Take a Ride on the Fantastic Voyage - Day 4

Sorry for the delay... But without further ado, her is day 4.

Day 4 - Costa Maya

We began the day, just like all the others, Chuck got up early to work out (clearly, I should do something about this working out thing... it's beginning to make me look bad).  The kids and I woke up leisurely.  When Chuck got back, we headed down to Enchanted Garden to eat breakfast. It is a buffet for breakfast.  I am normally not a big fan of a buffet, but this one is good and this particular morning they had a ham and cheese croissant on the buffet that was out of this world.

After breakfast, we head back to the room to pack the bag for the excursion to the Chacchoben Mayan Ruins.  I packed some snacks and water bottles and I am glad that I did.  It was hot and humid that day.  We head to the Walt Disney Theater to meet up with our tour group.  We were the first ones to disembark the ship.  As it turns out, Costa Maya is very sparsely inhabited.  The locals drive there to meet the cruise ships.  Who knew?  Apparently, a hurricane all but destroyed the town and while somethings have been built back, the people have not yet come back to make their homes there.  It's very beautiful there.  Heck, I could see myself going back there.

This excursion takes the entire day, so if you are looking to explore Costa Maya, this might not be the best choice for you.  We happen to love history and have always been fascinated by the ruins, so it was a no brainer for us.

We boarded the bus for the 45 min drive out to the ruins.  Our guide told us lots about the local history and the Mayan people.  One thing that was really interesting was that Chacchoben was the Mayan word for Red Corn.


When we got to the ruins, we were assigned a second local guide to assist our tour guide.  He was 100% Mayan.  The ruins consisted of temples and the residences of the upper echelon of the Mayan people.

  Remember the red corn?

The ruins look like steps now, but originally they were stuccoed and painted a vibrant red.  Some of that is still visible in places.

How cool is that????  It was hot, hot, hot that day and very humid.  I am very glad I brought the water bottles.  I almost wish I had brought some Gatorade too.  


I had to include pictures of the cutest kiddos ever:

They obviously had a great time exploring.  The kids really felt like they were Jr. Archaeologist. To be honest, I kinda felt like one too.  It was really amazing to be walking among the ruins of some of the most advanced people to have ever walked the planet.  Pretty humbling to be honest.


After the tour, we headed back to the ship where we barely had enough time to shower and make it to dinner.  But, we needed the showers,  It was hot and we were all sweaty (and by sweaty I mean drenched).  


Our dinner was in Enchanted Garden.  It was awesome as usual, but the real treat was the show.  The show was Disney Wishes.  It was a story of three friends who will be graduating high school soon and spend their time at Disneyland.  These new shows are really fantastic.  I cannot rave enough about them!


Highlights:
Chacchoben Mayan Ruin tour
Disney Wishes
Ham and Cheese Croissants at Enchanted Garden for breakfast :)

Take a Ride on the Fantastic Voyage - Day 3

Day Three - Grand Caymans

This day started like most of them.  Chuck gets up at the crack of dawn and goes to work out while the kids and I wake up leisurely and get ready to go to breakfast.  This time though, Chuck makes it in time to go to breakfast with us.

We eat at Royal Court for breakfast.  I like that you order from a menu instead of a buffet, but the menu is the same each day.  The food is excellent though.

Today the boat is docked in the Grand Cayman.  We did not get off the ship.  Chuck and I have been to the Grand Caymans before and, although it's nice, it was something we felt we could skip.  Most people do the Stingray City excursion in Grand Cayman, but as cool as stingrays are to touch in a touch tank at the aquarium, swimming with hundreds of swimming portabello mushrooms just is not my idea of a good time (plus it would require a bathing suit in public and that's not my idea of a good time either).

After breakfast we go to Disney Trivia.  I should totally have this in the bag!  I mean, really, I am a huge Disney fanatic.  There are 5 teams playing.  I don't know how it happened, but another team beat us....  Ok, so I didn't know the dog in Pocahontas was named Percy or the name of the singer that did the voice for Mulan.  I am super competitive, so that loss was a huge blow.  Oh well... I will have more trivia opportunities this week and I will win one :)

After Trivia, we do the Midship Detective Agency.  Disney hit the mark with this one!  We did the Case of the Missing Puppies and we had the best time find clues and puppies in the enchanted artwork (plus running all over the massive ship was bound to work off some of those Palo calories, right?)  This is really an amazing game and the kids had a blast!

Since the majority of the ship was off hanging with the stingrays, we decided it is the perfect time to hit the Aquaduck.  We put on our bathing suits (ok, I put mine on, but kept my cover up on the whole time) and headed up to the pool deck.  Just for giggles, we decided to get Garrett measured again and we got sprinkled with a bit of pixie dust and the guy let him slide (thank goodness for that crazy bedhead that let him barely scrape by)!  Woohoo!  He gets his coveted red bracelet and we vow not to remove it the entire week.  It was awesome.  He loved it!

That evening we had dinner at Royal Court.  That is a really cool and elegant place!  The food and service was impeccable as usual.

We headed back early and went to bed, after all, we have an early morning tomorrow in Costa Maya!  We are so excited about it since we have an excursion to the Mayan ruins.  


Highlights:


Aquaduck
Midship Detective Agency

Take a Ride on the Fantastic Voyage - Day 1

I was channeling my inner Coolio when I came up with the title of this article...  Yep, there I go showing my age again.

The fam and I just got back from a 7 night Western Caribbean cruise on the new Disney Fantasy!  It was an amazing trip and, lucky you, get to hear all about it :)

The down and dirty:

Cast of Characters - Chuck, 45,  Me, in my 30's (Haha, I bet you thought I'd slip up and actually tell you), Caroline, 8 and Garrett, 5
The Itinerary - Port Canaveral, Day at Sea, Grand Cayman, Costa Maya, Cozumel, Day at Sea, Castaway Cay, Port Canaveral
The Ship - Disney Fantasy
Cabin - Category 4B Cabin # 8098
Dining - First Seating
Sail Date - June 23, 2012

Since we live in Charleston, SC, we drive to Port Canaveral since it's only 6 hours away.  So, on June 23, we wake up early enough to be on the road at 6am!  Yay!  That means we should arrive at the port around noon.  Well, best laid plans and all, we get on the road a couple of minutes late, but nothing to throw us off course too much.  We cross the Florida line about the time both kiddos start complaining of their ears hurting.  YIKES!  I quickly start googling Urgent Care Centers in the area and found one in Jacksonville.  Luckily for us, it was just swimmers ear.  The doctor prescribes an antibiotic and about an hr and a half later, we are back on the road.  Thank goodness I planned on getting there at noon.  We had plenty of wiggle room.  As soon as we got to the port, we checked in and were able to board.  We are way past excited by this time.  The ship is stunningly beautiful.  Disney definitely believes in making you feel as though you have just stepped onto the First Class atrium one of the great luxury liners of days gone by.

We get to our cabin to drop off our bags and to grab some lunch.  I booked a category 4B because we have stayed in a Veranda Cabin before, but I was really intrigued by the extra 50 square feet and round tub.  I will have to say, for us, both were well worth the additional cost.  I am completely enamored with the round tub and rain shower head.  The tub/shower seems small when you look at it, but the round shape makes it the roomiest shower I've ever had on a cruise ship.

After dropping our bags off and admiring our home for the next 7 days, we head to Cabanas for lunch.  Lunch was a good buffet.  I think Garrett might have eaten his weight in shrimp.  That kid loves three foods: steak, shrimp and bacon.  After lunch, we swing by the Oceaneers Club and Oceaneers Lab to check it out and get the kids equipped with their Mickey Bracelets (aka Oceaneers ID aka Lojack, as I affectionately call it since it has a GPS locator in it).  Yes, you can do this at the port, but when the lines are long, skip it and do it onboard.

That night we went to dinner at Animators Palate.  We met our Server Tiziana from Italy and her assistant, Camille from Trinidad and Tobago.  We loved, loved, loved them both.  Animators Palate the first night is much like Animators on the Disney Dream.  It features an interactive show featuring Crush from Finding Nemo.

After dinner, Garrett and I went on to sleep since we had had an early morning and long day, while Chuck and Caroline caught the show, A Fantasy Come True.  Chuck said it was a Glee-esque kinda show.  I don't care for Glee, so it wouldn't have been a show I would have cared for.  Caroline loved it.

Highlights:

Category 4 cabin with extra 50 sq feet and round tub/shower
Animators Palate
The ship itself

Seeing things through your eyes

This blog post was written by my good friend and client, Krista Nevarez.  It is a trip report from her cruise on the Carnival Triumph.

Carnival Triumph March 2012

Prior to this, I had been on one other cruise.  I went on the Disney Dream last year for Spring Break.  I loved it!  It was a wonderful experience, but it was definitely expensive!  One day I got an email from Carnival advertising cruises, so I decided to check out the prices.  For less than half of the cost of my four night cruise on Disney, I was able to go on a five night cruise on Carnival.  I contacted Jill, and she made the arrangements and I was booked at six weeks out to sail on the Carnival Triumph from Galveston, TX for spring break.

We drove six hours from Wichita, KS to Fort Worth, TX on Thursday after work.  We stayed overnight at a friends house, then drove another six hours from Forth Worth to Galveston.  I definitely think that cruising out of a port within driving distance was a real money saver!  Although we had to pay for gas and a hotel the night before the cruise, it cost about half of what it would cost to fly to Port Canaveral in FL.  

On Saturday morning, we took a taxi from our hotel to the cruise terminal.  We had stayed at a hotel that had free parking for the duration of the cruise.  I highly recommend doing this.  It was a time and money saver!

The boarding process was much quicker than what I had experienced on the Disney Dream.  We had gotten to the port early and were in the third boarding group.  We were on the ship within about 45 minutes of arriving at the terminal.

My first impression of the ship was that it was TACKY!  It definitely looked like a floating Vegas casino.  Where the main lobby on the Disney Dream was beautifully decorated, the Carnival Triumph's main attraction was a bar.  Although the decorations were tacky, the ship was quite clean and comparable to Disney in that aspect.

We went first to have lunch at the buffet on the ship.  We also had a couple drinks of the day.  

The buffets were nothing to write home about, but we always managed to find something to eat.  If the food was any better, I probably would have eaten a ton and gained a lot of weight so I was fine with the food that was served.  

When we were able to go to our room, I was impressed with the size.  We had booked a verandah stateroom, and we were very happy with our room.  We had a lovely view everyday.

I would highly recommend getting a stateroom with a verandah.  We enjoyed ordering room service and having a private meal on our verandah.  We would read out there almost every evening. 

Our cruise went to Progreso and Cozumel, Mexico.  We did not make plans through the cruise line for port activities.  I researched on cruisecritic.com and found activities for both ports.  This saved us money and gave us more flexibility.  

Dinner on the ship was amazing!  We had the my time dining where you can go anytime between 5:45-9:00.  On our second night we had a great waitstaff so we requested them each night after that.  The Caesar salad on the ship was so good that sometimes I got it as an appetizer and for dessert!

Overall, we had a wonderful time on our Carnival cruise.  As a huge Disney fan, it was hard for me to stray from the Disney brand, but the price made it too enticing.  However, I am still on the fence about whether I would take my son who will be three this summer on a Carnival cruise.  I think Disney is definitely superior when it comes to kids clubs and activities.  Carnival seemed very adult focused and this was evident from the many bars on board, risque music that was played, and crass games that would happen on deck.  If I found a cruise that was the right price, I would probably take my son, but for now I will consider Carnival to be an adult vacation for Mommy and Disney to be our family cruise line.  

Sooooo.....

OK, I have been really, really slack about updating my blog lately, so I asked some of my clients to write trip reports on their trips.  I thought you might get a kick on hearing trips from another perspective.

The first client trip report will come from Krista (from the Going the Distance post).  She is going to tell us all about her last cruise.

Stay tuned... It should be a good one!

Arrrr....

Today, my 4 year old is home with a nasty cough and a little fever.  Poor fella is missing a field trip to see Disney on Ice, but has decided to make the most of it since he is home sick.  He has decided that he is a pirate.  He has his hook, eye patch and pirate hat on.  He certainly looks like a menacing pirate.

Pirates are everywhere these days, even the Wiggles have Captain Feathersword!  We live in Charleston, SC, where there actually were pirates.  Yesterday, I went on a field trip with my 7 year old.  We went to the Battery and the Old Exchange and Provost Dungeon.  Pirates were there too.  At the Battery, there was a monument to the hanging of Stede Bonnet, the Gentleman Pirate.  Stede Bonnet was also imprisoned at the site where the Old Exchange now stands.

Anne Bonney, a famous female pirate who sailed with Calico Jack Rackham, lived in Charleston before her life in piracy.  Even Edward Teach, also known as Blackbeard, was docked in Charleston Harbor.

There is even a great restaurant here in Charleston called the Queen Anne's Revenge that has amazing pirate artifacts!

So with all this pirate history and lore, we have a love for all things pirate in this house.  In November last year, we sailed on the Disney Wonder to the Bahamas.  In Nassau, there are tons of excursions that you can take including going to Atlantis and swimming with the Dolphins, but those aren't for us... we wanted to see pirates!!!  We took our own excursion to The Pirate Museum.

The kiddos getting their first view of the Pirate Museum

The Museum is awesome.  Those pesky pirates that raised havok in Charleston centuries ago also raised cane in the Bahamas too.  Talk about getting around!  It was really awesome to be able to relate such a different place to your very own town.

Well, there is a funny story about this visit to the Pirate Museum.  See that stinkin' cute little blonde haired boy?  See that sweet little girl?  Well, that little boy loves his big sissy like nobody's business!  Did you notice the guy dressed up like a pirate?  He was not only dressed like a pirate, but he was also in character. He engaged the kids and really played the part really well.  The kids loved him and really enjoyed his antics, until he took it a bit far for little brother's taste.  We had finished up our Pirate Museum tour and bought some fun pirate things from the gift shop.  As soon as we stepped out of the gift shop and onto the sidewalk, the pirate grabbed big sissy's bag and said, "Arrrr, me take your booty!" and started walking to the end of the building.  Little brother took off after him and began to yell, "That's my sissy's toy.  You can't have it!" and hit the poor actor in the leg!  Needless to say, the booty was returned to the lassie and knew that she would have a protector for the rest of her life!  I pity the poor fella that takes her on her first date in ten years!

Well, I guess I need to see what plunder my pirate is getting into as I type away!

Going the Distance... in a Tutu

In 2008, I got a call from a good friend who said, "I am running the Disney Marathon.  I think you should run it with me."  OK, at the time, I couldn't run from the front door to the mailbox without getting winded, so 26.2 miles was sounding a bit hefty, if you know what I mean.  Krista, my crazy running friend, proceeds to tell me about the Couch to 5K Program and then Galloway's Marathon Training, blah, blah, blah.  Well, ol' Krista is convincing.  Maybe she should be in sales instead of a teacher... maybe her real calling is convincing people that misery loves company... or maybe, just maybe, she is just a really mean prankster, but either way, then next thing out of my mouth is "I'm in".

This is Krista.  


Yep, you read that correctly, I said I was in... and I did more than that, I registered for THE race... the whole enchilada, the full 26.2 DearGodIHopeIDon'tDie Marathon.  


I started training and planned my family Disney trip to begin the weekend of the race and even convinced my husband to run too.  OK, so remember that I am the girl who can't make it to the mailbox without getting winded????  Well, I start with my Couch to 5K Program, and I am dedicated.  I actually graduated the Couch to 5K Program and started the Galloway Training.  I am rocking along and feeling all accomplished... UNTIL the week comes when I have to run 17 miles on my long run.  Seriously, 17 miles is miserable.  I sucked wind the entire time, never got into a good rhythm, and lost all confidence that this was actually an obtainable goal.  Maybe this WAS a bit hefty... so, I decided to jump ship.  I just couldn't wrap my mind around 26.2 miles.  I know I could do 13.1.  I'd done that before in training.  There was a large group of us going, some running and some cheering.  There were other girls that were going to run the Half Marathon.  I'm going to do that instead.  So, I registered for the 2009 Disney Half Marathon.  I trained and I trained.  You would have thought that training for this race was my job.  I ran every morning and hardly missed a training run.  Oh, and did I mention that somewhere in between signing up and training, Krista found out she was pregnant???  AND she still ran the FULL MARATHON.  So, not only is she a really mean prankster, but she's also a MEGA ROCKSTAR too.

Because I had planned my trip around the FULL marathon, I wasn't due to check in at Disney until Saturday after the HALF marathon was over.  I made a few phone calls and decided to drive down a day early and stay with my friend Liz (who had also signed up for both races because she was over zealous like me).  Liz is wonderful and promised to run the entire Half Marathon by my side.  YAY!!!


We had a great time at the Expo buying all of our marathon merchandise and hanging out with our friends who were either going to run or cheer.  

It really was a super fun time....  Until....

Remember I said I trained?  I was well trained.  This race should have been a cake walk.  It was not a cake walk.  It was far from a cake walk.  Somewhere along the line I let my mind tell my body that I can't do this.  Luckily, the body won out, but just barely.  I completed the Half Marathon with an official finish time (if only by mere seconds).  I was miserable.  Completely, totally, utterly miserable, but I did it.  I can say with all certainty that I managed to get through it because of Liz and all my friends who were there to cheer me on every step of the way.  I was and still am eternally grateful for them.


The next day, my husband ran the full marathon next to my good friend, Deb.  Krista ran the full marathon pregnant.  And me?  Well, my dear friend Cee and I cheered our hearts out for them.  We knew how much it meant to hear someone say, "You've got this!" or "You're looking great" because it had meant so much to us the day before.


That fateful weekend sparked this bizarre love of Endurance Racing.  As miserable as it was, I knew I had accomplished something most people never do.  In fact, that year, I ran 3 Half Marathons:  Disney Half Marathon in January, The Inaugural Princess Half Marathon in March, and the Disneyland Half Marathon in September.  

This year, in January, I completed the Goofy Race and a Half Challenge at Disney World.  The Goofy Challenge requires that you complete both the Half Marathon on Saturday and the Full Marathon on Sunday.  So, I have finally completed a Full Marathon.  Go big or stay home, they always say.  I will admit that the Full Marathon gave me as much pain and misery as that first Half, but my friend Renee was with me every step of the way with encouragement and quotes from The Hangover (because, frankly, getting through a marathon is much easier when someone is saying "This isn't the real Caesar's Palace is it?  I mean, Caesar didn't really live here.").  In case you were wondering, Deb, Krista, Renee, and Liz all completed the Goofy Challenge too.  Cee is signed up to complete the challenge in January 2012!


I will tell you that the past almost 4 years (counting training time) has taught me:


1.  Endurance Running is 95% mental.  Knowing you can do it is worth more than I can tell you.


2.  Running friends are lots of fun and persuasive and some of the best friends you could ever ask for (Thank you Krista, Liz, Renee, Kari, Cee, Deb, Leslie, Katie, Tonja, Lynn, Becky and the host of others that encourage me).


3.  I really like collecting medals.

Changing Lives

You know, every once in a while something will happen that will change your outlook, thoughts and feeling on things.  That's happened to me before, more than once actually.  Today's blog will be about one of those life changing times.


Growing up, my family was a go to the beach on vacation kinda family.  Every year, we'd pack up and head to Hilton Head, SC or another similar location for a week during the summer.  Every once in a while, we'd go somewhere different.  Once we took a cruise, once we did a really cool England / Scotland / Ireland trip (where my mother learned that there is a really famous bread sharing her maiden name, but that's a story for another day), and a couple of times we made the trek to Orlando to visit Disney World.


In 2000, my husband (fiance at the time) and I went to Universal Studios and Disney World.  I was much younger (I was going to put my age here, but then came to my senses!) and couldn't find the magic that everyone talked about when they referred to Disney.  I mean, Universal has awesome thrill rides!  Disney just didn't seem to have that thrill factor for me.


In May of 2004, my daughter was born.  This child seemed to be the most perfect child in the world (except for the occasional spit up).  I am sure every mother feels the same way.  My mother happened to be at a conference in Orlando in November that year, and she asked us to come down.  At the time, Independence Air was offering $49 flights to Orlando, so why not.  So, we made the trip to Orlando with a 6 month old.


If truth be told, I really had mixed feelings about bringing a 6 month old to Disney.  What if it was miserable?  What if I had to nurse her or change her?  What if she was scared to death of the characters?  Those are all pretty valid concerns, but we packed up the stroller and said that either way, we'd find out for ourselves.


We took her to the Magic Kingdom for her 6 month "birthday".  She was so taken by all the sights and sounds of Disney that all of a sudden, something really strange happened.... I saw the MAGIC!  I saw the magic in the subtle music that set the scene around us.  I saw the magic in the awe of a child seeing Mickey Mouse for the first time.  I saw the magic in the way the characters interacted with her and made me feel like no one in the world was more important at that moment.  Something changed in me that trip.  I felt a lot like the Grinch on Christmas morning.  Maybe my heart for Disney grew three times that day.  I can tell you this... I became a fan.  A big fan, in fact.


Since that trip, we have been to Disney more than most people go in a lifetime.  Every time, I see and feel that magic.  I am thankful for a lot of things in my life, but I am especially thankful that my daughter taught me how to see, feel and experience the Disney magic for myself.