Continuing on our journey…we left off our virtual tour of my High Seas Holiday at the Adventures Away party. After raising our glasses to the most magical of cruises, we set sail, southbound, en route to much warmer weather.
First up on our itinerary was two full sea days. If you’ve never been on a Disney cruise, then you might wonder what on earth all the passengers do to keep themselves occupied during those sea days. Well. Let me tell you.
Disney’s amazing (international) crew schedules a wide variety of activities on sea and port days alike, with a heavier concentration of things to do around the ship on days at sea. The kids clubs open early and stay open late, providing unending fun for kids ages 3 and up in the Oceaneer Club and the Oceaneer Lab. Tweens gather in Edge, while Teens hang out at Vibe. Parents have the opportunity to relax in the spa, take part in an adult beverage tasting, or just lay poolside, all while the kids are kept safe, supervised, and entertained by the friendly and capable youth activities crew members. I know what you’re thinking. You’re doubting the fact that the kids are actually entertained, aren’t you? I was. But let me assure you, my friends. The fact that Cassidy begs to “go to the Club” lends credence to my claims; the kids are definitely entertained! While free time is always an option, so too, are creative activities like: Ratatouille cooking school, craft corners, and pajama dance parties. My kids–all four of them–absolutely love their club time on the cruise.
Of course, I’m pretty fond of it myself. Because while the kids are away, the mommies and daddies do play. Get your mind out of the gutter, people. I’m talking about things like wine tastings, couples massages, and ship tours. Sheesh. Jeff and I (together with Grams and Gramps) took part in the “stem to stern” wine tasting during our first day at sea. Needless to say, I was rather fond.
Afterwords, we dragged the kids (practically kicking and screaming) from the club, long enough for them to join us for family mask making in the Promenade Lounge. Torri and Kennedy were nowhere to be found, but the rest of us deemed this an A+ family event.
Pictured below are our finished masks. Feel free to leave me a comment telling me which is your favorite. No pressure.
Days at sea are fun and games (literally) but eventually, we docked in St. Maarten, which is technically an Eastern Caribbean cruise port, but was included in our Southern Caribbean itinerary.
We’d planned for a private island tour during our stay on St. Maarten. Our driver showed up in an unmistakable, ahem, vehicle for our excursion. For some reason, try as I might, I couldn’t get the term ‘pimp mobile’ out of my head. Hmm. Go figure.
Our guy showed us around the island, stopping first at the home of a man who had various caged birds in his yard. Cock fighting, apparently, is legal in St. Maarten. He also had caged pit bulls toward the rear of the property and when we asked whether they, too, were for fighting we were assured that dog fighting is illegal and the dogs we saw were nothing more than cherished family pets. Movingrightalongthough. The reason for our stop at this property was the free roaming iguanas. We ooh’ed and ahh’ed. We fed them bananas. And even pet them. It was really pretty cool.
From there, we headed towards the ocean and stopped for a few Kodak moments. At this particular spot, the brave among us were given the opportunity to hold sea urchins. It, too, was pretty cool.
From there, we continued to Orient Beach, which the informed among you will recall is a “clothing optional” beach. Torri was not exactly looking forward to this portion of our trip, considering the fact that she sees clothing as more a necessity than an option. I assured her for weeks leading up to the trip that we’d stay on the clothed side of the beach and leave the nudies to themselves. But wouldn’t you know that the moment we pulled up, what to our wondering eyes did appear but an old dude sunning his naked rear. Truly, I wish I could tell you that was the worst of it. But he’d chosen, that day, not to sun himself lying on a blanket, but rather, standing–stretching, actually–in the most upright of positions. Dangling participle and all. I think Torri is scarred for life.
It wasn’t all that cool. But it was funny. (Don’t tell Torri I said so).
Naked old dude aside, our day in St. Thomas was a good one, though I’m not sure we’re “island tour” type of people. It was definitely interesting to hear the point of view of a local. The trouble was that our particular local seemed to have something better he’d rather be doing. He was a bit rushed. And annoyed that we chose not to stay at the clothing optional beach for too long.
I think, next time, we’ll skip the island tour and find a different “clothing required” activity to enjoy instead.
To Be Continued…
The masks are all beautiful! I bet I can guess who made each one. So did you get to wear them? Thats what I would like to see.
I’ve always considered myself a grammar freak, but I will no longer look at dangling participles the same way again! LOL! Question about Disney cruises – my older daughter will be 20 in October. Since she falls in between the teens and the adults, would there be stuff for her to do on a Disney cruise? I thought I’d ask you since you’re the expert!
Shannon
At 20, technically your daughter will be welcome to participate in all the adult activities available on board. Those include: an adults only pool/hot tub area and the associated adult pool games that take place throughout the cruise. There are also adults only cabaret style shows each night, and adult game shows, too. That said, your daughter might still be a tad too young to enjoy those types of activities. And her enjoyment of the cruise will depend greatly on whether or not she “fits in”.
Disney also organizes a number of activities for the college crowd. They commonly refer to this group as “singles”. Looking back at my navigators (activities guides) I’m seeing that on any given day there were activities scheduled for the 18-21 age group, including: “college club socials”, a singles lunch, a singles mingle meet in the adult coffee cafe.
My perspective is that, technically, there are plenty of opportunities for young adults to have fun, but honestly, I’m not convinced that someone in that age group would have as much fun as someone just younger or just older on the ship, unless they brought along a boyfriend/girlfriend or friend the same age. Or, if she was happy to visit the adult activities with you.
Thank you so much for the info!
Darcie, you make me jealous in quite the unholy way when I read all the fun Disney stuff you guys do! It’s unbecoming of a pastor’s wife…not that I’m your typical pastor’s wife ;) I love Disney with a big ol’ sparkly pink heart. Also, as an English teacher, I heart (but not nearly as big or pretty as the Disney heart) the “dangling participle” business. Finally, I love masks 2 and 4. It might depend on my outfit, but 4 would probably be my final choice (and I’m assuming it’s yours). :)
Ding ding ding ding. You’re right. #4 was mine. :)
I’m loving traveling vicariously through your posts. Thank you so much for sharing! The trip looks amazing, and what an even more special trip sharing it with grandparents.
We’re not island tour kind of people either. It wasn’t nearly as fun as I had expected it to be, unfortunately.
Interesting to hear that Torri liked going to the club also. Was she is a different place than Kennedy? Or not, since she is older now too? I’ve always wondered how many teens really felt comfortable going there all alone.
Torri and Kennedy have different clubs, at least until Kennedy turns 14. Torri hangs out in Vibe (14-17 yrs old) and Kennedy either roams the ship with her friends or goes to Edge (11-13 yrs old). They both feel comfortable enough to go by themselves, though they do “meet” other cruisers their age via the disboards and email back and forth for months before the cruise. What’s interesting, though, is that they form real friendships on the cruise. They cry when they part ways and then stay in touch via email and Facebook. It’s really neat.
I love reading about this cruise and we are seriously considering going on a cruise for Christmas next year (I know that I must get on that soon). My son has even taken to reading your Disney Cruise blog posts all by himself! I showed him photos last week of a blog post and tonight at dinner he said that there was a new one up…he is now checking your blog on his own. He was telling me all about your island excursion, so I had to come read for myself :-).
I’m glad to hear the teen club is good, as he will be 16 next Christmas. He loves Disney as much as I do and would love just being around all that Disney-ness. Still, good to know that he could make friends. I have a question: Do they let the smaller kids (thinking of my 9 year old daughter) leave the club unsupervised? We were on a Royal Caribbean cruise when my son was 10 and one of the kids’ activities was a ship-wide scavenger hunt. I would not let him go; it did not seem like a good idea to have 4 boys wondering a ship alone. All that water freaks me out.
I’m sure that I will be asking many more questions, but just one more this time: how did you feel being there for Christmas? Did it feel “Christmasy” enough for you? Did you celebrate at home before leaving or did you bring gifts aboard ship?
So fun that your son is reading my blog on his own. I love that. I was hesitant, at first, to keep up with these posts because I wasn’t getting a ton of response. But that has since changed so I plan to chug through the rest of the cruise with posts.
Okay, on to your questions…
First of all, which coast are you thinking of for next Christmas? There is a 6 night western Caribbean cruise sailing from Florida on the 24th, or there is an 8 night Mexican Riviera cruise leaving from LA on the 18th. (We’re booked on that one and I think it would be so fabulous to sail with your family!! Just sayin’).
You have the option as to whether or not you wish to let your daughter sign herself in and out of the club. You’ll specify that information when you go to the open house on the day you embark.
As for whether or not it felt like Christmas, eh, not so much. No fault of Disney’s, though. They went above and beyond to make it feel like Christmas on the ship. But, in all honesty, there is only so much you can do when the temperatures soar and you can’t engage in the same traditions you would at home. Here’s what Disney did to make it feel like Christmas: they set up a humongous display of Christmas cookies (+ cocoa, egg nog) on Christmas morning, Santa was available for pictures (long line though), they distributed gifts in the staterooms on both Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, there was a Christmas menu, and assorted Christmas activities (gingerbread house making, holiday crafts, etc).
We seriously downsized our gift-giving this year, because our 19 night vacation was rather costly. Santa did, however, find his way to our stateroom. He delivered overflowing stockings to the kids and left pictures of the items that were waiting for them at home. We also had a miniature tree in our room, and a plug-in Balsam pine yankee thingamajig to lend to the Christmasy ambiance.
We can talk more. I prolly shouldn’t have written a book here in the comments. Oops.
It sounds like Disney did some great things to feel like Christmas while aboard the ship, but that is my fear about traveling during Christmas…my kids are so stuck on being home for Christmas! Well, my daughter still is…my son has decided that the only place that he will go for Christmas in Disney. If we go, I’m trying to pull a “Christmas With The Kranks” and say, that’s it, that’s our gifts to each other (not sure that will fly with the little one).
You must have loved it…you going back again! That would have been so fun to be on the ship with your family! Unfortunately we would do the Florida cruise….my kids wouldn’t be out of school in enough time for the 18th cruise.
Okay, now I am taking this conversation elsewhere and off your blog LOL
I think I would like an Iguana. Yup, and I will name if “Spot” after your blog. Love it…..
Oh no!! Now I can’t get that out of my head, and I didn’t even see it!!
And… mask #3 is my favorite. Excellent use of feathers :)
And glue…plenty of glue.
I’m not really an Island Tour kind of gal either. I’ve found that when visiting an island that sometimes a specific activity is more rewarding such as visiting a Rum Factory, Swimming with Sting Rays, Plantation Tour, etc.
The old guy with dangling participle has me ROFL. Eew.
The mask activity looks like it was fun. Love them all!
That is just too cool. You are totally making me want to take a cruise! We’ve decided to hold off Disney a bit until we get out of our ridiculous neighborhood. Safety and security first!
I have to say that #3 is my favorite! Love the use of the feathers!
Wow, I want to book a cruise now! We are going to Disney World at the end of February so maybe I’ll find more info out. Thanks for keeping up with these posts!
PS – #3 is my favorite…what outfit can’t use a feather mask?
#3 is my fav mask! The featheryer the better, I say! (I also say “made up works are A-ok,” clearly)
Looks like so so so much fun! I’m totally jealous!