above us, especially dessert buffet night. Not so much late at night when we were in bed, though. I would take the room again.

Quick funny story - today I had to write a check for Baylee for school lunch. I asked her what her password was for lunch $$ and she said 2562. Then she started cracking herself up. What a card!

 

[jrose529]

What wonderful memories Baylee will have of her birthday cruise!

 

[grumpydude]

I forgot to ask you in my earlier post...how was DD's reaction to the Super Suck-O-Matic?

 

[DISNEYMOMTO1]

Grumpydude - Too funny! In the stateroom not so bad, but in the bathrooms near the restaurants - she would get up, flush and run out because "they were so scary" I laughed every time!

I just finished reading your trip report. So sorry to hear about your loss and glad you finished the report. It was hilarious and I laughed out loud a couple times!

 

[DISNEYMOMTO1]

Day 4 St. Martin and Pirate Night

We had the Sea and See Island Tour booked in St. Martin and we were to meet in the Promenade Lounge at 8:15. I had a wakeup call at 6:15, but didn’t need it because I was again awake at 5:00 and couldn’t go back to sleep. What is it about vacations? We went up and had breakfast at Topsiders and just as we were coming out on deck, a table opened up with a great view of St. Martin. We barely got a chance to sit down when it started sprinkling a little. Just enough to make us move to a spot under the “roof”. The rain didn’t last long at all.

We were done with breakfast and off to the Promenade to meet for our excursion. I had way too much coffee, as I had to run to the ladies room quickly before we left. We docked at the pier so it was relatively painless. We met at some air-conditioned buses and away we went. I had bought Baylee her own pack of throw-away cameras and she was on her 2nd one. The tour bus driver was very knowledgeable about St. Martin and pointed out main attractions and things along the way. Baylee impressed me by saying several times, “it’s just beautiful, mommy”. So glad she appreciates things like this. I was surprised at how run down St. Martin was in-land. Lots of hurricane damage. Our tour guide told us 5 hurricanes in the last 8 years. We pretty much drove to the other side of the island where the bus dropped us off where we would catch the “boat”.

The boat was like a semi-submarine. We got on the boat and were brought out to some rocks. There was another tour guide there who was very informative about the island and sea. Funny, she was from the U.S. Like I said before, I drank too much coffee and had to go again. There was a “bathroom” on board, but I wasn’t that desperate yet. We got out to the rocks and went “downstairs” on the boat and could look out in the sea where a diver came to feed the fish. Baylee was saying, “Mom, I’ve been waiting to do this – thank you, thank you!” We were both really enjoying it until “Mom, did you bring the Dramamine?” Uh-oh. She was a little green around the gills. We weren’t far from being back on land, so she bent over and put her head on my lap. It was pretty stifling down there and kinda claustrophobic. I got the vomit bag ready just in case. Everyone was very nice and sympathetic. We got above sea level finally, where they served punch. She just wanted her water. She started getting color back when we got back on to the bus. The bus then took us to Marigot where we would have almost an hour to shop before heading back to the ship. Keep in mind, I still haven’t gone to the bathroom. We asked the tour guide where the restrooms were and he kindly pointed in the general direction. After much confusion and a little walking, we found them. Much to my dismay, after seeing the bathrooms I decided that I should’ve went on that little boat! They were just seats with no toilet seat covers and you couldn’t put your toilet paper in the toilet! You had to put it in the garbage! UGH!

After that, we went and bought some cheap t-shirts and souvenirs and got a slushy for Baylee She was thoroughly enjoying herself now and the sea sickness had passed quickly. We took some pictures and it was time to get back on the bus to go back to the ship. We got back to the port and walked around in the little shops there. Didn’t buy anything and we were HOT and hungry so we got back on the ship. Baylee wanted to go to the Goofy Pool (imagine that) so we went to the room and it hadn’t been serviced yet. I didn’t care, because I didn’t have to do it! I just found it odd that it was about noon and we had left the room at about 7:00 am. We changed into our suits and ran into Nova on the way out. She reprimanded me for not having the “service room” tag up on the door knob. I had no idea I was supposed to do this to get service! She said if I put that out, we would be first. I did it the rest of the trip and it still took a while to get serviced. Oh, well.

We headed up to the Goofy pool which was not very busy at first. My back was getting sunburned and rashy from the chlorine so I tried to stay out of the sun. Geez, Sheila, you’re in the Caribbean, how the heck do you do that? I grabbed a cheeseburger from Pluto’s and she had some pizza from Pinocchio’s. Then we got into the water. We stayed there for a couple hours and it started to really get busy by mid-afternoon. We left and stopped at Goofy’s Galley (do I need more food?) and Baylee got some ice cream and I got a chicken wrap and chocolate chip cookie. Headed back up to the room to get ready for pirate night! It was still early and Baylee was waterlogged and tired and fell asleep on HER couch. Before I left home, I checked on roaming charges for my cell phone. I have none and they told me my phone would work in the USVI. I tried in St. Martin, but couldn’t get a signal. Did anyone else? I read for a while and tidied up the room. She slept for about an hour.

Baylee had her Orlando Bloom (she adores him – can’t blame her there) POTC t-shirt, denim Bermudas, eye patch and “hook” for her hand. She also had some awesome pirate earrings. The eye patch was a little too big so she didn’t want to wear it. I had a cheap “I love Jack” (well I do) POTC t-shirt I picked up at Wal Mart just for pirate night and wore my jeans. I also had a great pair of skull earrings and a fake POTC tattoo that I had gotten out of a happy meal last summer and saved for this occasion.

My main goal for the evening was to get my picture taken with Captain Jack. I didn’t care where we were or what we did, I absolutely HAD to do that. AND I DID! I had heard the lines for him were long so we went up early and we were probably 8th in line. He was so funny. He pointed to Baylee’s Orlando shirt and said he was a shady character. She said he broke her heart LOL! We headed down to Parrot Cay for dinner and on our way stopped in the Minnie and Goofy lines. Dinner was fabulous and I had the pork shank that was awesome and Baylee had mac & cheese again with fries. She loved the bandana you get and the parade around the restaurant was awesome. The servers grabbed both her and kimmcbee's DS and they paraded all over the restaurant. I thought it was great that you can keep the bandanas and menus as souvenirs.

I think that Disney should really do something about having more to do on Pirate night. The party doesn’t start until 9:30 and we were out of dinner by 7:30. The movie showing was the Guardian, PG-13 and Baylee didn’t want to see it. She didn’t want to go to the clubs (big surprise). Cars was showing, but we had seen it before. We stopped in the Chip N Dale line, but ended up missing pirate Mickey for some reason. Why is it the party is so late, does anyone know? Anyway, went up top to take some pictures of the ship at night and ended up back in the room. Baylee watched TV for about 45 minutes and we headed up to the party.

The party was fantastic. Of course she wanted to be right out in front dancing and she was. We ran into Wiggles’ family and hung out with them most of the party. Cute kids! I kept running into Wiggles and her two DD’s throughout the cruise. More nice people! Baylee had a great time with her DD’s dancing and even was on the big Jumbotron once.

I won’t give it away but the ending was spectacular and the fireworks were great. When the fireworks were over, Baylee was tired and wanted to go back to the room. It was 10:30 by then and we had to be in the theatre at 6:30 the next day for U.S. immigration, then an 8:00 excursion in St. Thomas. Yuck! What is up with these times? We passed by the POTC buffet and I wanted to stop and get some desserts to bring back to the room (can't imagine why) but Baylee wouldn’t hear of it. She wanted to go to bed now! Off to the room we went. Our towel animal was a monkey hanging from a hanger. Peter Pan was on TV and I think I might’ve fallen asleep before her that night, but only by a few minutes…………

Next up St. Thomas...........


My favorite pic of the entire cruise

St. Martin

 

[Amlee]

Loving this report!

To answer a few of your questions.

St Martin isn't part of the USVI. It's a French/Dutch island. That is why your cell wouldn't work.

The reason pirate night is so late, is for those who have late dinner can also take part in the show. The latest dinner doesn't start until 8:30, even then it's a rush for them to make the show at 9:30.

 

[Jillpie]

I have been looking forward to your reports every night this week!! I love it..the kids go to bed about 9 and I settle in to hear about your next day on the Magic. Lovin it!!!!

 

[DISNEYMOMTO1]

Jillpie you are too sweet. I enjoy writing it so I can re-live the MAGIC I hope to have it finished this weekend. I have been fighting a sore throat/cold since I got back and haven't even totally finished unpacking. My house is a PIGSTYE and will be needing an overhaul for DD's birthday party next weekend. Having 6 girls at my apartment for a slumber party!

 

[Jillpie]

Oh, I hope you're feeling better! But don't clean the house, finish the report first . Seriously, get some rest and have a great weekend!

 

[DISNEYMOMTO1]

Day 5 St. Thomas

Wow was this week flying! Hard to believe we only had a couple days left , but we were going to make the most of it!

I had called for a wakeup call at 5:45 Hey I'm on vacation here! We had to be in the theatre for INS at 6:30. They finally strolled in going on 7:00. The whole process is relatively painless. They have coffee and muffins/rolls for you. From there we headed to Parrot Cay for the breakfast buffet. I checked my cell phone and I had a signal! I checked my messages (this is the only phone I have – I don’t have a land phone) and had a birthday one for Baylee from Grandma & Grandpa and another one for her from her daddy. That made her day. I decided not to call my mom yet, as it was only 6:00am in Minnesota,

We headed up top to take the requisite photos of St. Thomas. It really is a beautiful island. Then we headed to Studio Sea and our 8:00 excursion. Today we were doing Coral World and Mountain Top. Left the ship and went to our “meeting place” where we boarded some open air safari buses. The tour guide was great and explained that they drove on the “wrong” side of the road, but that we would be okay. The tour of the island was great. He explained that we would go to Mountain Top first, then on to Coral World. On the way to Mountain Top, we were on some very windy roads and kept climbing and climbing. Keep in mind I am afraid of heights. WOW! What spectacular views, but I started getting antsy and wanted to be away from the road on walking on dry land. We got to Mountain Top, which is a little shop area and “look out” over the islands, including St. John. Beautiful view! The shop owners were not pushy at all. We bought a couple souvenirs and got back on the bus and headed to Coral World. Going down was much better than going up.

I had to laugh at this older couple behind me. They must’ve been by themselves with no kids. She was telling her husband that she would wait until they got to the Bahamas and do the rest of her shopping. He told her that we weren’t going to the Bahamas, only Castaway Cay. She said, surprisingly, We aren’t? I thought we stopped in Nassau!! No honey, remember I told you about Disney's priviate island? You mean we're not going to Nassau?? They kinda got into a little spat behind us and Baylee was rolling her eyes. I had to chuckle! We got to Coral World and IMHO it was just okay. It seemed a little run down for the price. We walked around and looked at the fish. You couldn’t see any sharks because they were hiding. Iguana Alley was very cool. It was very hot and sticky. Baylee started to get whiny because she was so hot. We ended up going to one of the inside exhibits and sitting because there was air conditioning in there. We were to be there only an hour and a half, but to me, it seemed too long. Soon our time was up and we got back on the bus to go back to the ship. Some people got off for the tram and some shopping. I asked Baylee if she wanted to do some shopping and she said no, she would rather go to lunch and the Goofy Pool. Hmmmm……

We got back on the ship and went to the room, suited up and headed out. She wanted to eat in Lumiere’s again. The service and food were great. Did I mention that squirrelgirl’s DD got Baylee addicted to Shirley Temples? She drank them all week, and they even made their own at the drink station! Anyway, she had TWO at lunch and I called my mom.

Baylee’s conversation with Grandma:

Baylee: Hi Grandma!
Grandma: Hi pumpkin – where are you?
Baylee: Lumiere’s!
Me: She wants to know WHERE you are
Baylee: But Mom, we ARE at Lumiere’s

she did end up telling her we were in St. Thomas, eventually. We went up to the Goofy Pool and it was pretty empty. We stayed there a couple hours and I really wanted to do a couple loads of laundry, so went back to the room. Baylee immediately fell asleep and I did two loads of laundry. The laundry room was pretty busy. She slept for about an hour and a half. We had decided to skip the dining room tonight and go to Topsiders for dinner. There were a bunch of characters scheduled for pics during the normal TWO HOUR dining time and she didn’t want to miss them. We decided to do some “character chasing” that night. Plus, we really didn’t feel like dressing for dinner that night. We chased some characters down for photo ops and actually ran into Pocahontas and Belle (in the blue dress) in the hall and they both stopped for pictures. Baylee had brought an autograph book, but forgot it in the room several times so we just gave up on the autographs. We brought pillowcases to sign anyway, so it wasn’t a big deal. I had dropped them off at guest services Saturday night and they were to be delivered to our room Friday night. I wanted to get my pic with Pluto because he’s always been my favorite. He stepped on my foot! The picture is so funny because it looks like I’m trying to get away from him. OUCH! Did that hurt! We headed on up to dinner after that. Actually, on our way to dinner we realized Baylee lost her dolphin bracelet that she bought in St. Martin yesterday somewhere on the ship today. UGH! So we filed a claim with Guest Services. We’ll see if it shows up.

I had forgotten that Topsiders’ menu was the same as in the dining room. Lucky for me, they were having porterhouse. Baylee got pizza and fries, and the server had to order the fries from another dining room. The porterhouse was SUPERB! It was so big and it was done the way I asked. I was impressed. They also had salad bar instead of just soup or salad, which was a nice change. There were several people there, but it wasn’t crowded at all. We had a table for two and it was really nice. However, if I did this again, I would probably skip Parrot Cay as opposed to Lumiere’s.

We left with full tummies and headed out to do some more character chasing. Baylee really wanted to try swimming in the Goofy Pool at night, so we went up there to check it out. There was hardly anyone in the pool, so we went down and got our suits on. By the time we got back up there, the pools were closing due to lightning. Baylee was so disappointed! Now what? We decided to head down and change and see what was going on. There was a “High School Musical” party in the Promenade that I was trying to talk her into doing. She said no, so we decided to try the Gary DeLena show. We were passing through the Promenade to just “check out” the party and squirrelgirl and DH were there. They said DD had been there, but left to go to the lab. It wasn’t long before Baylee was in the mix of the party and singing away. She is quite the entertainer! The party was supposed to last until 8:30, so squirrelgirl’s DH went up to the lab to get DD and they came back down and the party was over! It was disappointing, as it was only 8:00! Their DD wanted to go back to the lab but Baylee didn’t want to go, so her and I headed to the show.

I thought Gary DeLena was hilarious. Baylee was laughing hysterically! After the show, there were a couple more character lines to stand in. I think she was on a mission to get everyone’s picture. We did end up missing only Daisy Duck, Max and Terk by the end of the cruise. We hit Mickey’s Mates and Treasure Ketch. Baylee had her own $$ to spend and picked out the Mickey Mouse Captain plush toy and a small Pluto . We then strolled through Shutters. I loved our Captain Jack picture and put it aside, thinking I MIGHT purchase that one. We were exhausted at that point AGAIN and decided to head up to the room. Our towel animal was an elephant and Nova put my sunglasses on it and it was cute. Can’t remember what was on TV as we both were sound asleep before our heads hit the pillow.

Next up Day 5 at Sea and Semi-Formal Night

Gorgeous view from Mountan Top

Iguana Alley at Coral World

 

[LindaBabe]

Loving your trip report! Thank you for writing.

 

[Jillpie]

Honestly, this is such a fantastic trip report , I can't tell you how much I enjoy it every night. Your details, I don't know how you do it. We did so much every day on the Magic, I could never remember the things you do. So well done. I don't want it to end. Please tell me it won't end, ok? Can't wait for tomorrow .

 

[DISNEYMOMTO1]

Jillpie, I kept a journal and wrote in it every night except Friday, so when it gets to that point, I hope I remember, but it was Castaway Cay, so should be easy. Probably won't get to day six until tomorrow, sorry. Been doing some fall cleaning today. Hope everyone is having a good weekend!

 

[kimmcbee]

Sheila,
I am loving your trip report. Making me wish we were back on the ship.. Guess I need to count down till we go back. Walter and I are talking about Alaska in May, will wait and see. Finished all the pictures finally today, shoud be able to go to Sams and pick up on Wend. all 670 of them. Have a great weekend.
\Kim

 

[DISNEYMOMTO1]

Day 6 at Sea

Today was our Character Breakfast at Parrot Cay at 8:15. Baylee was excited. It was cute for her, but It was just alright for me. I do have to give a big Kudos to Disney. They have "character herding" down to a science! Professional photos only with Mickey and Minnie as far as I remember. I think I had to take pics of Goofy, Pluto and Chip N Dale myself. We had all the characters except Mickey and it took FOREVER for Mickey to come it seemed. At last he came and I also got my pic with him.

There were lots of goings on up by the Goofy pool and Baylee wanted her hair braided so it was up to the pool for us. Probably the last time, so we were going to make the most of it. I was starting to feel sad at this point because there was only one more day left, but I didn't want her to know I was feeling sad. We got up to the hair braiding stand at 9:40. It opened at 10:00. There was another mom there with her little girl and they had been waiting in line an hour. 10:00 came and the lady said we needed appointments! The other mom didn't know that either and I felt sorry for her as she had waited a long time. She was kinda ornery about it, too. I felt bad for the braider. We made our appointment for 2:30 and off we went to swim for a while.

In looking at the trusty, dusty Navigator, it showed all three princesses in the atrium at 11:30. It also showed them together, so I assumed that it meant you could get your picture taken with all three at the same time. We had already had them all individually and Baylee thought this would be SWEET! So down to the room to change and up to the lobby by 11:00. The line was already growing! We stood in line for a 1/2 hour. When the princesses finally arrived, the CM announced that there would be three lines for individual pictures! Baylee was so disappointed! So we left the line and went up to Princess Minnie. While were in line there, we heard the princess CM say that we could ask and have our picture taken with all three at once. UGH! Baylee didn't want to stand in another line, so after Minnie we were hungry AGAIN and AGAIN Baylee wanted to eat at Lumiere's. So we did Who's running this show again?

There was a lot going on at the Goofy pool so we went back up there. On the way? we stopped at the magic show guy's secret presentation in Rockin Bar D. Sorry, don't remember his name. He was pretty funny. Then went on up to the pool. We watched a guy make an ice sculpture, very cool, and a little bartender bit too. Nemo was playing on the big screen and all was good. We were looking forward to the towel animal presentation, but had hair braiding at 2:30 and didn't want to run there and then run back so we just stayed. It got really crowded because the Mickey Pool was closed to do an ACCIDENT. It was weird, too, because by the end of the week, the paint started peeling off the Goofy pool. Probably from us as we had been in it so much. They really should make that pool bigger and make the stage smaller. I mean really, they only use it for the Sail Away and Pirate Night. The other times its really not being used! Baylee got her hair braided at 2:30 and was a real trooper. It was so cute! We stayed at the Goofy pool for a while longer after that and headed up to get ready for dinner, as it was semi-formal and LOBSTER night

We were in Animator's Palate tonight and on the way to dinner got Baylee's picture taken with Formal Chip n' Dale. The lobster was good, but I thought small. kimmcbee had two and I wish I would've known you could order two! I just didn't want to wait forever for another one! We also both had the warm chocolate lava cake. YUM! Our server told us about the dessert buffet at 11:15 in Lumiere's, so I thought maybe we could make it up there, but that was a big maybe. He said there was something like 60 different desserts! After dinner we went down and changed and planned to go to Disney Dreams and had time to kill. We ran into squirrelgirl's DH and DS coming out of Studio Sea who said squirrelgirl and DD were in there for Who Wants to be a Mouseketeer. We joined them and again I secretly hoped they wouldn't pick us. I know, I know, BAD MOM. I got my wish and much to the girls' dismay, we didn't get picked

Went up to see Disney Dreams with squirrelgirl's DD. Cute show, but I thought it was a bit sappy, even for me. The girls loved it. Since Baylee hadn't gone to the lab since Monday, she really didn't want to do the graduation, so we didn't go. However, squirrelgirl's DH met us in the hall and said he was going up to get the cap and shirt because their DD didn't go either. So we went up to the lab and they gave us the shirts and caps anyway. I thought that was very cool.

We went off to the room because I wanted to start packing so I wouldn't have to deal with it on Castaway Cay day. I didn't want anything to invade our special last day. We were very excited! Our towel animal was a rabbit, and we ordered more chocolate chip cookies and milk. Baylee laid in bed and watched RV for the thousandth time I swear! She fell asleep and then I remembered about the dessert buffet! It was 11:00. Do you know how I remembered? Above us all I heard was chairs and tables scraping across the floor! I would've liked to go up to just take pictures of the spread, but really didn't feel comfortable leaving Baylee in the room so I just went to sleep.

Up next, Castaway Cay, feeding the sting rays and our final day in paradise!

Semi-Formal Baylee

Character Breakfast

Hair Braiding

 

[Jillpie]

Sheila, I feel like I know you and Baylee now. Her hair came out just perfect. Don't worry, you didn't miss much at the dessert buffet, if I had to do it over I probably wouldn't do it, its just too late to eat that stuff. Oh no, its Castaway Cay day, that means this is almost over. nooooooo. Okay, give it to me, I can take it.

 

[misseulalie]

Day 6 at Sea
Hair Braiding

I see someone got some sun!!!!

 

[grumpydude]

We got to Coral World and IMHO it was just okay. It seemed a little run down for the price.

I am soooo glad we did not do this after reading your report. We were seriously thinking about it because Mr. KIA likes aquarium type things. I though the "UP THE HILL SKYRIDE OF THRILLS" was disappointing enough...I could not imagine had we taken the 1/2 hour ride there only to be disappointed.

The best thing about St Thomas...Cheap Rum.

I would've liked to go up to just take pictures of the spread, but really didn't feel comfortable leaving Baylee in the room so I just went to sleep.

I don't think you missed much. We went to Palo's that night and we were so full from dinner it was hard to look at let alone eat any of those treats. Plus it was crowded...we only got three or four good pictures of it.

Other than that...lovin' your report.

 

[DISNEYMOMTO1]

Jillpie, I know, the week went so fast. I wish I was back there. My co-worker is there now on the double-dip!

Missie- yes, she got some sun Bad mom that I am, but geez, how many coats of sunscreen do you really need???!! I guess 5 or 6 because I KNOW I did 3 or 4.

kimmcbee - thanks so much for the pictures you sent me. 670??? WOW! I thought I was bad with 300+! I did a DVD slideshow and am showing everyone. Everyone ooooh's and ahhhhhhh's as well they should! Alaska in May? I'm jealous!

Grumpydude, Baylee did like Coralworld for about the first 20 minutes, then it was I'M TOO HOT, I'M TIRED, CAN WE GO YET??? You know the drill.

Regarding the dessert buffet, why the heck do they have it so late at night? I can't imagine eating that late! Only when I'm three sheets and its 2 am do I eat that late, and then its REAL food like chips and Taco Bell , not dessert! And let me tell ya, that's not very often