Sixth Day - St. Thomas - September 25, 2013

Halloween on the High Seas! I couldn't wait until all of the Halloween themed things started! Today was spent completely on the ship. We just didn't feel like going to St. Thomas today. So, we wore our swimsuits all day. Went to the hot tubs, adult pool and to the Rainforest Spa. While at the adult pool, I had another Drink-of-the-Day. Today it was called Spooky Juice. The drink itself was just ok, but the garnish was pretty gross. It was a piece of banana with cherries in it for eyeballs. I thought it was 2 marshmallows, until I bit into the banana. For some reason, it was just gross.

                            

 

Relaxed in the Rainforest hot tubs, mostly to help my hurt back. I must have carried too much early on in the trip. Between the airport, WDW rides and boarding day, my back was really hurting. We even went down to the health center to see what I could do. Ibuprofen was about all they could really suggest. So, hot tubs and the heated tile loungers were a good idea for me today. We even tried out a couple of the scented showers with sensory sound and lights. Steve screamed like a little girl when the cold water hit him. Yes, he did. He can not deny it, there were other people there that I am sure heard him while 'trying' to relax. LOL! The steam rooms were a little too much for me. And I'm pretty sure I fell asleep on those heated loungers, blending in with all of the other old folks snoring :)

Around 3pm I took Steve to see Monsters University. I had gone with Luke to see it a couple of weeks before hand, but Steve was seeing it for the first time. Pretty sure he fell asleep in there. Thank goodness it was free... While we were watching, we could definitely feel the ship start to move. It was a pretty neat feeling. So, after the movie, we ventured out to the side decks to watch the ship pass various small islands. I wondered if any of them were for sale :)

Oh, and Cars was on the big screen around lunch time too! Again, most people were ashore and it was quiet by the family pools! I'm pretty sure this was the day we tried out the Aquaduck!!! :) 2 times around for both of us. The deck was very hot and they wouldn't let you take your flip flops with you :(

Tonight, there was a hypnosis show. They kinda freak me out, so we skipped it and had a drink before dinner in La Piazza and listened to some music :)

Dinner was in Enchanted Garden again tonight and we wore our Halloween costumes. There were not lot of people dressed up. Since it was early in the season, I don't think a lot of people knew about it. We were on the first sailing with Halloween activities. Families had a good time with it. Sandy and Judy dressed up as the cruise ships smoke stacks and won in their category. And someone from our Facebook group dressed as the whole cast of the Little Mermaid. All of the costumes were fun to see! We wore our Lightning McQueen/Herbie pit crew costumes again. Dessert was the only Halloween item we saw at dinner. It wasn't on the menu, the servers just brought one to each of the couples. Next time I would like to spend more time seeing the Halloween decorations, characters and activities.

The theme tonight at the Tube was London Rocks. We talked Steve, Tracy, Doug and Michelle into joining us tonight! There was also an 80's music trivia contest. I think we did pretty well, it helped having a group of people on one team :)

Where is my photo of tonights towel creature!?!?

Fifth Day - St. Maarten - September 24, 2013

We woke up early to watch the ship pull into St. Maarten! Photos from our verandah...

As we left breakfast, we walked to the midship elevators to go ashore. There's no one on the ship!!! We definitely have to hurry up and get back to enjoy the empty ship :) 

We went down the elevator to deck 1 and went ashore. Walked down the whole side of the ship and looked up! 

The ship is just massive! We walked along the pier to the welcome area and found the booth to pay for the round-trip boat shuttle to the shopping district.

It was a little hard at first to walk past the many taxi drivers, all wanting your business to take you somewhere on the island. A simple 'no thank you' (100+ times) and a smile were enough to ward them off. A quick right turn and we were on the main street filled with little shops. Mostly jewelry, watches, island souvenirs... But I had my heart set on finding the Guavaberry store! The street was quiet, hardly anyone made it down to this area yet. 

So, we found Guavaberry and tried a sample and decided on a bottle of their most traditional rum sold. Pretty bottle!

Also wanted to tour the Yoda museum, but it looked very small and a little scary...

Stopped in a few shops on the way back, but it was very hot and we just wanted to get back to the empty ship! So, we headed to the boat launch area and had to wait a little while for the next shuttle.

I took some video of us on the boat launch back to the ship, our ship looked fantastic sitting at the pier!

While in any port, the crew was busy all the time making sure the ship was in... ship shape!

Made our way back to the Fantasy and Disney had hand sanitizer for you to use before boarding. After a hot, sticky walk, it was much appreciated. You had to show your Key to the World card and put your bags through a scanner to re-board. We headed back to the room for some room-service lunch and to change into our swimsuits. Went up to the adults only area and found an empty hot tub. Stayed in the adult only areas for a while until it was time to get cleaned up for dinner. And PIRATE Night! We went up to deck 12 to watch the kids show before dinner.

Dinner tonight was in Animators Palate again. It was a great place to have Pirate Night! The screens either showed stills from the various Disney pirate movies or fiery battles. And tonight was the night we got to draw a character and participate in the animated show. Steve had been planning his character all week, I had no idea what to draw. We did pretty well, everyone at the table spotted their drawing at some point in the show. It was very cute! 

After dinner, it was time to go stake out a place for the fireworks show. Muppet's Treasure Island was just about to wrap up on the big outdoor screen and I wanted to snap a special photo... My late cousin Mark worked for Jim Henson and the Muppets. That made it pretty special!

Steve and Tracy, our friends from dinner, found us up on deck 12 and we enjoyed the pre-show and fireworks with them. Great show out in the middle of the ocean, if I might say so! Completely forgot about the Pirate buffet, we were stuffed every night after dinner. Then I believe we went to the Tube again. This time, to watch people make complete fools out of themselves singing Karaoke. Then it was nighty night time, once again!

Fourth Day - At Sea, our 24th Anniversary - September 23, 2013

Days at sea are the BEST! The sight is unbelievable from your verandah. Nothing but blue water and blue sky as far as the eye can see. It's so peaceful out there.

And today is our 24th wedding anniversary!

So, we got up: pretty early again. I had sent Steve up to Cabanas with our handy dandy drink carrier (a fast food restaurant drink carrier that Steve covered in Mickey duct tape!) to get coffee, juice for me and some fruit to snack on. We have brunch reservations with some of our FB group today at 10:30am. And Lord knows I was saving room for all of the wonderful food I had heard about on the cruise boards! The night before we had gotten a reminder card on our door about our reservation for 14. We got dressed and headed up to find Palo on deck 12 aft. I wish I had taken pics of the restaurant. It was so beautiful! And the view...ahhhh... This is where my love of Strawberry Soup began. Just one of the few food items I literally dream about! I also had the Chicken Parmesan and some wonderful things from the buffet. I was most looking forward to the tomato, mozzarella and basil. Our table had ordered a few of the pizzas to share, also. I loved the margherita pizza! Then it was back to the buffet for desserts galore. I remember contemplating ordering another strawberry soup for dessert... I had it noted on our original cruise reservation that we were celebrating our anniversary. Palo remembered!

Everything was perfect! We even met Kevin and Kirk from Memphis for the first time on the cruise. Wonderful guys! It's great to know someone local now that shares the same love for Disney :)

After brunch, we rolled back down to our room. Having a room in the aft section of the ship was fantastic! It was close to everything we were interested in. Except Satellite Falls, the Rainforest and the WD Theater for the shows. But it's really not such a bad walk at all. Walking the room halls were the pits. So, we learned pretty early on to go to the deck you were heading to and then walk for a more interesting view of everything.

We changed clothes and tried to decide what to do today.

We eventually got into our swimsuits and tried out Satellite Falls. This is a wonderful, quiet area away from the busy mid part of the ship. Picked out a couple of loungers and ordered my drink of the day and a beer for Steve. Just perfect!

I had seen in the Navigator that today was the last day to book a future cruise if you wanted to be included in the drawing for some free on-board credit (this sailing!). That blue water, blue sky, quiet adult area and all you can eat food made Steve a believer :) With our swimsuits still on, we went straight to the booking desk. No line. Didn't even sit down. Signed right up for the same sailing next year. Same room. Saved 10% and the deposit was half of what it would have been if we booked from home. Now we're all set for next September!!!

As we were making our way to the booking desk, we walked along the deck where we saw the life boats up close yesterday. Steve said it would be funny if he stood under one with his hands under it and yelled at me to "Go get someone, QUICK!" I couldn't stop laughing at the idea. Maybe next time...

The show for tonight was Wishes. Not to be missed! We were dressed on time and headed to the theater. Great show! Disney Cruise Line really knows how to tug at the heart strings and make you book another cruise, let me tell you. They got me.

La Piazza for another drink before dinner, I believe. And then dinner at the Royal Court tonight.

This is the nicest, fanciest restaurant on the rotation. It was a little weird being in there for a casual night, but we would be back for a semi-formal night as well. Murals of the princesses with their princes rounded the entire room.

Cinderella coaches for bread baskets and lighting fixtures.

Completely surprised me when they remembered our anniversary, as well! We got a special dessert and 2 anniversary buttons :)

It was Doug and Michelle's anniversary too, just before we sailed earlier in the week. And it was about this time that we all knew Steve would be ordering the Sweet Temptations (a sampling of 3) for dessert. Again... Every night... 

Tonight at the Tube, we played 'The Quest' with Sandy and Judy. It was like a scavenger hunt, more or less. Sandy already knew a lot of what they were going to ask for. And he was quick on his feet! I didn't have most of the things they were asking for, but we had a few. The funniest part for me was Frankie asking, "Show me a tattoo". They all stayed at the table and I flew up there. I thought I needed Sandy with me (as team captain, I supposed) but he just looked at me and said 'what do you need ME for?!'  So, I ran up to show my tattoo, I though Frankie could see it if I dipped my jacket down just a bit. He said 'I don't see anything'. So, I took it down off my shoulder and he says 'now we have people taking off their clothes up here!' Uh, no Frankie. Geez, it's just a sweater. But thanks for making me blush in front of the crowd... LOL! But, we had a good time with Sandy and Judy again :) After the game, they had a female ventriloquist. I wasn't too sure about this, they kinda freak me out. But she was very funny! Lynn Trefzger was her name.

Then, it's nighty night time yet again...