My very long vacation - part 1
Through a combination of events, it transpired that Barb and I took a two-week vacation. I case you're interested, here's what we did.
Our vacation really started Saturday night, at the annual IST Holiday party at Ruth's Chris Steakhouse. There, I had my annual mixed drink, many appetizers, and a huge Filet Mignon. Neither Barb nor I could finish ours, so our friends Josh & Diana got to take home our leftovers. We made a quick stop at home to change clothes, then went over the home of or friend and GM Brian, conveniently located 10 minutes from Dullas. We spent some quality chatting time and went to bed.
We were up at 6:00 the next morning. Brian poured his still-asleep daughters into the van and took us to the airport. One uneventful flight later (the best kind), we were in Orlando. A bus to Hertz, the rant-a-car to Port Orlando, and there was our cruise ship, the Disney Wonder. Check-in was easy and in no time we were in 7136, a cabin in the rear of the ship, just as the side began to turn into stern. The cabin was made to be wheelchair accessible. It had no tub, but the bathroom seamlessly turned into the shower, which made for a very large shower area. We had a little couch and table, a double bed, and a veranda, What more could you ask for?
Here's our boat (well, the back part anyway).
Here's Barb waving from our veranda.
We boarded a little after 1:00, so we had time before sailing. We had a bite the deck 9 buffet and wandered about the boat. At 4:00 there was a mandatory lifeboat drill and then we were ready to set sail. There was a big party on deck 9, with Disney characters and music and with many hurrahs, we set off. Next stop, Nassau, Bahamas. That evening we met Dr. Evil…I mean Christopher, our Cruise Director.
He was the man in charge of fun and he did a great job. That evenings live entertainment was a very silly magician, sort of Penn and Teller meets Jackie Gleason. We then went to dinner, where we met the family we would be dining with for the cruise, two parents and three teenage kids. They were pleasant enough company, though we didn't start any lasting friendships. Dinners on the cruise were always fabulous and they bent over backwards to accommodate Barb's gluten allergy.
Upon returning to our room, the bed had been turned down and a towel animal sat on the bed. Here's pictures of three of the four animals we got.
We awoke the next morning as the ship arrived in Nassau. We had signed up for a "historical city tour" and ended up being piled in a minivan taxi. The driver mostly drove around and showed us houses in various neighborhoods and let us know the social problems there and how those neighborhoods came to be. We also had a brief tour of a colonial-era fort done by a terse tour guide who insisted we visit the gift shop and wouldn't answer questions. Overall the tour was educational, but I didn't learn the sort of things I expected to learn. After the tour we went on board, grabbed a bite, then did some shopping, where we got Barb some very nice earrings. That evening's entertainment was a musical version of Hercules, which was only mediocre.
The next day brought us to Castaway Cay, Disney's private island.
At Castaway Cay, the first thing we did was go snorkeling. I didn't have my contact lenses (long story), so both Barb and I were wearing our glasses. This meant we had no glasses while snorkeling, which detracted from the fun a little, and the water was just a tiny bit on the cold side, but besides that it was swell. Barb is generally afraid of being in water over her head and here she was in open ocean! It was very brave on her part. We saw many brightly colored blurry blobs and exited the water before we got too cold. We warmed up in the some on the boat ride back, got some lunch, and laid on beach chairs till our next event, the Jet Ski tour. Neither Barb nor I had ever been on a Jet Ski before. It was very bumpy and Barb found it both uncomfortable and frightening. Halfway through we stopped at a sand bar and Barb was able to transfer to a larger craft which was following us. On the ride back I began to get the hang of it and started to enjoy it quite a lot.
When we got back, it was time to board the ship. We showered and watched that night's show, The Golden Mickey's. It was sort of a review of Disney's heroes, villains, princesses, etc., and was very enjoyable. After the show, I dropped the ball and failed to notice it was formal night at dinner, but they didn't kick us out of the dining room, though Barb was mortified. That night, there was a pirate theme party on deck 9, with actual fireworks. Reportedly, Disney is the only cruise line in the world that launches fireworks while at sea. That night also had a glorious sunset.
The next day (if you've lost track, it was Wednesday. I kept losing track too.) was an at-sea day. The sea was calm, the weather fine. We relaxed. Barb had a massage and a pedicure and we ate at the ship's fancy restaurant.
The next morning we disembarked. Disney made the process quite painless. We got our bags, wooshed through customs, got our car, and headed off for Kennedy Space Flight Center. But I'll leave that story for a different post.
Our vacation really started Saturday night, at the annual IST Holiday party at Ruth's Chris Steakhouse. There, I had my annual mixed drink, many appetizers, and a huge Filet Mignon. Neither Barb nor I could finish ours, so our friends Josh & Diana got to take home our leftovers. We made a quick stop at home to change clothes, then went over the home of or friend and GM Brian, conveniently located 10 minutes from Dullas. We spent some quality chatting time and went to bed.
We were up at 6:00 the next morning. Brian poured his still-asleep daughters into the van and took us to the airport. One uneventful flight later (the best kind), we were in Orlando. A bus to Hertz, the rant-a-car to Port Orlando, and there was our cruise ship, the Disney Wonder. Check-in was easy and in no time we were in 7136, a cabin in the rear of the ship, just as the side began to turn into stern. The cabin was made to be wheelchair accessible. It had no tub, but the bathroom seamlessly turned into the shower, which made for a very large shower area. We had a little couch and table, a double bed, and a veranda, What more could you ask for?
Here's our boat (well, the back part anyway).
Here's Barb waving from our veranda.
We boarded a little after 1:00, so we had time before sailing. We had a bite the deck 9 buffet and wandered about the boat. At 4:00 there was a mandatory lifeboat drill and then we were ready to set sail. There was a big party on deck 9, with Disney characters and music and with many hurrahs, we set off. Next stop, Nassau, Bahamas. That evening we met Dr. Evil…I mean Christopher, our Cruise Director.
He was the man in charge of fun and he did a great job. That evenings live entertainment was a very silly magician, sort of Penn and Teller meets Jackie Gleason. We then went to dinner, where we met the family we would be dining with for the cruise, two parents and three teenage kids. They were pleasant enough company, though we didn't start any lasting friendships. Dinners on the cruise were always fabulous and they bent over backwards to accommodate Barb's gluten allergy.
Upon returning to our room, the bed had been turned down and a towel animal sat on the bed. Here's pictures of three of the four animals we got.
We awoke the next morning as the ship arrived in Nassau. We had signed up for a "historical city tour" and ended up being piled in a minivan taxi. The driver mostly drove around and showed us houses in various neighborhoods and let us know the social problems there and how those neighborhoods came to be. We also had a brief tour of a colonial-era fort done by a terse tour guide who insisted we visit the gift shop and wouldn't answer questions. Overall the tour was educational, but I didn't learn the sort of things I expected to learn. After the tour we went on board, grabbed a bite, then did some shopping, where we got Barb some very nice earrings. That evening's entertainment was a musical version of Hercules, which was only mediocre.
The next day brought us to Castaway Cay, Disney's private island.
At Castaway Cay, the first thing we did was go snorkeling. I didn't have my contact lenses (long story), so both Barb and I were wearing our glasses. This meant we had no glasses while snorkeling, which detracted from the fun a little, and the water was just a tiny bit on the cold side, but besides that it was swell. Barb is generally afraid of being in water over her head and here she was in open ocean! It was very brave on her part. We saw many brightly colored blurry blobs and exited the water before we got too cold. We warmed up in the some on the boat ride back, got some lunch, and laid on beach chairs till our next event, the Jet Ski tour. Neither Barb nor I had ever been on a Jet Ski before. It was very bumpy and Barb found it both uncomfortable and frightening. Halfway through we stopped at a sand bar and Barb was able to transfer to a larger craft which was following us. On the ride back I began to get the hang of it and started to enjoy it quite a lot.
When we got back, it was time to board the ship. We showered and watched that night's show, The Golden Mickey's. It was sort of a review of Disney's heroes, villains, princesses, etc., and was very enjoyable. After the show, I dropped the ball and failed to notice it was formal night at dinner, but they didn't kick us out of the dining room, though Barb was mortified. That night, there was a pirate theme party on deck 9, with actual fireworks. Reportedly, Disney is the only cruise line in the world that launches fireworks while at sea. That night also had a glorious sunset.
The next day (if you've lost track, it was Wednesday. I kept losing track too.) was an at-sea day. The sea was calm, the weather fine. We relaxed. Barb had a massage and a pedicure and we ate at the ship's fancy restaurant.
The next morning we disembarked. Disney made the process quite painless. We got our bags, wooshed through customs, got our car, and headed off for Kennedy Space Flight Center. But I'll leave that story for a different post.