April 2018 WBPC on the Wonder, 'Don't Worry, Everything is Under Control' 'COMPLETED'

[cyclenut]

Day 6 - Panama Canal


From here we met up with the rest of the gang in front of the theater to see tonight's show, the Comedy of Mary Ellen Hooper.

This was a pretty controversial show. Mary Ellen Hooper is a comedian who usually performs in adult venues. I think they invited her on this cruise because there were not as many children, but there were still several children in the audience, including mine. There was no disclaimer that this was an adult oriented show, and given the fact that it was in the family theater (not the adult only space) there was no reason for us to suspect it would be anything but PG rated. Boy were we wrong. 5 minutes in the kids were bored because it was way over their heads, and I was mortified because they were really very adult jokes. They asked to leave and go play and I said absolutely, they snuck out. The rest of the show did not get any better. She was trying to water it down and speak in code because of the many kids present, but it really wasn't working, making it something that was both inappropriate, and not really funny. Several people walked out of the show, and I'm sure Disney got an earful later. She had another adult only show in Azure later but we did not make it to that.

I'm surprised at your reaction to the Mary Ellen Hooper show. We also went to that show and while there were some jokes that were only really understood by adults, I didn't find any that I thought would be out of bounds for younger ears or eyes. She did start the show saying that she normally only does adult shows and offered a bit of a disclaimer on that. We had late seating so went to the early show. She was very funny and one of the highlights for us.

I suppose that's why it would be considered "controversial".

We were on the same side of the ship as you were, but up on deck 7. I have a lot of the same pictures, but minus the cute kids you have in yours.

Enjoying your TR. We were on this same cruise and had a great time. I agree with you about the shwarma - it wasn’t that tasty. It was one and done for us.

And the cough that was going around the ship - I still have the remnants of it. We talked to one man whose wife got sick enough she had to go to the medical center, where they ended up with a $750 bill.

The ship not moving on Panama Canal night seemed odd. I noticed some shuddering and thought we had dropped anchor. Wondered what was going on. When we later looked out our window, a monstrous oil tanker was right next to us and kept getting closer. It was an experience seeing that and a little eerie since it was late at night!

Looking forward to reading more.

The ship was refueling. The refueling barge came alongside around 11pm or so and tied off to the ship. I think they finished around 2pm. We watched them pull up and start tying off, but that was about it. When we were up on deck walking the track the next morning, we noticed one of the glass panels had been shattered. It turns out there was a problem with the tie off operation when they went to remove the ropes. They tied off to a beam as the hooks were too small for the fuel barge to use. The rope got caught on the railing frame and bet the frame down, shattering the pane of glass. I talked to a crew member about it and he explained what happened. They had the glass replaced when they were in port in Costa Rica.

I was not sure why they were refueling there as we had just been in Cartagena, but it was explained to me that it may have been to reduce the cost of transit by having less fuel on board. I guess they can tell the ship weight by the water line on the hull. It's not uncommon to refuel after a transit through the canal. While I know they did refuel, why they chose to do so is speculation.

 

[xavier2001]

We had late seating so went to the early show. She was very funny and one of the highlights for us.

We had first seating so were at the later show where there were probably more kids, maybe that was part of it. She seemed uncomfortable especially at the beginning, wondering if maybe she did not anticipate so many kids would be in the audience and tried to change up her gig on the fly? At one point she made a joke about one of the signs the ASL interpreter was doing and the deaf couple in the audience walked out. She tried to heckle them as they left, but obviously they could not hear her (I don't think she realized they were deaf). It was just an overall uncomfortable experience for us.

The ship was refueling. The refueling barge came alongside around 11pm or so and tied off to the ship. I think they finished around 2pm. We watched them pull up and start tying off, but that was about it. When we were up on deck walking the track the next morning, we noticed one of the glass panels had been shattered. It turns out there was a problem with the tie off operation when they went to remove the ropes. They tied off to a beam as the hooks were too small for the fuel barge to use. The rope got caught on the railing frame and bet the frame down, shattering the pane of glass. I talked to a crew member about it and he explained what happened. They had the glass replaced when they were in port in Costa Rica.

I was not sure why they were refueling there as we had just been in Cartagena, but it was explained to me that it may have been to reduce the cost of transit by having less fuel on board. I guess they can tell the ship weight by the water line on the hull. It's not uncommon to refuel after a transit through the canal. While I know they did refuel, why they chose to do so is speculation.

Very interesting, see all the things I miss by sleeping in lol!!

 

[xavier2001]

Day 7 - At Sea

So after 2 exciting days we had another sea day to catch our breath. The distance from Panama to Costa Rica is not far so we were not traveling very fast, making for a not very rocky day. We didn't set any alarms, and I woke up about 9:30. DH was gone, later found out he and my parents had enjoyed a nice breakfast at Tritons. DD was still asleep, and DS enjoying some quiet time chilling in bed playing on his iPad. We got ready for the day slowly then headed up to Cabanas. I had my usual coffee and peanut butter toast and people watched while they ate a hearty breakfast. One think that surprised me each day (and I promise I'm not judging as I have NO room to talk) is how full people loaded up their plates. The plates in Cabanas are pretty big and people came back with mountains of food. Maybe its because I'm not big on my foods touching each other but I often wondered, why not just make 2 trips lol. I digress.

After breakfast the kids wanted some time to go play. I met up with DH for some Trivia and we chilled in Crown and Fin. We all met up in the atrium around 12:15. My parents and DD headed into Tritons for lunch, DS wanted to go up to Deck 9 to watch the ice carving, I have no idea where DH ended up as I didn't write it down. We watched them carve a cool Eagle up on deck then he had a cheeseburger and I wandered through Cabanas. Nothing really looked too appealing so I ended up with a hot dog and fries from Petes. I LOVE the hotdogs up there and this one was no exception. My notes tell me we ended up somewhere on Deck 4 to play Tripoly. I am racking my brain to figure out where exactly we played. I know we searched and searched all cruise for a perfect spot to play, eventually we found one, but not today. After Tripoly the kids wanted to swim so we fell into our usual routine of finding a shady spot on Deck to drink a drink of the day and chill while they had fun in the son. My dad found some crab legs and shrimp from Cabanas, and pretty sure I ate some more fries in barbecue sauce, thats about how every sea day afternoon from here on out was spent. Here is my 'welcome to the Pacific Ocean' photo:

At 4 o'clock, we pulled the kids out of the pool to go get showers and hang with DH while my Mom, Dad, and I headed to our second (and final) tasting of the cruise. We headed to Cadillac Lounge and saw this site:

My parents are pretty avid wine drinkers, we had a lot of fun and I learned a few things, I was super impressed with my Mom who was able to identify all 6 wines by taste and smell alone. We also chatted with 3 very nice gals next to us. It was a fun tasting.

After the tasting we headed back to the room and watched the waves from the balcony for awhile. Then headed to dinner which was at Tianas tonight. I don't remember which menu we had, but did note that beef tenderloin with lobster medallions was on the menu and that all 6 of us ordered it. I remember it being delicious. After dinner we wandered around a bit through the gift shop and each kid picked out a pin to add to their lanyard.

The show tonight in the Walt Disney Theater was 2 twin brothers doing a Sherman brothers Disney tribute. DD really enjoyed this show and sung along to every tune she knew. DS lasted about 10 minutes and then asked to go play, my Dad and DH left too. I thought the show was just ok, I enjoyed hearing the classic songs, however the brothers were very soft spoken and sometimes hard to hear. Maybe I'm just too tough a critic.

After the show, DD wanted to go up to Edge for a bit, DS had also texted asking what time curfew was. I told them 10:30 as I knew we'd be setting the alarm clock tomorrow for Costa Rica. DH had discovered the bar snacks down in Crown and Fin so headed down there to snack and read, I hit up Deck 9 for my usual pizza and drink and headed back to the room. I flipped on the Classic channel and watched Sword in the Stone (one of my favs) while I waited for the kids to get back. They were right on time as usual. We turned the clocks back an hour and turned out the lights, ready for another exciting day tomorrow.

 

[rhoshi]

I'm enjoying your report. I'll be on the EBPC in October, and I can't wait. Reading your report is getting me even more excited.

 

[xavier2001]

Day 8 -Puntarenas, Costa Rica

At this point in the cruise we could not believe we were at the halfway point.It seemed like it was all going so quickly. This is the first time we've taken longer than a 7 night cruise, we were worried time would seem too long but that definitely was not the case.

We were up bright an early this morning, the alarm went off at 6:30 a.m. We turn the clocks back last night so it did not feel quite so early. We did our usual port day 'getting ready' routine and headed up to Cabanas for breakfast. The kids pigged out on Mickey waffles with strawberry compote (DH got the biggest kick out of this very fancy strawberry syrup) and I had my usual peanut butter toast. We were off the ship by 7:45 and scheduled to meet up with our private tour guide at 8.

Lets back up a minute, for Costa Rica I had done extensive research and ended up booking a private tour with GioTours, http://www.giotours.com. It seemed that everywhere in Puntarenas there was a little bit of a drive to get where you were going, not much right at the port (more on that later). This was true both of Disney and private excursions. We wanted something in a small group and wanted to get a good feel for the culture of Costa Rica as none of us (even my very well travelled parents) have been here before. We ended up booking the 8 in 1 Costa Rica Highlights and paid extra to have it private just for the 6 of us. I booked this about 9 months before we travelled. About a month before I sent them an email re-confirming the private tour and I got an instant response that everything was in order. The week before we left on a cruise I was a little shocked to receive a late night email from them informing us that the port would be very busy as there were 4 cruise ships scheduled to dock that day and they did not have enough drivers. They asked if we could be put on a bus instead with 'no more than 20 other people'. I politely responded to their email that we had booked with them because we wanted a private tour and respectfully asked for our request to be honored. They replied back 'no problem'.

With that said I was a little skeptical that we were going to show up and be put on a bus with 20 other people. When we got off the ship it was very crazy. The dock is very narrow, on the left side there were large tour busses backing all the way down the long dock, on the right people walking and tour operators standing with signs. We found the Giotours guys, there were several of them holding signs with multiple names on them. We happened to walk up the same time as another one of their groups, a lovely foursome. One of the guides walked all the way down the dock, it was hard to keep up as we had to weave in and around people and busses, and vans, it was pretty chaotic. Once we got to the end of the port there was a big 10 passenger van with a Giotours side. Our guide told all 10 of us to get in and that he was going to drive the 6 in our group to our van for the day. The traffic was heavy and there seemed to be some confusion about where this meeting point was. Our driver was on his cellphone talking very fast (and angrily) to who I presume was our driver. We were weaving in and out of the streets of Puntarenas, which were covered in graffiti and barbed wire, not the tropical location you think of when you hear the words Costa Rica. Finally we pulled off on a very sketchy looking side street and our driver said 'Ok, you 6, get out.' It was the perfect scenario for a 60 minutes expose on tourists getting kidnapped in a foreign country.

The 6 of us hopped out and true to their word there was a private van waiting for us. We had a nice driver, and a tour guide who I'm pretty sure did not work for Giotours but was filling it because it was so busy. He was nice enough and seemed somewhat knowledgable. Once we got settled in the new van he explained the plan for the day. Basically we would get the 8 in 1 tour but expect big crowds because of the 4 ships in port this day and that we may do things out of order to get the best experiences. We wove through only what I can call the ghetto area of the city until we finally got to the main road that goes along the ocean. Our guide had told us the first stop was the white faced monkeys, which is one of the reasons we had booked this tour. We were told there were no zoos in Costa Rica so we would see all the animals in their natural habitat. To our surprise we made a sharp turn down a hill and basically pulled into the driveway of someone's house. Not a very well maintained house at that. The monkeys basically lived in her backyard. Not sure about 'natural habitat' but we were just along for the ride at this point. The monkeys were really cute and we had some fun interactions with them. There were several groups here, most from Giotours from what I could gather. Every time a van or bus would pull up the driver would yell out the number of passengers so I'm guessing the lady who lived in the house charged for the use of her backyard. Here are some cute monkey photos we got:

We also got to see a cool turf war between 2 male monkeys, both trying to be the alpha, there was lots of yelling and fist pounding, was fun to watch. We also saw this guy, a Coati, who our guide basically said is the Costa Rican version of a raccoon:

After awhile it was time to go to the next stop, what was advertised as the 'fruit towns', an area where the best tropical fruit is produced. It was a short drive, and basically a roadside stand.

We were each given a fruit skewer and told to look around and buy things if we wanted. We were also told this was a good place to use the restroom. It was very busy with lots of tourists, there were restrooms, more or less latrines that were less than desirable. We were truly getting an 'authentic' experience. We looked around, bought some bottle water, then headed off to the next stop.

The plan was to go to the Tarcoles river where we were going to go on a Jungle Safari boat, however our guide told us it was too early and would be busy so we were going to go to some sightseeing first and try to find some macaws. We drove up a big hill, which led to a hotel and large restaurant. We stopped at the side of the road and our guide excitedly pointed out a Toucan, lets see if you can find him:

We walked further up the hill and came across a pair of Macaws (hint they are on the left side of the photo, I tried to zoom in for you but they got blurry):

We then headed to the top of the hill where there was a very nice outdoor restaurant and bar. We were told this was the lookout point and to enjoy the view.

These were some pretty spectacular views. It did seem a little strange though to be standing in the middle of this restaurant taking photos when we were obviously not customers. I'm guessing the restaurant owners are used to it though as they didn't bat an eye. Maybe they get a cut of the tour price, who knows.

From there we went down the big hill and found our way to the Tarcoles River. We were to take a 70 minute Jungle Safari boat ride to see crocodiles and lots of other wildlife.

Here we are waiting to get going (DD made me sit on the outside as she was afraid of getting eaten by a croc):

We headed off and immediately ran into this guy, we got really up close and personal, no camera zooming going on here:

We soon ran into this croc as well, camouflaging in the water:

We spotted several of these beautiful birds:

Can you find the iguana hidden in the remains of this old restaurant:

We rode out to the point where the river meets the Pacific Ocean, that was pretty cool to see, on the way back we saw this cool 'Pelican Tree' (look close):

All in all I would say the boat ride was fun, and worth the price of the tour but it lasted a LONG time. I think 45 minutes would have been a perfect amount of time, 70 minutes was a long time to sit in cramped, hard plastic seats in the heat. By the time we pulled up to the dock both kids (and myself too) were starting to fade.

Next up on the tour though, lunch! Just in time. We hopped in our van and just down the road to an open air buffet that was set up by Giotours. We were the first ones there which was nice because it meant no line. We had a choice of fried seabass or chicken, rice, beans, salad, veggies, and dessert. There was also 2 different fruit juices and some Costa Rican coffee to try. You could buy soda or other drinks if you wanted. Here is the fish:

And the chicken:

Right as we were getting through the line a bus of about 25 showed up so I was glad we had the smaller van to get there first. The food was very good, DS said the Sea Bass was the best thing he's eaten all week (which is saying a lot as he's been eating some pretty gourmet food).

After enjoying a nice lunch we hit up the restroom (they were very clean here) and then loaded up back into the van. The last 2 stops were a trip to the supermarket to buy coffee and a city tour. From the unimpressed view we got of Puntarenas and the 'orchard' we knew we did not want to see the Supermarket. So we asked our guide to skip that and he said the city tour was just a drive through town on the way back to the port. Worked for us. With it being Sunday there were lots of locals out and also lots and lots of tourists with all the ships in town so traffic was a mess. Our guide pointed out some of the highlights of the city but overall it was not very clean and pretty run down. We were given a survey of giotours to fill out and each got a small bag of coffee as a gift. We were all a little disappointed in the city itself as it was not what we thought it was going to be. After sitting through 40 minutes of traffic we finally pulled up to the port. We had to exit the van quickly as there was no room for our driver to park. Overall we thought the tour was pretty good, but not exceptional like the tour we had in Cartagena.

We walked down the long dock avoiding the backwards moving tour busses and headed back on board. It was about 2:30 at this point. We took a quick rest in the air-conditioned room, then the kids wanted to swim so we found our usual spot up on Deck 9. They swam, we chilled, and probably had a drink of the day.

Dinner tonight was in Tritons. DH had a headache from the hot day and not drinking enough water. He ended up leaving dinner before dessert, took some medication and drank a ton of water. After dinner we browsed through the gift shop again, I know I bought more cough drops (they were almost out at this point) and some contact lens saline as I underestimated how much I needed and was almost out). Tonight show was a magic show. None of us were overly impressed by it, in fact, everyone but my Dad snuck out before the end. I headed back to the room where DH was sleeping off his headache, the kids went to go play and I watched my usual Pixar channel (I think it was Toy Story 3 tonight which always makes me teary) and waited for the kids who came back right at curfew time. We finished the movie then drifted off to sleep.

 

[thefamilymouse]

See you there! If you would like information on tastings etc that are scheduled pm me.

We did join the facebook group but haven't signed up for any tastings...yet. Do you have any to recommend

 

[xavier2001]

We did join the facebook group but haven't signed up for any tastings...yet. Do you have any to recommend

We did tequila/margarita and wine tasing and really enjoyed both. Other options were Mixology (mixed drinks), whiskey, champagne, and chocolate and liquor. Really depends what you are into beverage wise. I learned a lot and enjoyed the tequila more than I thought I would. There are also tasting you can sign up for once onboard, I think they do extra ones given the length of the cruise.

 

[xavier2001]

Day 9 - At Sea

Today was the beginning of 3 glorious days at sea. As our cruise director Natalie said, it was a B-E-A-utiful day. We had lots of fun plans. First up on the agenda was a Character Breakfast in Animators Palate at 9 a.m. We headed down as a group wearing our matching boarding shirts. We were seated and given coffee right away, bonus!! Our dining team happened to be working in Animators this morning. We were not in our servers section but Jose saw us and ran up excitedly saying 'Don't Worry Family Everything is Under Control.' He ended up taking care of us and as usual was very speedy. We ordered our breakfast, got napkin hats put onto our heads and waiting for the fun. First up was this lovable pup:

My Dad promised me one photo and then he said he was done (photos really aren't our thing). Soon after came Minnie (look how fast our food had come out):

After Minnie a very goofy Goofy, we had fun with him. The kids had brought their Harry Potter quills we had bought earlier in the week, Goofy had a fun time trying to sign the autograph book and tickle the nose of his handler:

Last up was the Big Cheese himself:

All in all we had a lot of fun. I have heard many people complain about the food at Character breakfast but everyone seemed to eat up and enjoy themselves. I had ordered an omelette along with my toast so Jose wouldn't yell at me but only ended up eating a few points and then enjoying my usual toast and coffee.

After breakfast, my parents went off to walk on deck, DH disappeared somewhere, and I was a mean Mom and made my kids catch up on the vacation journals they were keeping for a school project. They cozied up on Deck 4 and got to work, I can think of worse places to do school:

After journalling the kids ran off to play. At 10 o'clock my Mom and I headed to the 'Anyone Can Cook' series where they were making rack of lamb. I think this was the 3rd installment of the series, and the only one we made it to but we had lots of fun and especially enjoyed the morning glass of vino.

We had all agreed to meet up at 11:30 to watch Jacks Diaper Dash, one of the favorite activities we watched on the Fantasy many years ago. Apparently lots of people were excited because the entire Atrium on Decks 3,4, and 5 were full of spectators. DS had texted that he was having fun in the lab and wanted to stay, my Mom texted that she was finishing laundry, I think my Dad was chilling/napping on the balcony so it was just myself, DD, and DH who watched the fun from Deck 4. With it being a cruise with few kids there were not enough babies to have a race. So they opened it up to toddlers and ended up with 5 or 6. Here is the final heat:

3 officers (including the cruise director) happened to be walking through the atrium (staged or not who knows) so they got pulled into the fun as well and were good sports about having to crab walk the race:

All in all a fun activity. It was close to this time that Stitch was supposed to be doing a meet and greet near the theater, DD jumped on the opportunity to see him again, I hopped in line and she ran upstairs to get her stuffed animal:

We chilled for a little bit out on the balcony and then rounded everyone up and headed to Tritons for lunch. Several days this cruise Tritons was open for brunch from 9-1, we snuck in right before closing time. I don't remember what we had to eat this day but I"m sure it was tasty.

After lunch the kids wanted to play some Tripoly, we searched for a good spot, Crown and Fin was closed for a private tasting, it was too windy up on Deck, and everywhere else we found did not have a large enough table until the Gods smiled upon us and we found this great spot:

Any guesses where it is? Give up? It was on Deck 3 in the Atrium near Guest Services. They had 2 of these nice large tables surrounded by a couch and chairs, a great place to play and very quiet at this time of day. After playing for a bit the kids wanted to go to the pool. So our usual routine of finding a shady spot on Deck 9 with a drink of the day while the kids swam. DD had decided that she wanted to get her hair rebranded in a different style so she spent part of her afternoon sitting patiently while the braider created this masterpiece:

We headed down from the pool to shower and get ready for dinner. Tonight we were in Animators Palate with the Frozen menu. Animators was a fun place to be as they had all the lights turned blue and snowflakes and other scenes from Frozen on the screens. The servers were dressed for the part as well created a great ambience. We had been told to expect some rougher seas tonight, they definitely started to pick up during dinner. Here is DS with our head server, Mehmet. These 2 became great buddies over the course of the cruise:

After dinner DS went off to play for a bit, the girls wandered around the shops for a bit, then went to join my Mom in line because tonight was the new Frozen show in the Walt Disney theater. She lined up about 7:45 and there were already a ton of people crowding in by the theater door. When they finally opened the theater doors everyone rushed in, My Mom and I went one path and DD being small and fast went another to grab us seats. We ended up in the 3rd row, middle section on the aisle. They were great seats, right in the 'bubble zone' as the kids later called it. It was just my Mom, the kids, and I tonight, my Dad and DH ditched us for a movie. Here is the only photo I got as you are not supposed to take photo or video during the show:

This was an amazing show, definitely best we've seen on a Disney Cruise Ship. The singing and story were great but what really made it for me was the creative set design and way they moved the set and characters to get the right 'flow'. There were parts of it that gave me the chills. Even DS, who hated Golden Mickeys, thought the show was amazing. Definitely one not to be missed.

After the show there was another big item on the agenda, the Coast to Coast Character Campout. This was advertised as an opportunity for kids ages 5-12 to spend the night in the kids club. DD had expressed earlier in the week that she was not interested in this as she did not want to sleep on the ground and had been spending more time in Edge anyway. DS however, was interested in the campout. From past trip reports there has been a backpack and letter explaining the process left on our beds at turndown service. We went to the room to check but no letter and no backpack. So we headed to Deck 5 to get some information from the kids club staff. It was MASS chaos. Kids and parents everywhere crowding around 1 small table they had set up in front of the kids clubs. Kids were antsy and running around like crazy out there and parents all in a big mass trying to form some sort of line to get information or get their kids signed in. We stood there for a minute then DS (who gets overwhelmed pretty easy) got a little teary and said 'No way am I staying here, lets go'. So we headed back up towards Deck 6. He was upset because on one hand he really liked the idea of the Campout but on the other did not like the chaos of it all. I thought quickly on my feet and said 'why don't we have our own party in the room, pizza and a movie. He liked that idea. So we headed up to Deck 9 to load up on pizza, got some pop from the drink station, and headed back to the room where DD had found Captain America on TV. Perfect. We pigged out and watched the movie, set our clocks forward an hour (some crazy daylight savings time thing) then drifted off to sleep, having enjoyed another great day. The seas were definitely rocky this night, no one felt ill but it definitely felt like sleeping in a windy hammock at times.

 

[smeecanada]

Enjoying your TR. We were on this same cruise and had a great time. I agree with you about the shwarma - it wasn’t that tasty. It was one and done for us.

And the cough that was going around the ship - I still have the remnants of it. We talked to one man whose wife got sick enough she had to go to the medical center, where they ended up with a $750 bill.

The ship not moving on Panama Canal night seemed odd. I noticed some shuddering and thought we had dropped anchor. Wondered what was going on. When we later looked out our window, a monstrous oil tanker was right next to us and kept getting closer. It was an experience seeing that and a little eerie since it was late at night!

Looking forward to reading more.

The ship was not moving because we were refueling. Enjoying your trip report - nice to see the cruise from other people's perspective. Wonderful cruise.

 

[Allygonga]

Day 9 - At Sea

Today was the beginning of 3 glorious days at sea. As our cruise director Natalie said, it was a B-E-A-utiful day. We had lots of fun plans. First up on the agenda was a Character Breakfast in Animators Palate at 9 a.m. We headed down as a group wearing our matching boarding shirts. We were seated and given coffee right away, bonus!! Our dining team happened to be working in Animators this morning. We were not in our servers section but Jose saw us and ran up excitedly saying 'Don't Worry Family Everything is Under Control.' He ended up taking care of us and as usual was very speedy. We ordered our breakfast, got napkin hats put onto our heads and waiting for the fun. First up was this lovable pup:

My Dad promised me one photo and then he said he was done (photos really aren't our thing). Soon after came Minnie (look how fast our food had come out):

After Minnie a very goofy Goofy, we had fun with him. The kids had brought their Harry Potter quills we had bought earlier in the week, Goofy had a fun time trying to sign the autograph book and tickle the nose of his handler:

Last up was the Big Cheese himself:

All in all we had a lot of fun. I have heard many people complain about the food at Character breakfast but everyone seemed to eat up and enjoy themselves. I had ordered an omelette along with my toast so Jose wouldn't yell at me but only ended up eating a few points and then enjoying my usual toast and coffee.

After breakfast, my parents went off to walk on deck, DH disappeared somewhere, and I was a mean Mom and made my kids catch up on the vacation journals they were keeping for a school project. They cozied up on Deck 4 and got to work, I can think of worse places to do school:

After journalling the kids ran off to play. At 10 o'clock my Mom and I headed to the 'Anyone Can Cook' series where they were making rack of lamb. I think this was the 3rd installment of the series, and the only one we made it to but we had lots of fun and especially enjoyed the morning glass of vino.

We had all agreed to meet up at 11:30 to watch Jacks Diaper Dash, one of the favorite activities we watched on the Fantasy many years ago. Apparently lots of people were excited because the entire Atrium on Decks 3,4, and 5 were full of spectators. DS had texted that he was having fun in the lab and wanted to stay, my Mom texted that she was finishing laundry, I think my Dad was chilling/napping on the balcony so it was just myself, DD, and DH who watched the fun from Deck 4. With it being a cruise with few kids there were not enough babies to have a race. So they opened it up to toddlers and ended up with 5 or 6. Here is the final heat:

3 officers (including the cruise director) happened to be walking through the atrium (staged or not who knows) so they got pulled into the fun as well and were good sports about having to crab walk the race:

All in all a fun activity. It was close to this time that Stitch was supposed to be doing a meet and greet near the theater, DD jumped on the opportunity to see him again, I hopped in line and she ran upstairs to get her stuffed animal:

We chilled for a little bit out on the balcony and then rounded everyone up and headed to Tritons for lunch. Several days this cruise Tritons was open for brunch from 9-1, we snuck in right before closing time. I don't remember what we had to eat this day but I"m sure it was tasty.

After lunch the kids wanted to play some Tripoly, we searched for a good spot, Crown and Fin was closed for a private tasting, it was too windy up on Deck, and everywhere else we found did not have a large enough table until the Gods smiled upon us and we found this great spot:

Any guesses where it is? Give up? It was on Deck 3 in the Atrium near Guest Services. They had 2 of these nice large tables surrounded by a couch and chairs, a great place to play and very quiet at this time of day. After playing for a bit the kids wanted to go to the pool. So our usual routine of finding a shady spot on Deck 9 with a drink of the day while the kids swam. DD had decided that she wanted to get her hair rebranded in a different style so she spent part of her afternoon sitting patiently while the braider created this masterpiece:

We headed down from the pool to shower and get ready for dinner. Tonight we were in Animators Palate with the Frozen menu. Animators was a fun place to be as they had all the lights turned blue and snowflakes and other scenes from Frozen on the screens. The servers were dressed for the part as well created a great ambience. We had been told to expect some rougher seas tonight, they definitely started to pick up during dinner. Here is DS with our head server, Mehmet. These 2 became great buddies over the course of the cruise:

After dinner DS went off to play for a bit, the girls wandered around the shops for a bit, then went to join my Mom in line because tonight was the new Frozen show in the Walt Disney theater. She lined up about 7:45 and there were already a ton of people crowding in by the theater door. When they finally opened the theater doors everyone rushed in, My Mom and I went one path and DD being small and fast went another to grab us seats. We ended up in the 3rd row, middle section on the aisle. They were great seats, right in the 'bubble zone' as the kids later called it. It was just my Mom, the kids, and I tonight, my Dad and DH ditched us for a movie. Here is the only photo I got as you are not supposed to take photo or video during the show:

This was an amazing show, definitely best we've seen on a Disney Cruise Ship. The singing and story were great but what really made it for me was the creative set design and way they moved the set and characters to get the right 'flow'. There were parts of it that gave me the chills. Even DS, who hated Golden Mickeys, thought the show was amazing. Definitely one not to be missed.

After the show there was another big item on the agenda, the Coast to Coast Character Campout. This was advertised as an opportunity for kids ages 5-12 to spend the night in the kids club. DD had expressed earlier in the week that she was not interested in this as she did not want to sleep on the ground and had been spending more time in Edge anyway. DS however, was interested in the campout. From past trip reports there has been a backpack and letter explaining the process left on our beds at turndown service. We went to the room to check but no letter and no backpack. So we headed to Deck 5 to get some information from the kids club staff. It was MASS chaos. Kids and parents everywhere crowding around 1 small table they had set up in front of the kids clubs. Kids were antsy and running around like crazy out there and parents all in a big mass trying to form some sort of line to get information or get their kids signed in. We stood there for a minute then DS (who gets overwhelmed pretty easy) got a little teary and said 'No way am I staying here, lets go'. So we headed back up towards Deck 6. He was upset because on one hand he really liked the idea of the Campout but on the other did not like the chaos of it all. I thought quickly on my feet and said 'why don't we have our own party in the room, pizza and a movie. He liked that idea. So we headed up to Deck 9 to load up on pizza, got some pop from the drink station, and headed back to the room where DD had found Captain America on TV. Perfect. We pigged out and watched the movie, set our clocks forward an hour (some crazy daylight savings time thing) then drifted off to sleep, having enjoyed another great day. The seas were definitely rocky this night, no one felt ill but it definitely felt like sleeping in a windy hammock at times.

Did you sign up for the character breakfast before the cruise or when you boarded? Sad to hear about the camp out, did anyone else have a better experience?

 

[xavier2001]

Did you sign up for the character breakfast before the cruise or when you boarded? Sad to hear about the camp out, did anyone else have a better experience?

Yes you sign up online when you check in. We didn’t talk to anyone else about the Campout but did see many tired kids the next day!

 

[darnheather]

We did join the facebook group but haven't signed up for any tastings...yet. Do you have any to recommend

I haven't done any yet but am signed up for 3. I've heard they are all good.

 

[lklgoodman]

Love seeing all your pics. Thanks for explaining how the locks work as you go through them, I had no idea how that was done, very interesting. The last 2 times we've done the character breakfast, we've had the Disney Jr characters, wish we would get some of the fab five. I LOVED the Frozen show, we were lucky and they did a matinee plus the night shows on our cruise in March so we saw it twice, I agree that's it's the best show Disney does. I'm even a "meaner mom" than you are. I bought my dd a journal and make her write a summary of each day in it before she goes to bed when we go on cruises. I've tried to convince her that when she gets older she'll like going back and reading about all that she did, so far she doesn't believe me. I always remind her that she could be in school doing a lot more school work, so she shouldn't complain about doing a simple journal entry. I usually have her do it in the cabin. I should have her do it outside like you did, but knowing my dd she'd throw the book overboard so she wouldn't have to do it anymore! I love the Anyone can cook demos, we had the lobster ravioli and mushroom risotto. I'm not a fan of mushrooms, but my goodness, it was so good. I wanted to grab the big pot he made during the demo and run out the door with it!!

 

[scottishwee35]

Amazing story and lovely photos... We went Panama Canal 2008, my daughter olivia 10 and my son 12. We had a awesome with Disney Cruise Magic... your photo of Panama Canal bring my memories how we had a wonderful times and now both grown up. Just saw your photos make me smile that you all had a wonderful times.

 

[MouseOfCards]

Thank you for sharing. Really want to try this itinerary at some point. Love your photos! Suddenly hungry for a Voodoo donut.

 

[xavier2001]

The last 2 times we've done the character breakfast, we've had the Disney Jr characters, wish we would get some of the fab five.

I think they do the Disney Jr characters on Caribbean Itineraries and the Fab 5 in Alaska, Panama, and Transatlantic. Not sure what they do in Europe. Funny though that both on this trip and 2 years ago in Alaska Donald was missing from the Fab 5, he must have been too busy working (or 2 hard to navigate around the tables.

 

[xavier2001]

Day 10 - At Sea, Pirate Night

Another glorious sea day, I think these were the 3 favorite days of the trip for me. So we left off with setting the clocks forward and rough seas. First the clocks. Traveling from Florida to California crosses over 3 time zones, or so we thought. It came up in our facebook group a few months before we left that we were actually going through 5 time zones. The US, Mexico, Colombia, and Panama all observe Daylight Savings Time, however Costa Rica did not. So after April 1 (when the clocks changed in Mexico) we went from Eastern to Central to Mountain, back to Central, then Mountain, than Pacific Time. Clear as mud right. Thankfully all our switches were on sea days and our lovely stateroom host, Michael, changed the clock in the room for us to keep us oriented. Again, I digress.

So after a rocky (literally) night of sleep we all slept in a little bit. DH got up and had breakfast with my parents at Tritons. The rest of us got moving around 9 or so. We had a quick breakfast at Cabanas (yep, toast and coffee) and then headed off to a very special activity, one DD had spotted 10 days ago. Stitch Animation. My Dad had gone for a walk and then to the room to read and watch the waves and DS had run off to the lab so it was DD, DH, my Mom, and myself. We had done all our animation drawing classes with Mitch (or Mitch-ee Moo as the kids liked to call him). He was a lot of fun and I was pleased with how our drawings turned out. Here I present, 3 Stitches and 1 Gremlin:

Apparently, we bought Pirate Stitch Tsum Tsum last night in the gift shop as he made many appearances today. After the drawing DD went off to play, my Mom headed somewhere, and DH and I sat in Promenade and then wandered around for a bit. Eventually we got word that the kids wanted to swim so we headed to Deck 9. Todays drink of the day was this healthy looking green concoction (I think it had the name bird in the name), it was good but I switched to Mai Tais after just 1:

We had pool food for lunch (pretty sure I had a hot dog and fries), DH wandered into Cabanas and came back with some stuff that he said wasn't great so he had pool food too. And just chilled watching the waves.

About 2 I headed to the room for a siesta (Rum will do that to you). I stopped in Cove for these yummy treats (I intended to get back there later in the trip for more but sadly never did):

DH and the kids returned about 3, they got showered and relaxed, alternating between the balcony and watching a movie on the TV. We all got ready for pirate night.

At 5, Captain Jack Sparrow was having a meet and greet. I have always wanted photos with him and in the past, always missed out (no pirate night in Alaska, and last we were on the Fantasy DS was quarantined with a stomach bug so we missed out). I pre-warned the more reluctant members in the group (aka the men) that it was non-optional and the last photo I'd make them pose for. I headed down early (about 4:30) and the line was already long. The rest of the group joined me at 5. This Captain Jack was rather subdued, but we got some great photos. I have to laugh at this one, can you tell my Dad had been drinking several adult beverages this afternoon:

And DD's perfect dance feet make me smile in this one:

Thankfully the photographer got some better shots, the group photo is in the trip intro, here is the one of our small little family:

By the time we were done with Captain Jack it was time to head for dinner. We were in Tianas with the new pirate night menu. Several ordered the jerk chicken, which they said was very good, I know I had the steak tonight, no complaints. Before dessert DS told us he was tired and wanted to go back to the room to take a rest before Pirate Night. So off he went. The rest of us enjoyed dessert and then went for a walk. I don't remember what the show was tonight in the main theater, but it did not sound appealing so we skipped it. We headed back to the room to find this:

Poor guy was tired out from 10 straight days of fun. we watched the sun set on the balcony:

We tried to wake up DS to see if he wanted to do the Pirate Party but he just groaned and rolled over. We took that as a no. DD headed off to play, and my Mom and I scoped out a place on Deck 9 to get ready for Pirate Night. My Dad and DD joined us at some point. Right before the show was to start my Dad decided we needed to be up on Deck 10 for a better view of the fireworks. It was pretty crowded up there but we found a spot at the railing. I was really looking forward to this show because there was talk from my Mom about pirates and sword fights, and Captain Jack from the show she watched on the Fantasy 4 years ago. I was mildly disappointed in this version. There was a 'flash mob' of the Edge and Vibe kids (is it really a flash mob if they announce it), then the entertainers danced, then the characters came out:

It was a cute show but did not wow me. I won't spoil the end but after the show there was a small fireworks display then the mob started heading towards Cabanas for the Pirate Night buffet. My parents were tired and headed to bed. DD really wanted a turkey leg so we joined the masses and headed in. I secured us a table and she went off to get her turkey leg and a small dessert. Once she came back and the crowds quieted down I could not resist eating a taco. Then we headed back to the room, DS was still passed out in bed, we soon joined him after another fun and relaxing day.

 

[xavier2001]

Day 11-At Sea

2 updates in 1 evening, I"m on a roll!

After a late night at Pirate Night we all slept in this morning. When DS finally woke up (I think he slept more than 12 hours) he was full of energy, in a great mood, and STARVING lol. DH took the kids up to Cabanas while I slowly putzed around and got ready. They brought be back some toast and Diet Coke. Then I kicked them out of the room so I could do some organizing. The kids went to the clubs for awhile and DH found a spot to chill somewhere while it was 'Operation Organization'. Michael had been keeping our room very clean and we had a good system going for managing dirty clothes but my hubby and kids are 'collectors' and tend to make piles everywhere. So I took 30 minutes and decluttered the piles and put things back where they go. I counted 25 paper airplanes that DS had stacked on the desk, I kept the best few and made the rest disappear. DH texted about this time that he and the kids were going to go see Black Panther at noon and did I want to come. I decided not to because I wanted to do 1 more load of laundry to get us through until the end of the trip. There was a laundry room on our Deck (Deck 6) so I headed there. All of the washers were full and it was a zoo with people waiting to get their stuff out of the machines. A nice lady showed me that there was a computer in the laundry room that showed all the other laundry rooms on board and whether or not they had open washers. There were 5 open on Deck 7 so I ran up there. By the time I got there only 2 were open but it was all good because I only needed one. It took me a minute to figure out how to swipe my card to buy laundry credits and soap but I figured it out with some help. Here's my photographic laundry 'proof':

The cool thing about the new Disney app is that it automatically knows when you start a washer (using your key to the world card) and will alert you 5 minutes before your load is done so you can go empty the machine. Pretty fancy. I had some time so I wandered around the ship and just enjoyed some quiet time. I headed to the room at one point, Michael was in there making the beds so I hung out on the balcony with my dad:

After I put my laundry into the dryer I had 37 minutes until it was done. I hopped in the shower and got cleaned up for the day. By now I was getting hungry and knew the movie would be getting out soon so I headed up to the pool deck to find a table and wait for the rest of the family. My Dad soon joined me and we got a head start on some Mai Tais (finally they were the drink of the day). I had my usual hot dog as well and my Dad headed to Cabanas for some crab legs and shrimp. My Mom then joined us and we had a second round of drinks. Soon DH and the kids appeared, they ate quickly then ran down to change into their swimsuits.

We were just enjoying the beautiful day. At some point my Dad left to go take a nap (too much Rum) and my Mom headed off somewhere so it was just DH and I. I may have ordered a 3rd one of these at this point:

Eventually we headed back to the room to get cleaned up for dinner at Tritons. It was formal night. We all made somewhat of an effort to get dressed up but did not go all out. DD was especially excited because they had sushi on the menu for the first time all week. Jose brought her 2:

I'm pretty sure this was the Taste of California menu which was delicious, so many good things to choose from. After dinner the kids ran off to play and the adults headed up to Quiet Cove to watch the sunset and play some euchre.

We all met up again at 8:15 to watch the show which was 'Disney on Broadway', featuring a married couple who had both performed on Broadway, most notably at the Beast and Ursula from Little Mermaid:

DS didn't last very long, not his thing so he ran off to head to the Kids Club for awhile. DD really enjoyed the music in the show, my Mom and I thought it was pretty good. After the show DD headed off to Edge, I headed up to the room to change. When I got there DS was in tears, very upset. I asked what was wrong and apparently there was a mean girl in the kids club who was harassing the kids and calling them names. I asked if he talked to a counselor about it and he said no, he just ran out. I calmed him down, we took a walk on Deck 9 and 10 to try to see some stars and got a drink. He told me he wanted to go back to the club so we talked about what to do if the situation happened again. When I dropped him off I couldn't help but say something to the counselor checking kids in. He said they were already aware of the situation as the girl in question had said some nasty things to multiple kids and that they were 'on top of it.' I headed back to the room and settled in with my nightly snack and Pixar channel. The kids came back about 10:30, both happy. DS told me that the girl had continued to be mean to himself and another kid and called them a curse word, they said something to the counselor who called her parents and asked her to leave so I guess that they were really 'on top of it.' This was the only episode of bad behavior we witnessed all trip, not to shabby at all. The kids ran upstairs to get some pizza because they were SO hungry, then we all settled in with a movie (pretty sure 101 Dalmatians on the Classic Channel) and drifted off to sleep, the end of another great sea day. Next up Puerta Vallarta!

 

[Allygonga]

Yes you sign up online when you check in. We didn’t talk to anyone else about the Campout but did see many tired kids the next day!

Thanks. We’re getting excited for our East Bound in October. I’m really enjoying your trip report

 

[xavier2001]

Day 12- Puerto Vallarta

After 3 glorious sea days it was time for some more fun on land. This was the last port that we figured out planning wise and came to together somewhat last minute. When doing my initial research, Disney's port adventure of Las Caletas was our top choice. It was a private, all inclusive beach resort that you can only get to by boat. Sadly, this port adventure was not offered on our sailing. I contacted the company privately and they would not let us book independently as there was no way to guarantee we'd be back on board the ship on time. Fair enough. For awhile we had another Disney port adventure booked, The Hyatt Ziva. This involved taking a bus to the Hyatt all inclusive resort for a beach day. As it got closer we started to rethink this plan. We knew we would have a sun and water adventure the following day in Cabo and weren't sure we wanted to do 2 beach days in a row. And we figured we would be ready for some adventure after 3 sea days in a row. For what its worth, several people did go on the Hyatt trip and it got really good reviews. So if you are looking for a beach day, I would recommend it based on other's experiences.

We started scouring through Disney's port adventure list again and DH came across a Mexican culinary adventure that sounded fun. When we looked closer we saw that it involved a 40 minute bus trip each way to some remote ranch and that deterred us. We were not in port that long and were not sure we wanted to spend all that time in a bus. With a direction I started googling, and came across this website: https://www.cookinvallarta.com . They got great reviews on TripAdvisor so I contacted them to make sure we would have enough time. They were prompt and accommodating in their response so 3 weeks before we left, we booked the class.

Our alarms went off nice and early today, 7:30. Pretty sure I hit snooze a few times. We were supposed to meet our tour guide in the mall across the street from the port at 10. Not knowing how long the walk would be we wanted to leave ourselves plenty of time. We got ready, had breakfast in Cabanas and were off the ship by 9:20. We left the immediate port area. Right across the street from the Port Exit was a Walmart and Sam's Club for those needing any essentials. Next to the Walmart was the Galerias Mall. It was a quick walk and we made it to the meeting point (Starbucks) about 9:30. There was free wifi in the mall so we found a place to sit and all checked our email and facebook, sent a few texts to friends. My Dad and DD ran off at some point and came back with a pack of 10 earrings that cost 15 pesos just for fun. Enrique, our guide, showed up promptly at 10. There were 11 of us total in the group. We headed down to the garage to load up in to his van. There was a fast moving escalator between us and the garage, those of you who have read my Alaska report know that DS has had fear of escalator issues in the past. He has been really good about it for the last year, not sure what was up this morning but he had a mini panic attack and refused to get on. I was already halfway down when I saw it happen (he was with my Dad bringing up the rear), so I rode the escalator back up and with some encouragement was able to get him down the escalator. We were off to a rocky start.

We loaded in the van and took a short drive to an authentic Mexican market. How do I know it was authentic, we were the only 'gringos' there. Lots of locals doing their shopping this morning. We started off a taco stand for 'breakfast'. They called them morning tacos because the meat needed to cook for 12 hours so they cooked it all night long and ate it in the morning. They wrapped it in a homemade corn tortilla, then grilled each side. It was spicy but delicious, definitely hit the spot and gave us all a burst of energy. Sadly this is the only photo of the glorious taco I got:

We then headed to the meat counter where we got a lesson in buying fresh meat, including a lesson about yellow chickens, apparently in this part of Mexico they use food coloring to dye the chickens yellow because white chickens are viewed as 'unclean':

We then headed next door to a produce store to buy various veggies for our tortilla soup, chiles for our main course, and squash blossoms for an amazing sauce.

DS was still feeling a little anxious but was hanging by me and relaxing as the tour went on (and as the taco filled his belly). Next we headed to a little shop where they were making Tortillas with this cool (and ancient looking) machine. Wonder how long this machine would last in the US with its USDA Health Department standards. DS was really interested in the mechanics of this machine and this is when he finally started having some fun:

We bought some dough to make our own tortillas later. We took a quick tour of the fish market and then loaded back up into the Van. It was a short drive to our next destination, Enriques house. He lived in a gated community next to a golf course and had converted his kitchen and dining room into a commercial cooking space. His wife and some other helpers were there to help us get started. Everything was very clean, and they had refreshing filtered water and cold hibiscus tea for us to drink.

After listening to some instructions, donning our aprons, and washing our hands it was time to get cooking. On the menu, tortilla soup, Chile Rellenos, homemade salsa and guacamole, homemade tortillas, and chocolate truffles. First up we had to make the seasoning for the meat. DD instantly raised her hand to volunteer:

By this time DS was ready to get involved, he and my Dad listened carefully to instructions, they were put in charge of shelling the cocoa beans to make cocoa powder:

Then he moved on to smashing up the brown sugar cubes to mix with the cocoa powder, it was hard work:

During this time the other table was working on chopping things up for the Salsa and Guacamole. DD became the guacamole master:

About this time, Enrique put out several bottles of tequila. My Dad had fun tasting several of them.

Next it was on to finishing up the truffles, perfect job for little hands:

The other group was working on the Tortilla Soup. Then Enrique started charring the Poblano Chiles for the main course:

While the soup simmered and chiles roasted, Enriques wife came out to give us a lesson in tortilla pressing and cooking. It was harder than we thought, especially in a family of perfectionist leaders. Eventually we got our tortillas made, then it was time for a snack:

Delicious!! After our snack it was time to clean and stuff our chiles, again this was harder than it looked but we had fun and were proud of our work (even if Enrique said we overstuffed them):

We then washed our hands in oil to get rid of the capsaicin in our hands, then water, then while the peppers cooked we enjoyed our Tortilla Soup. I somehow did not get a photo of the soup (maybe my Mom will send me one), it was very delicious but also spicy. DS really liked it, DD not as much, she went back to munching on guacamole.

After the Chiles were done, Enrique put on his beautiful squash blossom sauce and it was time to dig in:

These were very tasty, and definitely something I will try making at home. These were filled with beef and cheese but really you can fill them with anything.

After enjoying the Chile and sipping on some tequila it was time for dessert. A chocolate truffle was the perfect sweet finish. After this it was time to bid Enrique and our new friends farewell. We loaded up back into the Van and were dropped off in front of the mall. We had a great time on this excursion, it was something fun and different to do. I was surprised how much the kids were into it, they are definite foodies, loving Master Chef Junior and pretty adventurous eaters. They really enjoyed the cooking aspect and DD is now asking for a mortar and pestle for her next birthday.

It was now about 2:30, all aboard was 3:45. My parents went into the mall to use some more free wifi, the rest of us headed back to the ship. There were some vendors in the port area but all were friendly and not terribly pushy.

We headed to our room and chilled and watched as people streamed back onto the ship. I think that DD went on deck to have a snack as well as she did not eat as much as the rest of us today. Around 4 we watched the ship pull out of port which is always a fun experience.

Dinner tonight was the Animation Magic menu at Animators, where you get to draw your own character that they bring to life. My parents and the kids excitedly headed off, DH and I had other plans tonight. We were eating at Palo, which is the adult only, speciality restaurant. Our reservation wasn't until 7 and try as we might we were starving. So we headed up to Deck 9 and had a few french fries to tide us over and watched Lilo and Stitch on Funnel Vision. Was nice to enjoy the quiet deck while everyone else was at dinner or the show. At 7 we headed up and enjoyed a nice, quiet dinner. I know I had the gnocchi for an appetizer, and the Filet for dinner, both were amazing. For dessert DH had the chocolate soufflé, and I had the tiramisu. Sasha, our server, also brought us a limoncello tart, which DH said was the best thing he had eaten all cruise. I ended up eating part of his soufflé while he devoured the tart.

After dinner we meandered back to the room, it was about 9 p.m. at this point. My parents were chilling on the balcony, they had a fun dinner, then played cards with the kids for awhile before they ran off to play. They were both back by 10 tonight, tired after a long and fun day. DH headed to Crown and Fin to read, and the rest of us turned on the TV and drifted off to sleep, thankful that we were turning our clocks back an hour tonight as tomorrow we had another fun and exciting Port day planned.