Cindy D. - December 2005

Who: Cindy D. (41), Gary (49), Nathan (9 1/2) and Zachary (8)
What: Disney Cruise - on the Magic - our 1st cruise ever!
When: December 17 - 24, 2005
Where: Port Canaveral, Key West, Grand Cayman, Costa Maya, Castaway Cay
Why: Celebrating achievement of our black belts in Taekwondo (Cindy, Nathan and Zachary - August '04)

Wednesday, December 21st
This morning I took Zachary and we went to breakfast at Lumiere’s where we had a quiet breakfast together. He got blueberry pancakes and when I got up to go across the table to cut them for him, the server was right there scolding me! After breakfast, we wandered around the ship a bit. I took him to Diversions to explore and we decided that we should go back there as a family later on. It was Costa Maya day, so we had to get ready to go for that. We watched the ship docking and there were to other ships in port that day. As we were getting off the ship, it was starting to rain. The kids stepped onto the pier and then promptly decided they didn’t want to go into the port. I didn’t really want to get wet either, but DH wanted to go, so he went on while I took the kids back onboard. They decided they wanted to go to the Lab, so I decided to go on into the port and look around… plus I found I had packed a poncho (LOL).

Costa Maya was packed in the port shopping area, but I walked around keeping an eye out for DH. I found the Internet café and decided to buy some internet time ($3 for 30 minutes), so I sent some email and posted on DISBoards. While I was in there, DH saw me so we spent the rest of the morning together. We didn’t leave the port area – again because I hadn’t researched much about it – and because the kids were on the ship, we didn’t want to venture too far. We were back on board by lunch, so we met the kids for lunch and then let them choose what they wanted to do for the afternoon. Zachary went back to the Lab while Nathan and I hung out – we went to the prize Bingo session by the pool and Nathan won the first round! Then we went to Diversions and I taught him how to play Scrabble. We just hung out there for a while relaxing and enjoying some one-on-one time.

Wednesday was Pirate Night, so we went early enough for pictures before dinner, and then we all had dinner together in Animator’s Palate. It was fun, and then instead of going to the movie in the Walt Disney Theater (Chronicles of Narnia which we had already seen), we went to the Arcade to check it out before getting ready for the Pirate party. We got the boys $10 each on their arcade cards. The party was so much fun – the boys and I were right in the middle of it all, and Zachary was wearing a Captain Hook costume. Captain Hook came over and shook hands with him. We had a great time. They put the buffet out but we weren’t hungry at all, so we skipped it and went back to the room.

Thursday, December 22nd
Our second sea day! I got up pretty early even though I didn’t have anywhere to be, so I went down and had breakfast by myself in Lumiere’s. Another couple was seated with me (their only requirement was someone over the age of 21). We engaged in polite conversation but it was a little weird. After breakfast, I went back to the room and sent Nathan to get his breakfast at Topsiders. Zachary was still sleeping, so I stayed with him while Gary went out to do whatever and Nathan went back to the Arcade. He came back having spent his $10, so I gave him Zachary’s $10 card and told him to go play some more and that I would get another card for Zachary. Zachary was still sleeping. And still sleeping. Finally he got up about 10 a.m. – guess too much partying the night before.

Nathan spent much of the day watching movies in the room or hanging out in Diversions with me or Gary. None of us did very much except Zachary spent the afternoon with the Lab. I took a nap in the afternoon (first one) and missed a couple of activities I had wanted to do – but my nap was heavenly. Gary and I did the Galley tour which was very interesting ~ I definitely recommend it if you have the time to go. And at some point in the afternoon, I re-booked for another cruise!

Then at 5:00 was the D Sea U graduation (for the children’s programming) which was nice to watch. Our only complaint was that when the children were filing in, the people immediately in front of us were standing up and blocking the view. And then they wouldn’t sit down once they spied their child who saw them. Ugh. Nathan didn’t want to participate so he was with us and then of course he couldn’t see around the people in front of us. They did finally sit down but my goodness! The program was entertaining and it was teary to see the kids’ activities in the slide show, and of course Mickey and Minnie came out. They got a nice t-shirt and of course the graduation cap complete with Mickey ears. Even though Nathan didn’t participate in the graduation, the CM told me we could just stop by the Lab and pick up his shirt and ears, so we did that afterwards.

Neither of the boys wanted to go to dinner that night, so Gary and I left them in the room eating pizza and chicken and watching t.v. while we went to Parrot Cay for a nice relaxing dinner. It’s funny because earlier in the week, there was no way I would’ve left the boys unattended in the cabin, but by that point, I knew they knew how to get around the ship, that they were trustworthy enough to go to Deck 9 and directly back, and that if they needed anything, they knew where we were. When we went back after dinner to check on them, they were fast asleep.

I wanted to go see the Talent Show at 7:30 because our tablemate’s DD was singing as was our new friends’ DD, so I left Gary and the boys in the cabin with specific instructions for him to wake them in time for the show – it was Disney Dreams and we didn’t want to miss it. After the Talent Show, I found my family saving me a seat (ssshhhhh…. Don’t tell anyone that they saved one seat for me!) and we enjoyed the show immensely. Oh yeah – earlier that day I had done a “backstage tour” of the theater… again, if you can do it, it’s neat to see what all goes into making the shows so fabulous – as well as getting to talk with the costumers, stage managers, etc.

The midnight dessert buffet was that night. I wanted to see it, but Gary and the boys didn’t want to wait in the line, so I queued up about 1/2 hr early and was pretty far back in the line. When I finally got in, it was neat to see but maybe I was just about desserted out because there wasn’t a lot I was interested in. I took a few things back upstairs for the family.

We went to sleep that night with thoughts of Castaway Cay ahead of us, but a little sadness because our cruise was nearly over… but I can’t think about that right now.

Page: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5