jenseib

I really loved looking at the shore line. It looked like it was pretty much jungle beyond. We were told it may be a little tricky docking here because of the currents, but I think it looked like we were doing a pretty good job. I took a little bit of video. And while I was taping the darn thing quit. Full card on this camera now! UGH! So I had to run back to the room to get another card. I got down there and tried to open the door but it wouldn’t. I figured Lisa must’ve used the bathroom and locked the lock so that no one would come in. She always had a fear Rodrigo would come in while she was in there. Speaking of Rodrigo, he comes along and tries to help me, but he can’t open it either. I told him that I bet she was out on the balcony and had it locked. I knocked a few times and called her name, but she didn’t answer. So while I waited, I took this picture. I finally gave up. I was missing us docking so I ran down to deck four and watched. The guys on the dock seemed all excited and ready. If I remember right, this was Disney’s first official visit to this port. I think it has been here a time or 2 when diverted by a hurricane, but I am pretty sure this was their first scheduled stop. However, after talking to a few people and seeing the schedule for the upcoming year, I do not think Disney will be coming back here much in the future. From what I have heard, this port is not up to Disney standards. And actually it felt kind of scary to me. There was a constant present of military. You can see some standing on the dock in this next picture. I headed back to the room once again and the door was now unlocked. I got what I needed, took a few pictures off the balcony and headed out in search of Lisa. After leaving the room, I decided to go straight up to the top to find Lisa. That put me on the floor that Palo is on, so I took a few pictures as I walked by. And back outside to search for Lisa I looked for what seemed like a long time. I just couldn’t find her. I had run into Brook and some of the girls earlier and they were going ashore to Costa Maya right away, and I told them if they saw Lisa before they left, to let her know I would be back soon. No one was in sight now. It was practically empty up top, which you would think would make it easier to find someone, but it didn’t. This guy was just chillin’ ….. Hey dude, have you seen Lisa? Finally I saw her across the deck talking to Susan. Susan was staying on the ship again and had run into Lisa. Yay! I was no longer lost! LOL. We said goodbye to Susan and we headed for a quick bite to eat before disembarking. After our quick lunch we headed down to get off the ship. I guess we stopped off at deck 4 first, because I have more pictures from there. And down again we went. And off the ship. I was glad we waited to leave, because we didn’t really have a line to get off the ship then. Looking up at the ship, our balcony is the one right next to the porthole balcony. Isn’t he cute?

Still touring the room, I moved on to the bathroom area. And back to the main part of the room. I can’t remember if I have mentioned this yet or not, but our room is obviously a studio. I was using a friends points to stay here for one night. Here you can see the box that was sent to me with a fellow Disers fish extender gifts. Opening up the cabinet to see what’s inside. It was now around 3:15ish. We needed to get ready for the Halloween party. I had wanted to arrive right at 4, but it was looking like that plan was not going to be followed. We had to sort out a few things, repack 2 backpacks and get ourselves situated. A little before 4 we were ready to head out towards the bus stop. Of course I took a few pictures on the way. I just had to get a shot (or two) of Claire on the bridge. I looked for the mailbox as I had a few postcards to mail out from “Mickey” to a few friends. A walk through the lobby. And then out to the bus stop. If I remember right, we did not wait too long at all and a bus arrived. Yay! We were so excited to be going to our first ever Halloween party at Disney! I caught myself in the mirror. And the time. We weren’t “too” far behind schedule. I texted my Dis friend Carey to let her know we were running a bit behind. We had wanted to meet up kind of right away, and I sure didn’t want her waiting at the front for me. Good news, she’s a slacker too! They were running behind as well, so we should be arriving very close to the same time. Our first sights of the Holiday décor. Now it was a bit of a madhouse getting in. Lots of people coming and going. I had to go through bag check and so did Claire as we had to backpacks. Then I asked where to go in at, but was directed in the wrong direction, gave my party ticket and then they realized I needed to go to the far end to enter with that. Ok, I was trying to be patient, but we were just so excited. We got in finally, and we did the boring thing ….stopped to get a locker. I knew this was driving Claire a bit mad, as it was doing the same for me, but there was no way I was carrying these 2 bags all day. We got our locker, put 1 bag in and emptied the other as much as possible so I only had to carry the minimal stuff and we were on our way to a PARTY!!!!!!! Going in during this time of year, you just can’t help but gasp at the decorations. There was a photopass set up right at the front and I wanted to do it, but Claire said no way was she waiting in that line. Darn it. This was the best I got from her. But I did make her follow me around to take pictures of all the cute scarecrows. Those were so cute. I tried again to get her to do the photopass op right there, but nope she wasn’t going to. Carey and I were in contact and they had just gotten off the bus. Claire and I slowly made our way up main street as we waited for them. I love all the pumpkins. And we stopped for a photopass picture since there wasn’t a line. He took one with my camera too. It was really dark, so I tried to lighten it. And then some of my Princess. Our first magic shot.

I do not off the top of my head, but it is quite a difference. I was using a friends DVC points that night, so that is why we ended up staying here. Otherwise, price wise, it would've been out of my budget for this trip. I was trying to make it special, but I couldn't go completely wild. LOL

They then got up and waved good bye. Look at that mischievous look he has. They headed on their way and it looks like they were looking for more trouble. I started my walk around the deck. And who should I run into in this hallway? Well Chip and Dale again. I guess they were walking around the outer deck. We waved and they hugged me again. I mentioned to them that my Daughter would be so jealous and they gave me the look of “where is she?” I told them at home, as this was a girls trip. They had the look of horror that I would do such a thing. It was funny. I assured them that she has sailed Disney already once and that she would be sailing Disney again in about 5 weeks. They gave me a relieved look and we went on our merry ways again. I continued taking pictures as I walked. Another picture where I was trying to get a certain focus point and the rest fade out blurry. Someday I really want to try and play shuffleboard. This area was roped off for construction and I looked over it and shot a couple of pictures. I guess these guys were the one working there ……and look who I spot off in the distance. Lisa! We decided it was time to go and get some breakfast so we headed inside and guess who we saw AGAIN!!!!! I waved and then asked if Lisa could get a shot with them. The played around with her. Looks like Dale was doing a bit of hide and seek or peek a boo. After our latest meet with Chip and Dale, we headed off for breakfast. A look off the back of our ship. I love the Mickeys on the glasses. That lady looks like she is giving me the evil eye. But she actually wasn’t. She came over to me shortly after and asked me if I knew anything about cameras. She had an SLR as well and was having issues working it. I played around a bit and I think I got it figured out. I think her issue was mostly video and it wasn’t working. I don’t remember the details, but I do know we figured out that her video setting was wrong and all the video they thought they took did not actually take. I hope I helped her enough to be able to catch the rest of the memories. We then saw land in the distance. That’s a good sign. I don’t have any pictures for the next 1 ½ -2 hours, so I am guess we headed back to the room and lounged around a bit till we got closer to port. Once we did get closer though, we went up top and watched us approach. We watched them steer us in. Lisa needed to go back to the room for something so she left and I stay up top taking pictures. I told her I would be up around the top when she came back. I didn’t have my telephoto lens with me, so I switched over to using my point and shoot so I could zoom in closer. This area we see is a little plaza they have right at the port. Our plan for the day was to just hang out here. Possibly travel outside of it, which requires a taxi ride, but for the most part our plans were to explore this area, which we were told had quite a bit of shopping and activities.

Moving on in the Vista Spa, I went in search of the rainforest room so I could try for some more shots there. I liked the way this next one came out. I went back out on deck and there were more signs of life now. The guys are always busy working somewhere. I stopped off and got a banana. A look at the ice-cream machines. I made my way down to deck 4 and glanced over the side. I wanted to go into Shutters and look at our pictures. This actually confused me for a few days. And Lisa too, but we finally figured it out. When Shutters was open, the pictures were displayed, but when it was closed, it had covers over the racks that had Disney pictures from around the world. For some odd reason, it took me forever to figure out I was in the same place. LOL So I headed in towards Shutters and I got a little Magical Pixie Dust. Look who I saw! And he posed for me. And then he motioned to his handler that he wanted a picture with me too. GREAT! I was ALL smiles then! How cool to just run into Mickey like that! I wandered around Shutters but no pictures were out to look at. Like I said, I was very confused and I think this is the day it struck me that they cover them up when they are not officially open. So I took a couple pictures of the covers. They have some display pictures on the shelves as well. And who do I see? Well this is my friend Jeannes girls. They sail a LOT! I mean like. A LOT!!!!!!! I think Jeanne has been on more than 40 Disney cruises. I think 6 or 7 Disney this year alone and also she has sailed on Princess this year twice if I remember right. After my Magical Moment, I decided to go down and look at Animators Palate while it was empty. Yeah, I went a little picture crazy here too. I decided to go back up to deck 4 and just walk for a little exercise. And I tried for a few artsy shots. I was trying to have different focus points. So, I am all crouched down, trying to get these shots and I feel someone tap me on my back. My first thought was that Lisa had come and found me. I stood up and turn around and I was shocked! It was Chip and Dale. How cool was that! I asked their handler to take a picture. And she goes to take a 2nd and tells me that my card is full! UGH! I did the quickest card change EVER!! And she took a couple more then. It’s really sad, but looking at these pictures, you really see that I am shaped exactly like Chip and Dale! I said Thank you and good bye, but they didn’t leave. Instead, Dale laid down on the chase lounge. I was wondering what the heck they were doing and then he motioned to Chip and Chip came over and gave him a massage. It was so funny and truly another Magical Moment for me.

We sat down for a few minutes out front of the Lodge and Claire was ready for another swim. I told her I would give her 20 minutes and then we were going to go and ask about our room. I was at the point of starting to get a little mad that we hadn’t heard anything yet. We headed out for the swim. The only pictures I took that time were of Claire holding Flat Ben. After about 20 minutes of swim time I told Claire we HAD to see if our room was ready. We needed to get changed soon to go to the Halloween party. She reluctantly got out and we made our way to the front desk. It was now 3 PM and when I went to the desk they said yes my room was ready and gave me my number. I was kind of mad that I never received a text and I did mention that fact that it never came and we had been waiting all day, but I got no response. We headed off to our room, which was very far away from the lobby, but we figured that would be the case since I had booked a standard. We walked in and Claire immediately had to see our view. Now I warned her that I didn’t book an “animal” view, so we may be looking at a lot of nothing. Well imagine our surprise. We went out to the balcony and this is what we saw. Claire was so excited! This was some sort of holding pen and animals were switched out every so often. We were extremely happy with our view! And you can see by the smile on her face that she was very pleased. Back inside the room. As you can see, our luggage was already there, which led me to believe the room had been ready for some time now. The bathroom door has a mirror on it. The art on the wall, with a nice glare from the window. This clock is not right. I have no idea why it says that time, but it was actually about 3:15 now. That could be displaying the time a message came though because we had a blinking light and a welcome message at 2 PM. That also irked me, because that meant our room has probably been ready since at least 2. That would’ve worked out perfect for a nice short little nap.

I walked down near the shops and tried to get some more shots of the window displays. Some came out pretty decent, some not so good. I really think the displays are so cute. And now a look at the Walt Disney Theatre area. Peeking in one of the windows of the shops …for those who don’t know, they are right here next to the theatre entrance. A look back from where I came. Down another flight. This cracked door is where you enter and exit from when you embark and disembark on the first and last days. Peter was our cruise director. More shots of the atrium. I must say I had a hard time getting a good shot of Mickey here. He is so dark in color and he just would not turn out nice. I think these are about the best I could get the whole trip. More chandelier overload. I was trying to be artsy, I guess. LOL Let’s move on, shall we? How about Beat Street? I really LOVE this next picture. Inside Rockin’ Bar D. Another picture I really like. Sessions. Inside Sessions. A little more exploring. Up Beat is where you can buy duty free alcohol and cigarettes. We went in and asked about the kinds, thinking we would be good wives and bring some home for the husbands, but they were very limited on what they carried. Into Diversions. I decided to have a little fun. I set up the tripod and a long exposure and then I would run into the picture, stand a moment and then leave it, giving me a “ghost” look. After that fun I headed up towards the spa, with a quick look out at the adult pool. The Vista Spa was completely empty.

Sept. 26, 2012 Day 6, Costa Maya Today’s navigators. I awoke around 5:45 this morning and gave up on sleep. I decided today would be a good morning to grab the tripod and take some early morning pictures. Keep in mind, just because you have a tripod, it does not mean all pictures turn out good! LOL The sun was starting to peek out. I took a peek through the window into Palo. I really like this shot. I basically roamed around the ship and every so often would shoot the sun coming up in the clouds. It’s so quiet and peaceful in the morning. Not many people around at all. Another couple of shots that I really like. And then I saw it and gasped. My pictures are terrible, BUT I saw a rainbow out at sea. Actually it was a double rainbow. It was very faint, but it was just one of the neatest things I have ever seen. I continued my early morning walk around the ship with my tripod. Some shots came out pretty neat, some, just awful. Some I would play with the settings and take like 4 or 5 of the exact same thing. After making the rounds up top, I went inside to try my luck with some inside shots. I headed towards the atrium. Warning ….I took a LOT of pictures of this chandelier …I mean a LOT! Well actually I took a lot of the atrium as well too. Yeah, I pretty much was shooting every square inch of the place. Taking a look behind me. And to the side. And then down a floor. And towards the shops.

After all that pirate fun, we decided to head to the buffet, which for those who have been on the Magic in years past, it is now located in Topsiders. I am trying to remember between my 2 trips, but I believe they only had it opened on one side and the line was long and slow moving. I have to say, I wasn’t all that impressed with the selections. And my pictures aren’t that great, and I can’t remember exactly all that was offered. I do know there was a lot of Mexican food, and I wasn’t in the mood for that. Well, actually none of us were hungry at all. It wasn’t all that long ago that we had gorged ourselves at dinner. I think I picked up a few things, one being a turkey leg. It had been YEARS since I last had one and I wanted to try it again. I might’ve picked up a dessert or 2 as well. I only ate basically a few bites. Most of my food was wasted. I felt bad, but I was so full. I will say the turkey leg was very good, but VERY hard to eat. After sitting for a while and chatting, we just were all so tired and we headed our separate ways. This might’ve been the night that Carolyn slept in Brook’s room. I guess one of her roommates was a loud snorer and she just couldn’t sleep, so a few nights during the trip she went to Brooks room and slept. We always turned the TV on when going to sleep because we would still hear that weird noise. I wish the TV’s had sleep timers so we could set them to go off after a certain time, but they did not. We also had issues with the toilet running and I found that if it kept making weird noises, that if I flushed it again, it would stop. I don’t think it took long to fall asleep tonight.

I think we all separated. I actually think Lisa and I left first from dinner. We went up top and tried to find a spot to watch the pirate show, which was very busy! A lot of my pictures are taken through people’s heads and arms and at one point I just started lifting my camera over my head and hoping for the best. People were ruthless and rude. Many would walk right in front of you and then just stop. It annoyed the heck out of me. Lisa hung back to the side and I would look at her and roll my eyes. The music was loud and a few times I would shout back to her things like “She just walked up and stood in front of me, can you believe it?” And these people still never got a clue. Then there was ipad lady. She was recording the whole show on her ipad, held high over everyone heads, which is fine, except she never stopped moving and would push her way in front of people all the time. And of course with the ipad held high, no one could see around her. I hope she got all she wanted. These are some of the better shots I got. Mickey will save the day! I am really having a hard time remembering the story line. It’s different than the Dreams party, but kind of similar. There was a LOT of dancing going on at this one though ……. more songs. The Dream is different too, because there is a pirate show between the 2 dinners, this one is all AFTR the last dinner. So the fireworks are with this, while on the Dream they are at the later dance party. During all the fun, the bad pirates invade! Continuing with the bad pirates. There can only mean trouble when Captain Hook is around. At this time we see Brook, Carolyn, and girls up above us, so we headed up a flight and stood by them. Mickey is here to save the day!!! Then it was time for fireworks. It’s really hard to get firework shots without a tripod. Obviously I wasn’t using one, so this is what you get. Now these fireworks are not the best you are ever going to see, BUT it is really neat to see fireworks at sea, especially when you know other cruise lines do not do this. The party continued. We saw Peter the cruise director off to the side, so we knew he was about to come out too. He was hard to get because he was on that upper stage and that roof was in my way, but you can kind of see his coat in the first couple of shots. He was dancing away, and boy he’s got some moves. This was a really fun part for me. He brought the party to a close then, I think I like the way the Dream does this better. This party was a bit too long in my opinion. I was getting tired of music and just wanted to see the fireworks. I could tell that Lisa was getting a bit tired of the dance party too. Sure I loved seeing different characters on stage, but it needed to be shortened up just a bit.

Before our trip, Lisa had talked to Verizon about adding international calling so she could call her husband. While at Margaritaville she had tried and punched in the code she was given. It did not work. I think she said she heard a recording and it wasn’t in English, so she had no clue what it even said. She was frustrated. I didn’t even bother with my phone, as I figured it wouldn’t work if hers didn’t. She tried a few times throughout the day and never did get it figured out. After our bus tour we split up with the others. I wanted to shop for some junk. You know what I mean, right? That stuff that is very touristy and fun to bring home to the kids. The others didn’t want to so they went back to the ship. I think Lisa would’ve rather gone back too, but she stuck back with me. I want to add it was super-hot this day. We were roasting. Some places were cooler than others and that determined how long we stayed in the store. I thought this fountain was cute. Sadly, I just couldn’t find what I wanted. This area seemed to have more high dollar places, or really cruddy places. I bought a few small things, I think a magnet for myself…this was my new “thing”, starting to buy magnets from different places and Grand Cayman was my very 1st one …sadly I don’t always remember to do so ….a stone turtle for Claire, and I think Lisa bought one for her grandson. I don’t think anything else was purchased, but it’s been a while, so I may have forgotten. It was so darn hot that we didn’t venture too far down the road and gave up. I have heard that if I went further, I probably would’ve found more of what I was looking for. We made our way back to the tenders then. We were getting closer to all aboard time and we didn’t want to be rushing back. We spotted an airplane coming in. It didn’t take too long to get on the tender. This time is was more crowded and we had to wait a little bit. They were bringing on supplies. Boxes of food, etc. I assume this was all for the ship. We also saw several people bringing on cases of alcohol. I need to brush up on this, but I thought there was a limit on how much you could take home, but I am not sure if it is the same from all ports. Maybe these people were hearty drinkers and planned to drink it all before they got back? Finally we set sail back to the Magic. I took this picture after we boarded, but I can’t remember where it was now. We headed back to the room to lounge a bit. We decided we should order room service, after all it had been at least 2 hours since we last ate. LOL! I made the call and ordered some Mickey bars and chocolate chip cookies and the cheese plate. While we waited for the order to come I stood out on the balcony and soon we started turning around. I wondered if we had everyone onboard, as it was not 4 PM yet. I then saw some more tenders come. I heard that some people barely made it back and were on the last tender …….I believe those people were part of Mary’s gang too. LOL I wanted to capture the ships horn on my video, but it never worked out. I kept turning on the camera and I would get nothing, in hopes of it playing. I got some really crappy video that will make you sick, and no horn. I kept walking back in the room to listen for the room service knock, and wouldn’t you know it played while I did that. We did eventually get the food though. Lisa arranged our Mickey bars. They were melting fast, so we went right after them. YUM! I ate the ear off of it and then plop! The whole darn thing fell off the stick onto the carpet. I think I had those eyes of horror and shock! Lisa looked down at it and me and smiled and kept eating hers. I looked down at it and back at her and said “I’m still gonna eat”! She started laughing. But when I picked it up, it had carpet fuzz all over half of it. There was just no way to do so. I could handle the germs, but not the fuzz. The other ear was still free from fuzz and I did eat that. I figure the best way to build the immune system is introduce a few germs into it. That was such a disappointment. Lisa kept eating hers and after a bit she said she really wasn’t an icecream person, and she didn’t know if she could finish hers. Then she looked up at me, saw the look on my face, and said, “but I think I better”. LOL. I did enjoy the cookie. It was huge, but just as good as the ones they serve at Topsiders. I think we put the 2nd cookie in the fridge for a snack later, which at some point I did eat too. The cheese plate was great too! I got a last picture of Grand Cayman as we pulled away. I had started carrying my Castaway club backpack instead of my camera bag. This was sooooo much better on my shoulders. I happened to find this little goodie in there that I had missed earlier. We then showered and got ready for the evening show and Pirate night. Tonights show was Villians tonight. I had seen this on the Dream and it wasn’t a favorite of mine. I was going to give it a 2nd chance. I am glad I did. I liked it much better this time around. I am not sure if there was much difference, but I guess I liked the jokes a bit better, or maybe it was the way they were presented this time around. They do change some of the jokes to keep up with current events. I also think a few things were slightly different. I was happy we went and saw it and that I gave it a 2nd chance. After the show, we headed back to the room for a bit. This guy was waiting for us. Lisa informed me that he could only wear her sunglasses tonight as she would need them tomorrow, so I better get a picture now. LOL. We started watching Men in Black 3. Lisa had never seen it, but I did, but we both really got into it and we almost were late for dinner because we got so engrossed in it. As we walked to the dining room we saw Pirate Stitch. Sadly I didn’t have a good setting on my camera as I took the picture and it was really dark and grainy. Such a shame, because he posed for me too. Tonights dinner was back in the Lumieres. It was pirate night and we were all (well most of us) wearing our pirate gear. We had a pirate menu too. Food was ordered and we were having a blast with our waiters. Lisa had the Jerk Chicken Salad - strips of jerk-spiced chicken on fresh garden salad with plantain chips. And I got the Pirates Golden Pot stickers, oriental pork "dumplings" deep fried and served with a tamarind-ginger soy sauce and pickled vegetables. Julie was nearby, so I took a picture of hers too, which was The Buccaneer's Sun-Ripened Pineapple - fresh island pineapple with a coconut covered banana and orange glaze. I also got the Caribbean-style Conch Chowder - with sherry, sweet peppers, onions, tomatoes, thyme, and garnished with diced potatoes and crispy bacon bits. I think Lisa also got this. Our entrees then came out. I got Treasures of the Seas Grilled Shrimp and Seared Scallops - served on strings of pasta and fresh creamy tomato sauce. Our head server (Kapor, I think was his name), came over and cut the shrimp out of the shells for me. So far all the food was good. No complaints with this meal. Lisa got the baked salmon. After we gorged ourselves, the dessert menu appeared. We made our selections and then our waiters disappeared. Soon the fun started. There was a pirate parade of the waiters. At one point we all joined the line and went around the restaurant in conga style line and limbo’d under the stick. I have no clue why I took this picture of Lisa, Brook and Luis, but I must’ve had a reason. Carolyn found a higher perch to take pictures from. After we settled down from all the fun, a little birthday surprise came out. Today was Susan’s actual birthday. I did a nice job at focusing on her ARM! Lisa once again got the Sweet Temptations - a trio of fruit cobbler, floating island and chocolate cake. Most of the dessert choices didn’t appeal to me tonight. I ended up getting the Angel Food Cake - with strawberries and whipped cream off the no sugar added section. I enjoyed it though. I love Angel food cake! We were running a bit late with dinner though. It was time to head out as we had a pirate show to catch!

I was starting to get a bit antsy that our room was still not ready. It was just after 2 now and I knew our chance at getting a nap was fading away faster and faster. We decided to head into the gift shop. This place is amazing! This shop is definitely different than other resorts gift shops. After our quick browse through the store we headed outside to see the front of the resort.

The other gals had ordered food, but since we had just eaten, we didn’t, but we did each order a pop. We weren’t there for long and decided to get moving. For some reason the waitress put it all on one bill. So annoying. I swear she said that it was $1.50 American to $1 Grand Cayman, but we asked Carolyn how much we owed her and she gave us a price that seemed way too little. I think Lisa gave her the money for our drinks since I paid the tip on the snorkeling excursion, so I am not for sure what the exact total came to. We decided to take a bus around the island and see what it looked like. Lisa and I debated on this a bit. It sounded fun, yet we weren’t sure we wanted to do it. Finally we said OK and went along. As we headed out we took picture of Margaritaville. Lisa and I. They had a pool area here too. Another stop for touristy pictures. We had a few issues finding this bus stop. We were told it was behind Margaritaville, but honestly we just didn’t see it, nor any buses around. We decided to look in here a minute because who ever heard of bamboo socks? Well they had them and sheets and just about anything you could think of made out of bamboo. The clothing was VERY soft, and PRICEY. We won’t be taking those home with us. We kept on looking Lots of Banks in Grand Cayman. And jewelry stores. At one point Shelly asked what the local time was as it was an hour ahead on clock she saw. I thought that was correct, but the ship stayed on Galveston time. But then later we saw another clock that had the same time as Galveston. Weird. We never figured it out. Some people said they were the same, while other said it was an hour ahead. Finally we asked someone where the bus stop was. Well we weren’t too far…and this was not really a bus. There was an area with lots of vans parked. These were the “buses”. They asked where you wanted to go, more like a taxi that followed a route. We said we just wanted to make a loop and end up back here. So we all got in and started off. This van still made stops throughout the island, but very few people got on or off. You could tell some people used this to get to and from work, and I must say, if you got on near the beginning of the route and worked near the end, that is a long ride …..at least it seemed like it to me. The whole reason for this ride was to see some local life. I will warn you now, I took quite a few pictures …through a window in a moving van, so needless to say, they are not great, but it will give you an idea what the island is like. Our bus is fresh too! Let’s just say some of the decor is kind of interesting. We passed some resorts and nice houses along the way. And some not so nice as well. And we spot some beach! I think they must’ve been doing some remodeling, as all the bedroom furniture was outside. And here is a sight you don’t normally see every day ………. Unless you are me! This is a common sight out in my back yard every day. In case you didn’t know, my husband is a dairy farmer. On our route we made stops and picked up some people and dropped them off. It was obvious that some were coming or going to work. I wouldn’t mind taking this bus to the beach, as it was close, but coming back would take a lot longer. Keep that in mind if you ever decide to use this option. It would be cheap transportation, but time wise coming back, not very good. One last shot before we made it back to where we started.

We continued our snorkeling fun. This boat went by a couple of times. If I remember right, it had windows down below and it was an excursion to look at sea life. There’s Brook. A last look under the sea. I was now to the point that I had to go to the bathroom. I was also starting to get a little cold and waterlogged, so I got out. Brook and Lisa soon followed. We got one more group picture as we waited for the rest to come back onboard. Soon it was time to go and everyone had returned. We motored on over to where we had gotten on the boat and set off back to the ship. We tipped our guys because they were fabulous. We decided to go back and freshen up and get a bite to eat then meet up with Carolyn, Susan and Shelly. I took a few pictures as we walked back. Hey, there’s a rooster walking around. I really had to go to the bathroom quite badly at this point. We spotted public bathrooms and Brook and Lisa declined to go in, but at this point a hole in the ground was gonna work for me, so I went in. Surprisingly these were pretty decent bathrooms. I would say on the line with the Castaway Cay ones. Not fabulous, but decent and they weren’t dirty. Now that I felt so much better, we headed back to the tender area. Easy to find the Mickey Boat! Disney’s area was so much nicer than the Carnival one. They had a shaded canopy with cold water and cold towels waiting for us. We soon were on a tender. We made some chit chat with the one guy. I think he took a liking to Lisa. He was very friendly, but honestly we had a hard time understanding him and we did a lot of smiling and nodding. A guy came on wearing a Fantasy Inaugural Sweatshirt and carrying a guitar. We kind of heard hints of whispers that he was new entertainment coming on board and that the 2 other ones had left that morning. I never realized this, but I guess a lot of the entertainment does not stay on board the whole week. They will get off at a port and fly home, or fly into a port and join the cruise midway. I LOVED this guy’s sweatshirt by the way. I sure wish I could find a way to get one myself. We soon set sail back to the ship and we saw some people enjoying themselves. I took a few pictures of the Carnival Destiny as we went by her. Back to the Magic. As we were pulling in, we had a to wait a minute for the other tenders to get out of the way. All of a sudden Brook says, there is Carolyn on that one. I couldn’t believe she saw her. She said Susan wears big sunglasses with bright white rims and they caught her eye. LOL. We hollered back and forth and let them know we would meet up with them in about 45 minutes or so at Margaritaville. Looks like the red could use a little new paint. We have arrived! Snorkeling sure works up an appetite, so we headed straight for some food. We all got chicken tenders and fries. They were pretty good too. A view of Grand Cayman. We all headed back to our rooms to freshen up a bit. I guess I felt the need to take a picture of our towel animals lined up. LOL We met back up and headed to the tenders once again. A peek over the side at the water. A look back at the ship. We have arrived once again. Which way to go? There it is. Let’s stop and take a touristy picture!! I tried to get a shot of the floor, but as you can see, that wasn’t too successful. It was kind of a maze to get to the restaurant part, up stairs over this way and that, but we found them. The place was pretty empty and we found sat a table next to them. Here is the view out the windows. And there is a deck out here as well.

Claire and I kept on with our exploring. We found the sign for Simbas kids club and went in search of it. It appeared to be down a hallway and we gave up fast. We then went in search of more animals. I believe these shots were taken through a window. Then we found a porch overlook and we were trying to figure out how to get to it. And another shot through the window, but this was kind of neat looking. Here’s a porch! Getting artsy! Hidden giraffe. While we stood there, I just took several pictures. And we kept moving too. We spotted a few birds. Another try at an artsy type shot. I still had rules to follow as we walked around. One being these little tunnel type areas through the rocks. I was NOT allowed to go through till Claire did. Since I was kind of wandering and taking pictures, I broke this rule a few times …and of course was scolded for doing so! We have found more animals! Exploring some more. Aren’t these so cute. They had these little metal art type animals hidden in the rocks. We headed inside now to explore the lobby. It’s really so pretty and I can see the resemblance of Wilderness Lodge.

Not quite 5000 in this report, more like 2000! But you don't have to read along if you don't enjoy it. I appreciate your good sense of humor. Well done. BTW, you appeared to have some very nice travels there... Thanks. I did have a great trip ...and as you can see I like to document it all with pictures.

Not quite 5000 in this report, more like 2000! But you don't have to read along if you don't enjoy it.

We just loved watching the Flamingos. Claire felt the need for a picture. There are those guys relaxing still. A look over at the pool. Back at the birds. We moved on to get another view of the Flamingos from the other side. We spotted a few pay phones. Flamingo overload. They look like headless Flamingos. And we moved on a little further. We found the other hot tub. Getting artsy. And pool games. Pool games, I think, are more common now at all resorts than they used to be. I think up until last year, they really didn’t have much going on at Values, at least not like they do now. But since we never really have taken a full resort/pool day, we have never witnessed this too much. This was all new to Claire and as the time went on, she really loved “watching” the games.

She has not even seen them since we've been home. I guess i should show her.

We noticed the “Owen” guy swimming towards the bottom. I guess he went down to scare some fish into action. And out came the big fish. He did sort of look like a shark when you looked at him from far away. There goes a school of fish. These guys came up pretty close. We noticed that it was time to head back to the boat so we made our way back. We had one more destination yet. Something you don’t see too often. LOL As we went over to the shipwreck site we were given a bit of history. It wasn’t very far from where we just were either. A little info about the shipwreck. “The Cali, built in 1900, was a 220-foot long steel-hulled four-masted barquentine that sank in George Town harbour in 1949. She was sailing from Ecuador to Cuba with a cargo of rice when she encountered bad weather and began to leak. She diverted to Grand Cayman but attempts to keep her afloat failed and she was run aground.” Basically what we were told is she ran into shallow waters to avoid sinking, but she was full of rice and it expanded from the water and started breaking the ship apart. It sat there for many years and finally they decided to blow her up to sink her completely, but someone was a little bit generous with the dynamite and added way too much and she blew up BIG and pieces went flying all over and into town. Her remains are on the bottom and we could see quite a bit. Time to get back in. And I attempted a little underwater video. This is kind of spooky looking. I played with some of the ways I edited the pictures, so the water itself didn’t really turn to a different green or blue, just the way I edited it to see if I could get them clearer. Another peek at our ship. These fish just totally cracked me up. They would swim right at me and then quickly turn away. It was like they would say “hey let’s check her out … oh wait …… she’s scary, turn around quick”.

So, where are we going you may ask? Our excursion is the Shipwreck and Reef Snorkeling. When we found out that Grand Cayman was one of our stops, many people told us that snorkeling there is a must. I approached Lisa with the idea and she wasn’t too keen on it. She had never done it before, and it made her nervous. Once Brook booked the same cruise, we kind of talked about it and she said she would go with me as it is something she has always wanted to do. I told Lisa that I was going to do it with Brook and would she like to come and she decided to give it a try. That being said, I think she was still nervous about doing it. We chose this particular one for one reason; it was pretty cheap compared to other things on the island. I think this port adventure cost $39 per person. Our walk that we had been taking was leading us to the boat that would take us snorkeling. And I must admit, we had some “pleasant” scenery awaiting us on the boat as well. Remember that little patch of sand we had just past? Those small steps there at the other end, …..That’s where we went down to get on the boat. As we walked down the steps there was quite a bit of stones and shells there so I took a picture. Or two They told us to take off our shoes as they could easily fall off as we got on the boat and they weren’t about to go chasing after shoes. One other note, the sandy beach area was not even ground when you came down the steps, so that could be an issue for some people. We loaded up and found a seat and waited. I took a few pictures while we waited. (like you are surprised by that) Our captain. And his mates. I honestly can’t remember a single one of their names now, but they were all super nice and fun, but professional too. I think they all, or at least 2 of them had come from Australia. They had a passion for diving and sea life. While sitting there I was finally able to get that picture I wanted. We had to sign waivers and then got instructions. By this time we were already on our way out to where we would snorkel. I was still in picture taking mode. This guy gave us the basics and though he was serious and gave us good info, he also joked a little bit. The seats that we sat on did open for storage. Not all could be used by us as they had ship supplies in them, but they had a couple that we could use and we threw our bags inside of that. We were handed our snorkeling gear and then went over to get our fins. I had to get the extra big feet size. LOL! They handed me a pair at first that was supposed to fit like a 9/10 for ladies. I could tell right away that I wasn’t going to like those…and when I couldn’t squeeze my foot in it, I knew for sure they wouldn’t work, but they did have a bigger, so all was good. So I am all set, and please take a picture of me looking at my absolute worst…I really want to post this for the world to see. The picture wouldn’t be so bad if I hadn’t scrunched back and added about 12 chins to my face. Yeah, I’m all sexy like that. One of the guys came over and took a picture of the 3 of us. Don’t we all look fabulous!! Time to get in. Now we were told to put our fins on right at the edge so we didn’t trip when we walked, but I seemed to have forgotten that and put them on right at the bench. LOL. But I was fine. I did the fin walk to the edge and got nervous. Not many people had gone in yet. We all were nervous about jumping in with the gear, but I decided what the heck and made a very ungraceful jump right in. Brook and Lisa were not far behind. And my first look under the sea. This excursion was so much fun. My tip to you is that if you plan to snorkel, you NEED a underwater camera. It was so fun to be able to click away. It took a little bit to get our breathing down and to be sure our masks were on our face right, but soon we were doing well, even if it looks like we are dying. Brook wanted a shot of her with the ship behind her. Lisa getting the hang of it. Our guides had told us that there might be some very large fish down towards the bottom and they were NOT sharks and please do not holler shark as it will send everyone in a panic. We didn’t see any yet . We did see some Dory’s though. Hi Lisa! Hi Brook! Lisa took some pictures of Brook. And then Brook was going to take some of Lisa and I together. But then one of the guides, who we thought looked like Owen Wilson came over and said he would take a picture of all 3 of us. He then told us to hold our hands and make a circle and he would go down below and take our picture. This is one of my very favorite shots of the whole trip. I wasn’t looking directly down as I was afraid of following him and then getting water in my snorkel. I then see Lisa and Brook go up for air and they are laughing. I guess the “Owen” guy was down there taking the picture’s and wasn’t paying attention and swam right into a rock. Poor guy. He came back up and scolded us for not warning him ….just jokingly of course. More snorkeling.

I did a little more exploring, making my way back towards our room. Lisa and I packed what we needed and headed off to our meeting place for our excursion, which if memory serves me right was Diversions. As we walked down I got a quick shot out the port hole. We found some seats and settled in. Not long after we got there, Brook showed up as well. It was just the 3 of us going on this Port Adventure. We checked in and they announced that they were selling water bottles out in the hallway, so I ran out and got the 3 of us each 1. Of course I was trying to hurry and the guy in front of me was slow as can be, pulling out his phone to calculate a tip as this was all done on paper and not the computer. I’m sorry, but if they can’t have it automated, they don’t need a tip for water …but I will tell you I never left one, but one was calculated in on my bill when I checked it later. Soon we were heading off the ship. In Grand Cayman you have to tender to port. They don’t allow the ship to get too close because of their coral reefs. If you had an excursion planned, you were taken right to a tender. If you did not, they had a meeting spot set up to get tickets to tender off till a certain time in the morning. I don’t think they want a mad rush of people trying to get off at the same time. We were the “Minnie” group, so we followed the Minnie sign out to the tender. Brook wanted a picture with the ship behind her. Seeing the ship out here in the middle of the ocean really makes you realize just how big she is. Without seeing her compared next to the Dream, I didn’t think she looked very small at all. We found some seats and soon we were off. I really tried to take pictures of the ship as we pulled away, but it was impossible. Too many heads or poles in the way. We saw the Carnival ship parked not too far from us. Good bye Magic. Hello Grand Cayman. This could’ve been a cool shot if there weren’t poles and people in it. It didn’t take long and soon we were at the dock. We were told to gather at the wall with our Minnie sign guy. While we waited, I took a few more pictures….imagine that. And then we started a walk through town. Look how tall that guy in the blue is…Wow! We had to walk through a bit of a vendor area and then out some gates. Even though it was early, they were already trying to get us to buy their goods and direct us to shuttles and taxies that would take us to the beach, but we had our own plans and kept walking. I don’t get why they try to sell things to people who are obviously in a group with an excursion. Do they seriously think we are going to stop and leave the group to buy their things at that moment? The walk wasn’t too far, but for those who have trouble it might be a little bit far for you. There was actually a guy that had braces on his legs and he seemed to have a bit of trouble keeping up and took a break once or twice, but he never complained one bit. Of course the whole time we were walking I was taking pictures to the left and right. Not much thought in framing or how they would turn out, just pointing and clicking. We saw this ship and a little boy told his parents that he could tell that was a “real” pirate ship. Looking back from where we came.

I believe that is one of my Aunts favorites too.

Sept 25, 2012, Day 5 The Navigators for today. This one scanned weird and would only scan half a page at a time for some weird reason. Today I woke with a phone call. UGH! It was room service at 5:45 letting me know our food was on its way. Why did they call so dang early? I think I had it set for somewhere around 6:15 – 6:30. I had my alarm set to wake up accordingly, but I guess they want you to know it’s coming. So we got up and didn’t do much, expecting food to be here at any minute. I went out to the balcony and took some pictures. Ok, A LOT of pictures of the sunrise. Still no breakfast, so we started to get dressed and ready. Look there is land in sight. Finally we got a knock at the door. The guy was very friendly and apologized for running behind. He said it was a crazy morning for room service. It arrived pretty much at the time we had it scheduled for, so no complaints about that. We dug in and ate and then I went up top to watch us get closer to port. Of course I took more pictures. As we got closer, I also took some more pictures around the ship. I just love watching us pull closer to port from the top of the ship. I am always amazed how empty it is too. Sure there are others up there, but not many. I can just make out a Carnival ship in the distance. My land shots are not that great, but it didn’t stop me from taking them. And while walking by the basketball court I felt the need to get a shot of that. Playing around with the camera now. More shots while walking around. These comfy chairs were just outside of the Quiet Cove. Mary’s girls loved this area and usually snatched some chairs here each day. They would never leave them either. It was funny. They would take turns eating and going to the bathroom so they wouldn’t lose the beloved seats. The hair braiding station. I’m gonna let you in on a secret…..I LOVE hair braiding. Now not the full head look, but the headband look. I have loved it for years and I had it down when I was in the Bahamas many years ago. I also used to have 2 different friends who could do this and I would often have them do my hair. I think it’s long out of style, but I still love it. Lisa and I were often confused with the trash cans. We weren’t sure if some things were paper or plastic, or a bit of both. We often just threw things in one or the other. I wonder if they sort this trash out later? I can’t imagine we were the only ones confused. Here was a restroom I had not spotted earlier.

After the coffee purchase by Lisa and Brook we headed out and roamed a bit. I took more pictures. I think we separated from Brook at some point in time. We found a seat in the adult area and saw this helicopter go around. I wondered if Cuba was monitoring us. Lisa said I shouldn’t have taken the picture. And then a few minutes later it circled again and she swore they were coming to get me. I have since heard that Cuba was in fact watching us. Not sure why really, but I guess the Big Disney boat looked intimidating. We walked around a bit more. I think we ran into Brook again and she was going to the Cove Café for a snack so we followed her in again. (Or I could have my memory wrong and we went in the 1st time by ourselves and the 2nd with her…I can’t be for sure. LOL) A better picture of the sign. A little more roaming after. Signs of life out in the big ocean. We headed back to the room and started to get ready for dinner and just laze around a bit. We both showered and watched one of the movies playing on TV as we got ready. Tonight dinner was at Parrot Cay. I believe bread was Warm Banana Bread with banana butter dip. While we made our selections I took a few random pictures. For an appetizer I chose the Baked Crab Dip Martinique, Jumbo Lump Crab Baked in Creamy Cheese Sauce served with colorful Tortilla and Plantain Chips. Lisa got the Cream of Green Asparagus, With Crabmeat and Asparagus. One of us, or maybe both of us had this salad. It’s so sad, but I can’t remember for sure, but I am pretty sure we both had it. Parrot Cay Salad, Fresh tender Spinach tossed with sliced Red Onions, Mushrooms and a Warm Bacon Dressing topped with Crisp Bacon and Chopped Egg. For my Entrée I got Mixed Grill, Grilled Beef Tenderloin Steak, Lamb Chop, Bacon Wrapped Sausage and Jumbo Shrimp on Mashed Potatoes, Asparagus and Grilled Tomato with a Cabernet Mushroom Sauce. I don’t have a picture of Lisa’s plate, so my guess is that we got the same thing, or I just wasn’t feeling like taking another picture. LOL Dessert! Lisa got the Parrot Cay`s Sweet Temptations, A Trio of Crème Brûlée Cheesecake, Lemon Meringue Pie and Chocolate S`More Vanilla Cake. I got the Ice-Cream Sundae, Cookies and Cream ice cream, served with a fudge brownie bar, Whipped Cream and Chocolate sauce. Yum Yum Yum!!!!! I didn’t have any complaints about dinner at all, though I think a few got something that they weren’t too happy with. Julie had tried the crab dip too. I know she had said something about it not being her thing, but she wanted the chips. Well she loved it and I am pretty sure she ate the plate clean. After dinner I took a few random shots as we left. And then back to our room. Where we found this guy waiting for us. Some of the girls were going to go to David Williamson’s adult show tonight. I wanted to go, but I made the mistake of going back to the room. It was just so comfy there and before I knew it, I threw that idea out the window and just got ready for bed. We had an early excursion tomorrow, so I decided sleep was best for now. I did leave out the room service tag for us. I just checked all sorts of things off. If it sounded good, I checked it. LOL I think this ended up being my earliest bedtime during the trip.