Category: 2009.10 – Disney World and Caribbean Cruise

Cruise ship day! All six of us were up an hour earlier than planned today thanks to forgetting that it was daylight savings time. We had breakfast, checked out, and went for a walk with more than enough time to wait for the van to pick us up and take us to the port. The drive was a little over an hour long, but due to computer problems at the terminal it took nearly two hours to go through security and get onto the ship. So we’re standing in this long, winding line up, patiently following the pack, passing the same people every time the line wraps around again, when Dan notices a guy wearing a Saskatchewan Roughrider’s jersey. So the next time we pass him I nod at him and ask if he’s Canadian. Sure enough, he is. So we have brief conversations a few times around the line before we’re no longer passing each other. Along the way I also started to notice there were a significant number of people with tattoos and Harley’s paraphernalia. So I asked one lady as we were walking by if she could tell me why and it turns out that half the ship’s passenger manifest is comprised of Harley Davidson bikers because they are holding their Hogs on the High Seas Rally on this cruise. I couldn’t help but laugh at that! What are the odds that we would pick the one cruise where Dan would not stand out with his long hair and bushman style?

As Jess mentions below, the ship is huge. Up until two days ago it was the largest passenger ship on the oceans. We even managed to find the Guiness Book of World Records certificate posted on one of the walls to prove it. Now, however, Royal Caribbean’s Oasis is the largest.

Other than walking around the ship a little bit, trying to get our sea legs, and having supper we didn’t really do much yet. Supper was magnificent! The onion tart was amazingly melt in your mouth good.

Anyway, the ship is sailing through somewhat choppy waters and the weaving of the boat is making me dizzy and hard to concentrate. No nausea yet though. Woo-hoo!

Adelle

Juice’s Corner:

GOOD day peoples! Well today we got ON the cruise ship. MAN IT’S BIG! You couldn’t even get it into one frame for a picture!! It took 4 hours to get on… but we’re on now so… ya. But the pool looks so fun! There is also a surf rider thing that looks really fun. OOOhh and there’s an arcade! Well anyway, When we got on the ship, we got these cards that are basically our credit cards J And we went to the restaurant… and the Onion tart was GOOOOD! But it was mums. I also had pork medallions… they were okay… Tomorrow we are on the ocean… And apparently there’s some teen stuff going on, like a prom or sumthing… Whatever… I’m going to the ARCADE! And it’s also Grandma Claire’s birthday tomorrow! Not much else really has happened… so ya. That’s about it… ya bii. Logging off of Juice’s Corner NOW

Juiceness/Jessica 😀

The walkeay from our Disney hotel

The kids in front of the waterwheel

Dan enjoying the architecture at DPOR

First shot of our ship.

Second shot of our ship.

In line at the cruise terminal

The line (actually, two) at the cruise terminal

Boarding the ship

On deck

First dinner in the dining room

Juice’s Corner:

WELL… today was our first full day on board. First off, the breakfast was DELICIOUS!!! Then mum and me went to a Tuscan Pasta making demonstration. The pasta was really good. Then after that we went to this shopping thing….VERY BOORING! It was one long commercial. So we met up with Dad and Jarod and went to Johnny Rockets for lunch… It was filling. Then we went to the arcade. Woah. I won the claw game twice. (pretty good eh?) and one of the things I got was an Apu J. and won two prizes from Skittle Ball. Oh I also played the jump rope game in the arcade… I only got like 10 jumps, but I think it’s pretty good. Anyways. We went to a fancy shmancy restaurant for Grandma Claire’s birthday. I got the Caesar salad (Eh I spelled Caesar right) and then filet mignon… Yumm. Then we had birthday cake for dessert. After we came back to our rooms and found dog pillows with glasses on. I like the housekeeping… Their fun! Then we went to the pool…. Then I started writing this… so ya… dats it…Oh and I had Ben and Jerry’s ice cream. It was good. Oooh and we saw what we think is a buoy in the water… BUT WE AREN’T SURE! Anyway… see yaJ

Juiceness/Jessica 😀

Well, the waters did not improve as of this morning, but by mid-afternoon they were much better. It’s taking longer than I had hoped to get my sea legs. Even now, this late at night, the boat is starting to weave again making it hard to write this.

Started the day with breakfast buffet at the Windjammer Café. Very impressive spread. Jess and I went to the pasta demonstration while Dan and Jarod went to find the table tennis and go rock climbing. Apparently Jarod only made it half way up the wall, but I intend to encourage him to try again when Jess and I try it later this week. The four of us got together for a quick bite at Johnny Rockets before Mom and I met for our spa manicure/pedicure appointment. That was Mom’s birthday gift to me, even though it was her birthday today! It was really nice though and felt good to get done. Mom went to meet Andy after that, who was relaxing on the deck waiting for her, while I went to play bingo. I spent $32 and won $25. That’ll do.

While I was at the spa Dan and the kids played in the arcade and went shopping. I thought I saw a submarine while I was at the spa and called the kids on the walkie-talkies to go look, but it turned out to be a barge being hauled by a tug boat. I didn’t see the tug boat until after Dan and the kids went to see what I was talking about. Trust me, it was an easy mistake to make from the angle I was looking at it because it was painted the same gunmetal grey that a submarine might be coloured and the writing was similar white block letters, too. I did wonder at why there weren’t any nationality markers on it, though. Ah, what do I know anyway, right?

Supper was for Mom’s 60th birthday party at Portofino’s Italian Restaurant. Oh, my God, was it ever good. The service was exceptional, the food was amazing, the cake we ordered for mom was out of this world, and they still pushed us to take more dessert back to our rooms to consume later. I definitely have to get some exercise tomorrow!

We followed supper up with a short stop at our rooms where Andy gave Mom her birthday present. He intended to give it to her at dinner but forgot to bring it with him, so we did it in our stateroom instead. It was a lovely set of silver-grey freshwater pearl earrings. A very nice choice that he bought on the ship. After that we all went for a night time swim in the pools. It was really nice, and kind of odd as with the ship rocking back and forth the water in the pools would move with it like the tides being pulled by the moon’s gravity. I’d be swimming across the pool at a constant pace, but my progress would vary from a standstill to speeding forward. It was weirdly fun!

Anyway, we’re back in our rooms now and the boat is rocking again making this hard to keep up. We have to be up a little earlier than today tomorrow as we land at our first port, Labadee, tomorrow. Zip lines and Aqua park, here we come!

Adelle

Jarod Rock Climbing

Jarod Letting Go

The Royal Promenade at Night

Mom’s Birthday Supper

Mom’s Birthday Cake

A towel gift from housekeeping for the kids.

A towel gift from housekeeping for us.

Juice’s Corner:

BONJOUR! Today we went to Labadee. First off, Our safe with our Passports in them died. Uh-huh. So mum almost missed breakfast waiting for someone to fix it. BUT she did get breakfast. So when we got TO Labadee, Mum and I went on the ZIPLINE. The LONGEST zipline over the open Ocean! IT WAS FUN! I EVEN SPREAD MY ARMS OUT! But dad got a picture of me when I was coming in for a landing, so it looks like I’m holding on for dear life. After that we went to the market, IT WAS SOO KEWL! I GOT THE PRETTIST AWESOMEST NECKLACE FOR LIKE 1/6 OF THE PRICE I WOULD HAVE GOT IT IN YELLOWKNIFE! We also got these AWESOME watermelon seed necklaces. 3 for 5$! So we got six. But when we had to walk through this one street full of markets… O MY GOD! We were just aiming to get to the beach, not wanting to buy anything, we wound up leaving the market with a flute, a dress, a magnet, a bag, and a wooden mask. That’s how pushy they are. They were like “Hey! Wanna see sumthing you’ve never seen before? I’m not pushy, I know pushy I’m not pushy” in really heavy French accents. And when they were trying to sell us sumthing and another guy came to try and sell us something, Man they had mouths… Litterally “Pardon my French.”  Then when we went to watch Dad and Jarod go in the water park thing, It looked like they were having fun, but apparently they weren’t. Apparently the water was full of garbage and the bottoms of the stuff were covered with barnacles and all kinds of stuff. Then we went back to the ship, and during supper, our waiter taught us this thing with spoons, where you basically slingshot it into the glass… I got it in like 3 times! Uh-huh! Ya… anyway. Hmmm ya we went to the pool and soon we are going to watch Angels and Demons.. so ya… see ya soon!

Juiceness/Jessica

So ‘Juiceness’ has pretty well explained our day today. It started out with a minor annoyance in the in-room safe malfunctioning, but it was fixed and we got our wallets to go out into Labadee today. Jessica and I did get the better end of the deal in our shore excursion. The Dragon’s Breath Zip Line was totally amazing. The hardest part was being pushed off the ledge. The line started 500 feet above sea level and was 2,533 feet long – the longest zip line over water in the world.

After a quick break for lunch provided by the ship we went shopping in the market and got a few things there and then went looking for Jarod and Dan’s ‘event’. Unfortunately this path took us through the vendor street, which was not really a pleasant experience, as Jessica has described. This unfortunateness continued for the boys as the Arawak Water Park was situated directly next to a commercial fishing dock and the water was dirty with garbage floating around, and the inflatable water ‘toys’ were covered in barnacles and several handles were broken. They only stayed in there for about 20 minutes and were done. We went back to the boat then and enjoyed the fine, clean facilities there.

However, my luck with the on-board electronics continued with my room key demagnetizing. I went down to guest services to get a new key, which they gave me, only for that key not to work either. They ended up giving me an extra key to use in the door.

Anyway, a swim in the pool followed by a viewing of Angels and Demons ended our day. Tomorrow is Jamaica.

Adelle

First shot of Haiti

First shot of the ship while on the tender

The family in Labadee

The boy on the beach

Jessica on the zip line

Zoomed in on Jessica on the zip line

The boys on the water trampoline

The man on the slide

First full shot of the ship from the tender

The boy with the ship’s Guiness record

The girl with the Guiness record

The Jamaica trip was a much better experience overall than Haiti with the only exception being the pushiness of the vendors. We took a tour of the Green Grotto Caves, which was amazing. There were bats in abundance and the path we followed was guided by a very knowledgable and entertaining man who told us about the history of the caves and their use in the Jamaican version of the Underground Railway, as well as historically in the original civilizations of the island. Jarod was the only one of our group of about 30 people and the only one who did not have to wear a hair net and hard hat because he was short enough to get around the caves without hitting his head on the ceiling. Our tour guide picked up on Jarod’s shirt as an Indiana Jones t-shirt and tried to call upon the brave adventurer to demonstrate how safe the escape route to Runaway Bay was. Jarod didn’t bite, but it was fun to watch the guide tease him. The tour took us down into the mountain quite far, climaxing at a crystal clear underground lake. Upon our return to the main entrance we were treated to some really fine tasting fruit juice made on the island.

From the caves we went to the Dunn’s River Falls and that too was spectacular. The falls themselves are absolutely beautiful and to look at them they appear to be quite fast and strong. Which is intimidating when you’re challenge is to climb them, not on your own but in a chain holding hands with about 20 other people. There is a guide for each group of people and a videographer, and there are multiple groups going up the falls at a time, each following a different path and often criss-crossing each other. You start at the bottom, at the beach, and wind your way up these falls, helping your group mates along the way. Andy did not climb the falls with us, choosing instead to chart our progress along the dry walking route. This was a wise choice on his part and with his back problems it would not have been a good idea for him to try it. As it was, when we first saw the falls from the beach I questioned the wisdom of doing the falls myself with my bad knee, but then I figured I hadn’t been working out at the gym every day for the last six weeks to pass this up. I decided as long as I watched my footing and balanced myself I should be fine. Mom, Jarod, Dan, Jessica and I started it together. After the first leg of the falls Mom figured she’d done enough to satisfy her co-workers and took the first exit to join Andy. After the second leg of the falls Jarod had had enough and was too scared to keep going, so he took the second exit and joined Mom and Andy. Dan, Jessica and I were having a great time, though, and went all the way to the top. We don’t have any pictures to post as our camera is not waterproof so we didn’t bring it, but we do have a copy of the video. I’d rather not talk about how long it took to get the video as that story nearly ruined the whole day. Let’s just say they were using old CPUs and disk drives to make the video DVDs.

Anyway, all in all this was a great day. Dan and the kids and I did not stay in town to do any shopping though because the kids had had enough and Dan had had more than enough of the pushy vendors. I was amazed at his restraint with the lady who wanted to put his hair and beard in corn rows. Mom and Andy stayed in town a little while longer and picked up, I believe, some Jamaican Rum and Irish Cream and a couple t-shirts for the kids before heading back to the boat. Dan and the kids and I went straight back to the ship and played some mini-golf, after which the kids did a little rock climbing. Jarod only got about a quarter of the way up wall, but he was on a pretty tough side. Jessica got an easier line and got nearly three-quarters of the way up. They both did really well, in my opinion. I’m going to be trying the rock climbing on Saturday, if not sooner.

Supper was in the dining room again and was a surf and turf theme. Another amazing meal. Our waiter, Ernesto, is just awesome and really entertaining. I think he gets a real kick out of the kids and likes to show them tricks with flicking spoons into glasses and telling them jokes. Our assistant waitress is really nice too. She just started her first day on this cruise, so it took her a couple days to really get into the swing of her job. She’s doing great though and we appreciate her efforts.

After supper Mom and Andy went to sit on the deck for a while and we went to the arcade. I eventually left the kids and Dan there and went to the casino for a try at some poker. My first hand seemed promising as I landed a flush and won three times what I bet, but in typical fashion it did not take me long to lose the $40 I was playing with.

Anyway, that’s about it for today. It’s late again, but we get to sleep in a little bit before our Pirate Adventure in Grand Cayman tomorrow.

Adelle

Juice’s Corner

TODAY we went to Ocho Rios in Jamaica. While we were there, we went to the Green Grotto caves… Dunno if I developed a fear of bats or cured a fear of bats, but…. Ya. It was really fun! Then after that we went to the Dunns River Falls. AND I CLIMBED UP THE FALLS! WOOHOO! IT WAS FUN! But then when we tried to get a dvd… UGH. We had to get back to the bus in 15 minutes, took 30 minutes. LUCKILY the bus waited for us. We didn’t get to buy anything there. Then like, 30 minutes ago, I went to the surfing thing… BAH the instructor was kinda crabby. Oh! And you know how you always think of “yeah man” when you think of Jamaicans? Well it’s actually a word in their language! It’s “Yahman” which DOES mean basically Yeah man. Soo ya dats about it bii!

Juiceness/Jessica

First shot of Ocho Rios

The Family at Green Grotto Caves

Mom and Andy at Green Grotto Caves

Adelle and Jessica bonking helmets

Caves 1

Caves 2

Adelle on a bridge in the caves

Climbing an incline in the caves

Outside the caves

Between caves

Going back in the caves

Jarod not having to bend over to get in the cave

A large cave

Bats up close

More bats

Stairs in the cave 1

Stairs in the cave 2

Exiting the caves

Jarod beside a gourd tree

Our room is in here somewhere

Jess and Jarod getting ready to climb

Jarod climbing

Jessica climbing

The rock climbing wall

Ernesto playing with Jarod Look! I think I caught Dan smiling!

Juice’s Corner:

FUN-NESS! Today we went to George Town in the Grand Caymans… It was really fun!! We went to the Pirate Encounter. The pirates were really funny. But they made me SWAB THE DECK! But then we attacked two of the cruise ships… IT WAS FUNNY! PEOPLE ACTUALLY SCREAMED! Then after that we went to one part of the ocean to swim. I jumped off the HIGHEST point of the ship! But at some point I lost my MedicAlert. L Man the water was really salty! Oh! And about Green Grotto Caves yesterday, I saw Randy. Randy the RHINOCEROS! Anyway, while we were in George Town, we went to the shops and stuff. Oh and we got a stamp in our passports! Oooo and last night we watched Year One. It was FUNNY!

Jessica 😀

As Jessica has already mentioned, our primary activity today was the Pirate Encounter in George Town, Grand Caymans. Mom and Andy took it relatively easy today and started out relaxing on the deck before taking the tender to town to do an extensive amount of shopping. And eating at Hard Rock Café. And going back to Hard Rock Café for the Rum they forgot they could get on a coupon. They say, “Oooh, it was good!” Upon their return to the ship after that they ordered some more drinks and sat on the deck relaxing and reading.

Dan, Jarod, Jessica and I went on the Pirate Encounter. Thankfully this started at Noon, so we got to sleep in a little bit before we met Mom and Andy for breakfast. We took the tender early enough to shop for about an hour before our encounter, during which we got a pleasant rain. The weather all day was rather cloudy and rainy, but comfortable compared to previous days and really quite perfect for our sailing experience on the Jolly Roger.

The pirate encounter was “totally wicked” to quote Dan. To quote Jessica, it was “totally awesome.” It was “arrrghuably” the best shore excursion to date. The Jolly Roger was a three-quarter scale replica of a Galleon. Its crew was composed of four pirates including a wench. They took us out to sea and the first thing we did was sail by the Carnival cruise ship that was also docked there today. When asked if that was our ship we all shouted “nooooo”, so we agreed it should be fired upon and sunk. The pirate fired the little cannon creating a loud bang and we all cheered! Then he sailed around to the Freedom of the Seas and asked if this was our ship, to which we replied, “Yeesss!” So of course we fired at the tender that was docked with people watching us sail by and you should have seen them jump when the cannon went off. It was hilarious! Arrgh, matey!

We sailed around for a little bit, during which time the eight or so kids on the ship were subjected to swearing a pirate oath, swabbing the deck while being drenched in sea water – with Jessica being the first to be drenched, and finally taking revenge on parents in general by tying up one of the parents to the main mast and drenching her in ice-filled salt water repeatedly. Finally, all forms of torture ended with the parent promising to buy ice-cream for her kids upon our return to shore.

The final hour of our excursion was spent anchored in 15-foot deep water where we got to push our siblings and parents off the plank into the briny sea. No one got keel-hauled, but several did choose to jump from the highest point of the ship. Apparently at one point one of the pirates did get into the water with us wearing snorkeling gear to check around for the presence of any sharks.

We ended our swim with drinks for all. There was water, pop, and fruit punch for the kids and rum punch for the parents. Of course, when Dan asked for some punch he was automatically given rum punch and did not realize it until he took a sip, which was at exactly the same time that both Jessica and I tried to warn him that he’d gotten rum punch instead of fruit punch. It was mildly funny to watch Dan’s face as he reacted to the taste of this alcoholic beverage and quickly returned the drink to the serving wench for the kiddie punch.

Anyhoo! We all agreed this experience was the best so far. We returned to the ship, Jarod went for a swim with some friends he made on the pirate ship while Dan, Jess, and I went for a quick bite to eat as we hadn’t had lunch yet. Jess and I also went for a quick rock climb. She tried a different wall this time, but still managed to get nearly three-quarters of the way up, while I ended up on a hard wall to climb for my first try and did not get any farther than Jarod did when he tried it. Hoepfully tomorrow I will get the easier run.

After Mom and Andy enjoyed their afternoon on deck they got all decked out in their fancy clothes and the rest of us just got decked out for the formal dinner in the main dining room. Mom and Andy looked great. I’ll leave the rest of us to your imagination. Ernesto once again entertained us with his wit and magical expertise, and his “pee-six”. Being Philipinno, his accent took some figuring out that he meant physics. Supper was once again spectacularly too much, but totally worth it. Now that Mom and Andy have changed out of their fancy duds into their casual and swim wear they’re going for a long walk and hottubbing. Mom’s really smiling now, Uncle Dan.

By the way, Mom asks if someone could please call Grandma Lafrance and Auntie Yvonne to let them know that we’re all having a good time and doing well.

Laura, Mike, and John, if you’re reading, your Dad sends his love and wants you to know that everything is fine and we miss you all and love you and will talk to you soon. Tomorrow we are going to a guided tour of the Tulum Mayan Ruins when we stop in Cozumel.

So we’re off now to watch a short movie before a relatively early bed time as tomorrow will be a long day. Take care all!

Adelle J

On the Jolly Roger

Jessica swabbing the deck

The back of the cruise ship from the Jolly Roger

Jessica walking the plank

Adelle in the water

Dan jumping from the highest point of the ship

Jess jumping from the highest point of the ship

Adelle, Jessica, Jarod and the late Captain Morgan

The pirates on their ship

Adelle, Jess, and Tour Guide in front of ship

The family in front of the Jolly Roger

Ernesto’s “peesix”

Mom and Andy at Formal Dinner Night

Formal Dinner Night

Juice’s Corner:

TODAY we went to Cozumel in Mexico, and we went to Tulum, a mayan ruins. It would have been fun if it hadn’t been raining, and if SOMEBODY had let me have an umbrella. 😡 Well anyway, the ferrie ride there was really bad… luckily I was asleep. Then we had tuna (bleh) sandwiches for lunch… blah. And the ride in the bus back was okay. But I was soaking wet so I was NOT comfortable. Then it almost became a storm, I was really regretting the ferrie ride back. Then when we got on, the AC was on high! So now I was cold from the soaking wet clothes and then the AC so I was double cold. Mum bought a plate thing from a shop. Then we had a buffet supper. Then I started writing this blog. So ya. Buh-bii.

Jessica! J

Okay, so Jessica has established that it was a very wet day today and she was not happy. This holds true for everybody except Dan and I, who were just happy to be able to see the ruins in Tulum. We went on the express excursion which involved taking a 40-minute ferry ride from the ship to Playa del Carmen followed by a one-hour bus ride to Tulum. As mentioned above, the ferry ride was particularly bouncy, but Jessica and I both thought to take gravol before leaving and managed to sleep through the entire thing while barely acknowledging the movements. Unfortunately, most of the rest of the riders apparently did not think to take gravol and the boat staff ended up running back and forth with barf bags for several people.

Anyway, we got to Playa del Carmen and got on our bus to Tulum with no problems and began our tour. On the drive it started to rain and our guide informed us that although the hurricane in Nicaragua had been downgraded to a tropical storm we were now experiencing one end of it. In other words, it rained continuously throughout our tour of the ruins.

So anyway, again, we took a tour of the ruins, which I thought was pretty amazing regardless of the rain, but others in our group were not as impressed with because they were all cranky and miserable. Dan was taking some great photos. I listened to the tour guide as closely as I could because he did have a heavy accent, but was understandable if you listened. And he was interesting and told us some good information about the Mayan culture and history. We did not end up with very much time to walk around on our own though, which was disappointing for Dan and I, but the rest of our group was perfectly happy to leave when we did. Dan and I have agreed that we must come back here, preferably alone so that we can actually enjoy the history.

The return trip on the ferry was pretty much as exciting as the first, so I’ll just leave it at that. Otherwise, nothing much happened today. I think everyone is looking forward to having a day at sea tomorrow so we can sleep in a little and just kick back. The only concern is that our day at sea might involve sailing through a tropical storm. Ah, well. It was bound to happen anyway.

Take care!

Adelle

Mayan dancers(?)

Mayan Ruins

More Mayan Ruins

Even more Mayan ruins

The Mayan Temple

The family in front of the Mayan temple

The staircase built on the side of the ocean cliff

Us on a deck overlooking the ocean

Juice’s Corner:

WIND. Today we are basically travelling through a tropical storm. VERY windy. 68 mph wind. The upper levels were blocked off because it was too dangerous. Yeah. It’s called hurricane IDA. So because of IDA we didn’t get to do a lot of stuff. Like we wanted to go rock climbing, that’s on the very top of the boat, so no. We wanted to go on the flowrider, top of the boat too, so no. Swimming, we could of, but the wind was howling, so no. So we decided to watch The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. It started 10-15 minutes in, so at the end nobody but me got the significance of the clock. Then we tried the sprinkles icecream, I did not do good with getting it in the cone. Then we had supper. YUM and when we got back to the rooms, We found a towel pig in our room, and a towel scorpion in mum and dad’s room! That’s really all that happened today, besides packing. But that’s not fun to read about so ya. We’re gonna watch I Love You Man later. That’s about it. Tomorrow we start flying home! Happy yet sad J L. Gotta go. Bye.

Jessica 😀

So the only productive thing we managed to get done today was pack our bags and watch a movie. Tropical Storm Ida has surrounded us and made it impossible to do anything above decks due to the high winds. It’s actually pretty impressive to watch, especially from one of the lower deck windows where you’re closer to the water.

So we did not get to the rock climbing and surfing today as planned, and the water sloshing around in the pools was not much incentive to go swimming. We did finally find the screening room and watched Benjamin Button, though. Supper was again spectacular. I had spinach dip appetizer (which Jessica stole from me because she didn’t like her onion soup) and shrimp and mahi mahi tempura for the main course. Mom, Andy and I each also had a shooter. I can’t remember what it was called but it had five liqueurs in it; I think they were Bailey’s, Kahlua…and three others. Anyway.

No pictures today and there won’t be a blog tomorrow because we’ll be in the air all day, but I’ll put a final blog in on Monday when we get home.

Adelle