Welcome! So glad you could join me in my recap! This year’s traveling party is a bit smaller than last year – just me (April), my dad (Mark) and his girlfriend (Sue). Also, this year’s trip is a two-parter. It starts with Walt Disney World and ends with a five-night western Caribbean cruise on Royal Caribbean. All three of us were sailing Royal for the first time, and we were all pleased overall with the experience. Disney Cruise Line is still my favorite, but definitely not worth the exorbitant price difference. It’s worth a moderate price difference though. Ready? Here we go!
Monday, October 11th, 2010
I flew out of Hartford on Southwest (still my favorite airline) at around 5:15pm, so I didn’t arrive in Orlando till around 8pm. I had noticed the flight was full so I made sure to log in at exactly 24 hours beforehand to get my boarding assignment, and it was A-42. Great! No trouble nabbing an aisle seat with that number! So I boarded and got my aisle seat, and then promptly gave it up. The very last person to board was going to be taking the middle seat next to me and mentioned that he was on his honeymoon. I didn’t feel right breaking up newlyweds, so I switched seats with his new bride, earning me a free drink from the man I ended up next to, as well as from the flight attendant. Yippee for free cocktails! My dad and Sue picked me up from the airport, and on the way back to their house we made a pit stop at Long John Silver’s so I could get some dinner. I love Long John Silver’s! They have yummy battered fish and yummy hush puppies! After dinner I was able to enjoy a piece of coconut custard pie. You’ll notice my week includes a lot of coconut, since my husband, who is deathly allergic, was not traveling with me. Nothing else exciting that evening – tomorrow we head to Epcot for Food & Wine Festival!
Tuesday, October 12th, 2010
We opted not to get up early, so we arrived at Epcot around 11am. It was surprisingly crowded for this time of year, but I had purchased some nifty software for my cell phone called Lines, which would give me the current wait times on each attraction, as well as all the show schedules, so I was confident I could manage the crowds well. We checked the Lines app for Mission Space, and it told us our wait would be 12 minutes – perfect! We headed over there and half an hour later boarded the ride. What the heck! That’s not even close to 12 minutes! Grrrr…anyway, moving on. We visited a few other attractions and made it over to France in the World Showcase just in time for our lunch reservation at Chefs de France. We chose Chefs de France because Remy, the rat from the movie Ratatouille, appears there several times a day, and he’s one of my favorites. He appears as an eight inch tall audio-animatronic rat that is wheeled around the restaurant on a serving cart. He answers yes and no questions with nods and head shakes, as well as generally moving his body around and “speaking” to you in the form of squeaks. Absolutely adorable! All of us loved it.
For added fun we had notified the restaurant that we were celebrating my dad’s birthday, and the waiters all came out to sing happy birthday in French. C’est magnifique! And the food was delicious. After dinner we headed to the theater to see today’s Eat to the Beat concert, which happens to be Air Supply. For anyone who is a fan, they sound EXACTLY the same as they always did – age has not harmed their voices! After the concert we finished up our loop of the World Showcase, making a quick stop at La Cava del Tequila. I had read that they had unique flavors of margaritas, which turned out to be true. Sue & I had the Blood Orange Margaritas, and my dad had a Dos Equis. While we were sipping our drinks Sue actually noticed that the mural on the wall depicts the entire tequila making process, which was a nice study guide for us since we’ll be re-visiting last year’s tequila seminar in Cozumel next week. Can’t wait!!! Anyhow, we made a quick stop at Spaceship Earth and then headed out. Once back at the house we had a few cocktails and played some rummy (dad won) and then Sue & I played cribbage (I won – yippee!). Off to bed to rest up for Magic Kingdom tomorrow!
Wednesday, October 13th, 2010
We opted to wait till the afternoon before heading over to Magic Kingdom, since my main goal was to see the Main Street Electrical Parade. We relaxed around the house all morning, and then headed over to the park. You can be in any park in half an hour from my dad’s house, with the exception of Magic Kingdom – that takes closer to an hour due to the parking lot tram ride and the ferry boat ride both being necessary. On our way to the park we located Sue’s brick just outside the Transportation and Ticketing Center. Many years ago Disney sold bricks outside the Magic Kingdom that could be personalized with your name and date, but some were relocated over time, including Sue’s. Found it!
The park was packed (again, surprising for this time of year) but we were still able to check out a bunch of attractions including Space Mountain (bumpier than I remember), Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin (Sue got the high score), Haunted Mansion, Country Bears Jamboree, Tomorrowland Transit Authority, Carousel of Progress, several others I’m forgetting and the Monster’s Inc Laugh Floor. At the Laugh Floor they used their video cameras to pick people out of the crowd and make witty comments, including my dad with a caption underneath reading “This guy will buy everybody churros”. He was also picked out again later in the show – you had to be there but the whole thing was hilarious. Definitely worth checking out if you are in the area. We found a great location to watch the Main Street Electrical Parade from and it is exactly like I remember it being from childhood. So pretty, and the music is still so catchy!
Afterward we headed to the exit, caught the fireworks from the line for the ferry back to the parking lot, and made it home. Tomorrow is Sea World!
Thursday, October 14th, 2010
We got to Sea World fairly early, since the park closes at 6pm tonight. Sea World overall was disappointing to me this time around, so I’ll start with what was good. Blue Horizons is still a fantastic show, and Pets Ahoy never fails to wow me. Our cocktails at Sharks were excellent (the bar itself has fish tanks built into the countertop, and it’s really cool to sit there and watch), and the sea lions were hilarious.
That’s it for the good. The bad would include the closing of the old hospitality center, the wrong info given to us by the host stand at Sharks (they told us the bar didn’t open till 2:30, and as a result we ended up having to eat in one of their other, considerably less impressive restaurants), the barricade put up in the dolphin area preventing you from actually seeing anything unless you want to buy fish food, the deliberate overlapping of all the shows which would force you to spend an extra day in order to see everything, and the general nickel-and-diming prevalent throughout the park. You can safely say I am unimpressed with the new management (Sea World was bought out a couple of years ago). No exciting plans this evening, and tomorrow we just have lunch plans at the Kona Café.
Friday, October 15th, 2010
We built a day of rest into the schedule so we could do laundry and such – our only plan is to lunch at the Kona Café so I can get a pina colada. Kona Café makes the BEST pina coladas – very coconutty! Early afternoon we took a drive over to the Polynesian Resort, and yes, they are everything I remember them being and more. Ahhh…yummy. Had a great lunch and then headed back to the house. Nothing too exciting for the rest of the day – tomorrow we start our cruise!
Saturday, October 16th, 2010
Off to Tampa! We’ll be sailing for five nights on the Radiance of the Seas out of Tampa, heading to Cozumel and Costa Maya. Ah, the beautiful western Caribbean! Check-in was uneventful, with one glaring exception. While in the terminal waiting to board I noticed that my dad & Sue were assigned a different table than I was, so I went to the guest services in the terminal at port. They told me to go to guest services once onboard the ship. At guest services onboard the rude girl (I didn’t catch her name) at the counter told me I had to go to the dining room to request the change, but “we’re full so they aren’t going to help you anyway”. At Cascades (the main restaurant) we waited half an hour, and then they moved my dad and Sue to my table, which should be the end of the story. However, that night at dinner just before our appetizers arrived at the table, the maitre d came over and said there had been a mix-up and would I mind moving by myself to another table? Yes, I would mind very much!!! There was one other single traveler at my table, and he agreed to move, but this was totally unacceptable as far as I am concerned, and I did email Royal Caribbean about it when I got home. Fortunately it was our only major problem for the week. Before dinner we stayed on deck to watch the ship pass under the Skyway Bridge on its way out of Tampa Bay. We were guessing it would take about an hour to reach, and it turned out to be two and a half hours. Good info to know for future cruises out of Tampa, because it was totally worth seeing.
We also caught the Welcome Aboard Show, which introduced our cruise director, Kirk, as well as one of the comedians who would be performing later in the week. Kirk was by far the best cruise director we’ve ever had – he was everywhere! After dinner I made a brief stop at the casino and then off to bed. Sea day tomorrow!
Sunday, October 17th, 2010
I woke up early, since I forgot to change my clock by an hour before I went to bed. I started my day with a Frangipani Scalp Treatment at the spa, met up with my dad at Kirk’s Progressive Trivia, and then had some lunch. At lunch I discovered a wonderful thing called the Tutti Salad, offered every day at lunchtime. Basically they take a big silver bowl, you tell them what lettuce to use, what ingredients to add, what meats to top it with, pick your dressing, and they chop it all up together with a pizza cutter and dump it on a plate for you. Delicious! I could barely touch my entrée I was so full from the salad! Sue & I checked out the Men’s Bellyflop Competition (hilarious!), and then at 4pm we did the martini clinic, which was a great deal at $15 per person. It gave you samples of four different martinis, a souvenir martini glass, and one full-size martini of your choosing. Apparently anything served in a martini glass that contains liquor can be called a martini nowadays – my favorite was called the Razzle Dazzle, and contained Raspberry Rum, Peachtree Schnapps, Pineapple juice and a little champagne. Fantastic! Later we went to the Captain’s Welcome Aboard Reception, followed by dinner, followed by their production show “The Piano Man”. If you ever have the opportunity to see “The Piano Man”, I highly recommend that you skip it. It really wasn’t good. Off to bed – Cozumel tomorrow!
Monday, October 18th, 2010
We decided to meet for breakfast at 8am, and then head into Cozumel. Unlike on DCL, at every meal you are seated with other guests. So far we’ve had no trouble with this, but today we had the misfortune to be seated with a cranky couple from somewhere in Florida. They were just unpleasant people (everything on the ship is so expensive, let me tell you about my cancer, that bottled water is just outrageous – take it AWAY, etc), and we were lucky enough to miss them for the rest of the cruise. We docked at a different pier than last year, so our taxi ride to Mr Sancho’s was $1 cheaper. Woohoo! The taxi ride was calm and sedate, and took place in a van with a working speedometer. MUCH improved from last year’s taxi ride, where my whole life flashed before my eyes. We arrived at Mr Sancho’s, who had no record of our reservation (thanks Cozumel Watersports!) but immediately setup for us and were willing to start as soon as we were ready. Having done the tequila seminar before I requested that we wait for Oliver, the manager, and was so happy we did. I’m sure anyone could have done a decent job, but Oliver’s seminar is just fantastic. Sue & I did it last year, but it was my dad’s first time and he agreed with everything I said about it. All of your previous liquor tastings combined do not equal this in-depth foray into the world of tequila! We tried somewhere in the area of twelve tequilas, plus a tequila martini and an extra glass of a special anejo he cracked open just because he thought we might like it.
Afterward we opted to head back to the ship. Mr Sancho’s does have a lovely beach, but we are not really beach people and already have a beach day scheduled for tomorrow in Costa Maya. When we got back onboard I managed to catch a $99 spa special (facial, massage, heat treatment and time in the thermal suite) and then afterward I went to Tri-Bond Trivia, which I was terrible at but had a lot of fun playing. Basically you have to find the common denominator for three items – for example, trees, families and hair would be the words, and the “bond” is that they all have roots. That evening we got to see The Platters, which were excellent, followed by dinner. After dinner we headed to the Colony Club for cocktails and to listen to the band play some 50’s & 60’s music, when all of a sudden hundreds of people started filing into the bar. Turns out that the music was being followed by The Quest, kind of an adult scavenger hunt which is extremely popular among repeat cruisers. It gets fairly raunchy by the end, but parts of it were just hilarious. After The Quest we all headed off to bed – tomorrow is our first ever visit to Costa Maya!
Tuesday, October 19th, 2010
For today’s visit to Costa Maya we’ll be visiting an all-inclusive called Nohoch Kay, which means Big Fish in Mayan. From the directions I’ve received, you take the taxi to Mahahual ($3pp) which will drop you kind-of-sort-of nearby Nohoch Kay, and then you walk down the unpaved road till just past the school and you’re there! How hard can this be? Sure enough, the bus drops us off and the driver tells us to head right down the road. After a short walk we spot the sign for Nohoch Kay and start to veer toward it, when a woman pops out and asks “Are you April?” Why yes, yes I am! So weird to be called by name in Mexico! They immediately sit us down and hand us cocktails, then they all introduce themselves. Himie is the manager, Tracy is sort of the assistant manager and also gives beachside massages, Jeff will be our personal waiter, and Betty and Nacho are also servers who are happy to get us anything we need. Wonderful, pleasant people! After chatting with them for a bit we decide to head across the street to claim our beach chairs, and they direct us right to the brand new palapa (it was just replaced after a recent storm).
The beach has some large sections of sea grass, but also has a clear sandy area you can walk out into – the water was beautiful! We spent a few hours, had many pina coladas and also lunch, and then decided to head back to the ship. “Oh no, you can’t leave us yet! Bartender, bring out the good tequila!” Seriously, they were the nicest, most welcoming hosts ever. It was like going to visit old friends. We finally convinced them it was time for us to go and they called us a taxi, which pulled up right next to the building at precisely the moment the skies opened up. It poured for all of ten minutes, and then was beautiful again by the time we made it back to the port area. Wandering through the port area I decided to make a pit stop at the Tequila Emporium, where they offered samples. The salesgirl was giving me froofy flavored tequila samples right up until I said I like Don Julio Blanco, and then she completely changed tactics and started pulling bottles out from under the counter for me to try. Apparently you have to say the magic words to try the good tequila! I bought a bottle of Afamada Blanco, which I’d never heard of but was quite delicious – Oliver at Mr Sancho’s would be proud of my selection! Once we got back to the ship I spent some time in the Solarium, which is the adults only pool area. It has a glass canopy that can be opened if the weather calls for it, and is decorated is kind of a jungle theme.
Solarium pic
After my pool time I went to play Name That Country Tune, which we came in second place for. I swear every trivia contest has ringers. We watched the ship head out of port and then went to see Sean & Dave, tonight’s headliner show. They are sort of a juggling comedian act, and they were quite good. Dinner was very good, as it was for the most part each night, and then I decided to check out the Love & Marriage Show, which is a take-off of the old Newlywed Game, but with couples who had been together for varying durations. The first couple were honeymooners, the second couple were celebrating their first anniversary, and the last couple had been married 49 years. The most entertaining moment came when the guys were asked “You’re stuck on Fantasy Island and you can have any one person with you, but it can’t be your spouse”. The first anniversary husband said Faith Hill (they got it right), the old-timer said Sophia Loren (they got it wrong), and the newlywed guy said “her friend Nicole”, at which point every man in the audience jumped up and shouted “NOOOOOO!!!” The bride took the whole thing well, but it was still hysterical. After that I made a brief stop at the casino, then off to bed. Tomorrow we’re at sea!
Wednesday, October 20th, 2010
Our final day at sea – so sad! We went to the finals of Kirk’s Progressive Trivia, followed by some lunch, followed by the Men’s Sexy Legs Competition (which went horribly awry – some people should not be allowed out in public). I decided to head to the Schooner Bar early for Name That Movie Tune, and my dad came wandering in offering to buy me a cocktail. It seems he had won $120 on a quarter slot pull – his first time ever winning at a casino! By the time we finished our cocktails Name That Movie Tune was about to start, and we were joined by a nice lady I had met a few days prior. The extra player didn’t help us, though, as we lost again. Before dinner we checked out Royal Caribbean’s other production show, called “City of Dreams”. As bad a Piano Man was, this was worse, and we left about twenty minutes in and headed for the Colony Club to watch the band instead. Final dinner and then late night comedy with Kelly McDonald, who was quite funny. Nothing left to do but put out the suitcases – tomorrow we’re back in Tampa!
Thursday, October 21st, 2010
We had our last breakfast, and then headed to the Aurora Theater to wait for our disembarkation number to be called. They were about half an hour behind schedule, but once we were called it all went very smoothly. We found the van with no trouble and headed back to my dad’s place and our traditional post-cruise meal at Beef O’Brady’s. We spend a quiet day relaxing around the house, and I had some Cruzan coconut rum. I also learned how to play Mexican Train in dominoes, in honor of our recent travels. I fly home tomorrow (where I’ll experience the scariest landing ever), but I’ll wrap it up here. I had a great time, and I hope you enjoyed reminiscing along with me!