Sun, Sea, Snorkeling and Luchador! - Day 2 and 3

Day 2: Full Day at Sea

So we awoke on our first full day at sea with no set plans except to see Muppets Most Wanted at 10:00 a.m.  The great thing about Disney Cruises is that they have a full size (beautiful) movie theater and play all the first run Disney, Pixar movies throughout the cruise, they even show the 3D versions, at no charge.  We were able to find out what movies would be playing on the cruise before we left, and planned accordingly.

Carleigh had no interest in the movie and headed to The Vibe for a full day of fun with her new friends. She was excited for "SunDeck time" - the Vibe has it's own private Teen pool, hot tub and sun lounging area that is open for a few hours most days.  Another one of the activities that they had in The Vibe was that they were filming/creating a movie called, Zombified. Carleigh was an extra in it on the sea day for the pool scenes. :)

After the movie we wandered around and met some characters, and just took it all in...

Carleigh brought some friends with her to take pics with stitch

Waiting for the elevator...I love all the theming - our room was on deck 7

Katie and I decided to do another activity in the afternoon. The Midship Detective Agency is an interactive - self paced game that you can play on the ship. Basically you sign up and get a mystery to solve with clues. You then travel ALL over the ship (all 12 decks) to find clues. The clues are hidden in the interactive artwork that is hanging on the walls. You hold up your mystery card and it triggers the painting to start moving and talking to you. It was VERY cool. We saw people of all ages doing it throughout the 7 days - adults, kids, teens.....

signing up and getting the mystery...

watching an interactive painting and  writing the clues down

triggering another painting and then waiting for the clues...

We solved the mystery! Had lunch somewhere in there and then it was late afternoon and tonight was Formal Night! That meant fancy dresses, hair, makeup, jewelry and LOTS of photo ops.

After the movie, Don enjoyed his sea day while watching the U.S. in the World Cup on the funnel vision up on Deck 11. Lots of fun with a big audience and lots of excitement!!

 I had already decided to buy the CD of all of our cruise pics, so our goal was to take full advantage of every photo op that was offered. The CD was a set price, regardless of how many pics you got taken...or it was $20 for 1 printed 8x10 if you didn't get the CD.  We ended up with 161 photos on our disc for a very reasonable Disney price. ;)

While getting ready, we ordered room service (no charge) and then it was time for the Captain's Gala in the Atrium with lot of photos...

Our photo with Commodore Tom - the Captain of the Fantasy

just some more theming in the main atrium

Porthole pics while waiting for our dinner

Time for dinner in Royal Court

 We were heading to dinner - there are 3 restaurants on board and you rotate through all 3 with the same servers, through the 7 nights. Tonight was Royal Court, a restaurant themed to be a castle, palace dining room with beautiful princess artwork throughout...

fancy drinks for everyone!

Had to have the escargot...

Ninja made Carleigh try an escargot also!  He was so much fun and was constantly interacting with us!

Crab, seafood pasta for Katie

Before dinner we tried to do the outdoor, sunset beautiful pics on the ocean.....only Carleigh was successful!

Dinner was over, and the girls headed to the clubs...Don and I attempted the 11:00 p.m. adults only Magic Show in the main theater....I slept through most of it....early morning tomorrow as we tackle Cozumel!

Day 3: Cozumel, Mexico

 Today was the only Disney excursion that we booked. The other two days we did private excursions. Today we were doing the Fury Catamaran excursion...Catamaran ride with snorkeling stop, and then to a private beach with a water playground for the kids, then back to the ship via the Catamaran.

It was a fun day....

We started our boarding the Catamaran...

Here is a view of another Catamaran just like ours...

on the way to snorkel

Rina is ready

somewhere in there is Carliegh, Katie, Don and
Rina

I chose not to snorkel, and stay on board to soak up the sun and the atmosphere...lots of fun!!

Then we all boarded the Catamaran and headed to the private beach...

Don and Katie on the kayak

Carleigh standing up on the paddleboard

Don and Katie on the left, Carleigh on the right

relaxing...

We had about 90 minutes on the beach and then back on the boat for a trip back to the Fantasy...

line dances and lots of music on the way back...

evidence in the distance that we were in Cozumel

our ship in view as we return

Once back on land, our goal was to find a free WiFi hotspot....

Success!!

Don's goal (unknown to him) was to find a Luchador mask - he didn't know he wanted it, but when he saw it...he HAD to have it and wore it proudly once back on the ship!

Bye, Bye Cozumel - it was a nice 6-7 hours...

Once back on ship, Don and the girls went up to Deck 11 to ride the AquaDuck....the water coaster..

they even have professional AquaDuck photos

After that, we all started changing, and getting ready for the evening. We were going to find more photo ops and then have "cocktails" in the Atrium while waiting for dinner.

mom and Katie chatting with Belle - they were telling her that BRMS will be telling the Beauty and the Beast story in the fall. Bell shared a lot of her secrets with them. They chatted for about 10-15 minutes...so cool!!

now to meet and talk with TinkerBell...

Then Captain Hook and Smee decided to come down and mess with Peter Pan while he was taking pictures...

the girls watching from above...

now to Jasmine and Prince Ali....lots of chatting and talking with them also

Carleigh liked him! ;)

 After we finished photos (Don stayed back to get ready in peace, and meet us later), we headed up to Deck 11 to explore...

all you can drink soda, milk, coffee, hot choc, and ice cream 24 hours a day....always open!! :)

funnel vision showing Disney movies (and other treats) all day, night with lounge chairs and the kid pools. Aquaduck in the left background

watching the end of Toy Story

more theming outside on Deck 11

selfie :)

the movie is over and we are heading down to find Don

you'd never know there were 4,000 people on board right now...

We found each other and headed to Animator's Palate for dinner...

I love the way Disney pays attention to EVERY little detail...the butter plate and butter knife on the table...

the menu

Table 120 every night in the different restaurants - and Ninja having fun with my picture

They were great servers!!

so much fun and great interaction...

more fancy drinks for dinner

 Animator's Palate is known for its animaton - the walls are interactive screens that change throughout the meal...on your first night in the restaurant, Disney characters swim through the screens and Crush the Nemo turtle comes and talks with you while at your table. Our table was really close to one of the big screens, so we had great interaction...\

 The restaurants have photographers wander around and take your pics, so more photo ops while at dinner! :)

After dinner, the girls went to the clubs and we wandered for a bit, but were exhausted...believe it or not, I think we were both asleep before the girls got back from their night out.  It's hard for me to believe that I allowed them this much freedom - out till 1:00 a.m. every night with complete strangers, and coming back alone through the ship and letting themselves into the room with their own key cards.  The sense of security and safety on the ship helped me, and A LOT of discussion about the rules that they had to follow to earn our trust.

Not once did the girls miss a check-in or not come back to the room when we told them. The ship also has "Wave Phones" - old school cell phones - 2 per room - that you can use to communicate throughout the ship by texting or calling.  We got really good with those, and the girls would text us when they got to the clubs, and text if they were changing locations or going for food. They would then text when they were on their way back to the room. It's a great system and it's no wonder that there are tons of families on the ships with kids of all ages roaming the ship alone.  We saw many little kids - 7 or 8 yrs old - alone with the phone to their ear taking with their parents.....

So... another 2 great days with lots of adventures and fun!

Stay tuned for Grand Cayman sailing, Jamaica's Lazy River and Pirate Night! (It was a fun night for all except Don!! ;) )

Let's Hurry Up and Wait for our Disney Cruise...Day 1

Our Caribbean cruise and more....

So this Disney cruise started out as a 7 night 2013 Mediterrannean cruise, and then for financial reasons got switched to a 7 night Caribbean cruise in August of 2014, and then due to Carleigh's new high school obligations, got changed to a June 21-28 Caribbean cruise. So...I was VERY happy when the date finally arrived for our much awaited Disney Cruise. This is our fourth Disney Cruise, with the last being in summer of 2011 to Alaska. And for those of you wondering...yes there will be a #5 Disney cruise on our horizon, we are thinking summer of 2016.

So, if you are interested in why we love them so much and want to "play along" as we cruise the Caribbean ports of Cozumel, Grand Cayman and Jamaica...let's go!

Evening before Day 1: 
We flew down to Orlando on Friday and stayed overnight in the Airport Hyatt. It is a beautiful hotel attached to the airport with an outdoor pool and many restaurant opportunities. We claimed our baggage and walked over to the hotel, checked in, dropped our bags in our rooms and then ventured out into the Airport Mall - Disney Store, Universal Store, and many others....

We checked in with the Disney Transportation in the airport to see when we should be there for our bus to the ship on Saturday morning...first bus leaves at 9:15ish on Saturday morning, so we were set...

After a nice dinner at the hotel, we all settled down to get a good sleep before our cruise began.

..until we opened Katie's suitcase to see that her bottle of hairspray had emptied all over her suitcase - yes it was in a ziploc bag, but not closed enough...luckily her formal dresses and outfits didn't get affected, but half of her clothes did...we washed a few in the sink and tried to get rid of the smell as best as we could.  Hopefully this would be the only disaster, and a mild one.

Day 1:

We woke up early,  had a Starbucks breakfast in the airport and were ready to head to our bus. Today would be a series of "hurry up and wait" games. The Rahn family is very good at playing those games. We hurried up to get ready and waited in line at Starbucks...

We hurried up to get to the Cruise Transportation area in the airport and waited for them to be ready to load the first bus...

We hurried up to be one of the first to the Cruise Port and waited for them to call our boarding number to get on the ship...we were one of the first families into the port to check in at about 10:15 ad then we waited until about 11:30 for boarding to begin. We were boarding group #2. :) 

We spent the time wandering around the port and going out on the viewing platform to take pics of the ship before we boarded...

Then it was time, we boarded and as you enter, they take an embarkation picture..

They then announce your family name as you enter into the huge Atrium of the ship, and all of the crew members clap...

The girls in the Atrium right after boarding

And again...hurry up and wait...we boarded at 11:30, but couldn't get into our staterooms until 1:30. That's okay, Disney was transporting our luggage from the hotel, so we just had our carryons and headed up to lunch. The ship was fully functional, just rooms weren't ready until 1:30. We were sheduled to sailaway at about 4:45.

Lunch and exploring the ship....we hadn't been on the Fantasy before, our previous cruises had been on the Disney Wonder (one of the smaller Disney ships).

The theming on the ship is so fun, but not overwhelming...Disney, but low key Disney.

Elevator Selfie...

We went to explore the kids clubs, becasue once we set sail, adults (and older kids) wouldn't be allowed into the 4-11 year old clubs...

so much fun for the little ones to just hang out and explore...

We then went to find the clubs for Katie and Carleigh...

Carleigh would be spending her time in The Vibe - a club for 14-17 year olds...and it definitely looked that way...definitely a night-club for the teen crowd!

the entrance to the Vibe...

yes, that is a bar in the back corner with sodas, Shirley Temples and snacks all day and night at no charge...

You needed a special "VibeTeen" card to be able to get in once the ship sailed, Carleigh was all over that! She made lots of fun friends and spent every evening in this club from about 10:00 p.m. - about 1:00 a.m.

Katie would be spending time in The Edge with the 11 - 14 crowd. She also spent every evening there doing activities, games and having fun.

The great thing about the kids clubs (for all ages) is that the counselors really cater to the age group. Both girls loved the counselors in their clubs - and the counselors were from all over the world with all sorts of different accents...SO much fun and very little worry for mom and dad!

After exploring for awhile, we found Chip and Dale with no line, they were just hanging out in the Atrium, so we got a quick pick and then headed to the Sail Away party...

The chandelier in the 3 level atrium is beautiful.

The tube above the big funnel vision screen is the Aquaduck - a water roller coaster that the girls rode a few times through the cruise..

After the sailaway party, we changed for dinner (tonight was cruise casual) and wandered for awhile. We had second seating dinner, so we ate at 8:15 p.m. every night, which was fine with us...we had snacks at around 5:00 and had more time for fun during the day!

we found a family game show to watch until Dinner...

and Don and the girls ended up participating...:)

relaxing and enjoying the atmosphere :)

Our first meal was great and we met our servers, "Ninja" from Thailand and Mahadi from Indonesia. They stayed with us for all 7 dinners and we got to know them very well. The first night Katie didn't want a dessert, and said she wanted "Nothing" for dessert, so Ninja brought her this:

chocolate sauce with sprinkles...

After dinner, the girls went to the "get to know you" activities in their clubs and we relaxed and began to process that we were ON VACATION!!

We were in motion and on our way to 7 days of fun! The stateroom was beautiful, the water was smooth for the time being and we were on our Disney cruise!!

Stay tuned for our first day at sea and our adventures in Cozumel!!!