Day 5 - Princess Cays

We awoke around 7 am this morning and headed to the dining room for breakfast by 7:45. I appreciated that they had oatmeal on the menu!  We made a point of packing up for Princess Cays and headed over on the third tender.  

We scored some great loungers under a permanent awning in the perfect location! J and I each brought a mask and snorkel from home to take advantage of some great snorkeling opportunities here in the Bahamas!  A person can rent snorkelling equipment and that is a good thing because J shattered his snorkel!  It literally broke in half during one of the flight then broke further into pieces as he and JG snorkelled around! Since the snorkel was purchased close to 30 years ago we shouldn’t have been surprised by this development!  We tried to buy a replacement snorkel at the gift shop, but had no success (though we would have it it was a mask we were looking for)!  A kind staffer at the float rental shop lent us a snorkel to finish off the afternoon. 

What a glorious day to enjoy sun, sand and snorkelling!  Temperature was around 27 - 30 C. The only thing that could be improved upon at Princess Cays is the food. We had BBQ chicken, salad and fruit, so it was totally acceptable, just not over the top good like on the ship!

The sand is so clean (they rake it), only Princess guests and staff are on the island, though there are a few locals employed piloting boats and the like too. It really was an idyllic day on the beach in the Bahamas. 

We returned to the ship by about 2:30 pm on a 300 person tender. Lines had begun in earnest by then, so the bigger tender than the usual lifeboat was needed!

After a quick shower, JG and I went for high tea. They had a few gluten free options for me which was a nice surprise. We had quite an international tsble - a family of three from Toronto, an Australian woman and a couple from Virgwho who was born in Ireland. Lovely company!

Supper in the dining room served by Richard and Lissette was tasty again. I had the sushi appetizer and the salmon main course and apple cider sorbet for dessert. 

We had fun playing British Pub trivia - which thankfully was referring to a style of play - not content. We had a couple from Toronto join our team for most of the game. I am proud to say we had the highest score with 62 out of 71. We chose to give the cheap bottle of champagne for the win to the second place team. The bottle would have been wasted on our family. We we’re playing for pride. The toughest question was what 14 countries border China!  P and JG answered some particularly tough questions!

J and I retired to our room and watched a comedy movie that was good for a laugh. Clocks move ahead tonight and we have a day at sea tomorrow!

Day 4

We had a blissful sleep in until 8 am this morning!  Breakfast was included with the room. Everybody else found something to eat. I managed to eat pllain oatmeal and supplemented it with some strawberries purchased at Winn Dixie last night. 

I have been trying to post pictures on my blog but technology seems to be thwarting me! I have been able to successfully airdrop pictures from my phone to my iPad and that allows us to see them much more clearly!

Because we were in Fort Lauderdale I had to visit the nearest Ross Dress for Less store!  I once again was focused on my size of dresses and this time I included pants in the effort. I never have enough time - and this time I had 90 minutes. I walked out with two dresses and one pair of pants!  

I raced back to the hotel to collect my family. J dropped off JG, P and I at Port Everglades where we found a bench in the shade and accessed wi-fi while J took the car to the airport to return to Hertz, then caught a cab back to the ship. We all entered the Port authority and were processed immediately because we were fortunate enough to be Ocean Medallion testers in our staterooms. Being selected was nothing we did - our class of stateroom happens to be among the 110 staterooms being tested this cruise. 

This is a picture of an Ocean Medallion that has great potential to order drinks, track teens on the ship and open your stateroom as you approach - but currently that is not operational (hence why they are still testing). For the moment it is a blue piece of jewellery to wear!

This time JG and P are in a verandah room next door to us as opposed to an inside room across the hall. As the boys are now aged 17 and 21 we figure they can appreciate the views afforded by a verandah stateroom and the associated balcony. 

After an Ocean Medallion information session where P and I signed up for unlimited wi-if for $10 per day (per device) we then all attended the obligatory muster drill. The wi-if seems to be working surprisingly well!

We made a trip up to deck 16 to enjoy sail away at 5 pm.  Our assigned dining table at 5:30 is one table away from a window seat and we seem to have another family with teens at their table too, seated near us. Movies Under the Stars (MUTS) was the poorly rated “The Dark Tower”. Though the movie was poor, the concept of watching a movie on the big screen under the stars around the pool is just stellar!

We retired to our rooms and unpacked our suitcases that got delivered over the supper hour. 

Princess Cays await tomorrow morning so we must get a good night of sleep!

Day 3 - Disney’s Animal Kingdom

So today we had the thrill of doing something for the first time!  The day was all about visiting the brand new incredible ride “Flight of Passage” in the land of Pandora at Disney’s Animal Kingdom. It is the reason we changed hotel rooms from Universal to Disney. You see Disney patrons had early admission to Animal Kingdom today. Early admission was at 7 am and the general public wasn’t allowed in until 8 am. 

And in heeding the advice of all my friends (thank you Gail and Susan) they warned me of the lengthy standby lines to get on this ride if you didn’t have fast passes or arrive early in the morning.   I tried getting fast passes for this ride about 50 days in advance and they were already sold out. So the friends were right, it was the star of the show at Animal Kingdom - and there are some pretty stellar rides there too ( African Savannah and Expedition Everest are family favourites in addition to Dinosaur)!

In getting up at 5:15 am again (remember this is like 3 am our time and this is our third day in a row getting up at this hour), we ate breakfast in the room, checked out of the hotel and left our luggage with luggage services.  We drove ourselves to Animal Kingdom knowing the shuttles would get us there later (since we got lost driving in the dark and the mist and the lack of a GPS for this drive that may not have been the case). We arrived at the gates st 6:40 and followed the crowds of people walking to the land of Pandora, the new section of park based on the James Cameron movie named Avatar. J wanted to stop and ask for directions and I told him there was no need - that EVERYBODY in the park would be walking directly to this ride. And I was right - everybody was walking towards the Flight of Passage ride. We arrived at the end of the line about 7:05 am - and by 8:30 we had finished the ride. The fact that we arrived in the dark with mist hanging in the air added to the mystery and beauty of the vegetation surrounding the ride! The actual thrilling part of the ride where should are sitting in fancy bicycles and looking out over the land of Pandora, much like Disneyland’s Soarin’.  By the time we walked off the ride, the standby line was 270 minutes long. That would have been more than 4 hours in line for us had we been arriving with the rest of the non Disney hotel guests about that time.   So we were very glad for the early start and the experience!

Of course we enjoyed the African Savannah (J & L) Expedition Everest (not J, he gets too motion sick on that ride), and Dinosaur a couple of times.  The boys rode Kali River Rapids when Expedition Everest broke down as they were in line using their fast passes, so Disney gave them another fast pass loaded on their Mickey wristbands that work as room keys, fast passes and charging machines!

We ate lunch at Flame tree Barbeque sitting overlooking the water.  By 1:30 the park was really busy and we had seen what we really wanted to so we returned to Port Orleans French Quarter to retrieve luggage and hit the road for Fort Lauderdale. By the book Orlando to Ft Lauderdale is 3 hours. Add in traffic and toll roads and that drive became 4 hours without any pit stops. 

Once at the Hampton Hotel North Airport we moved all our luggage into the room and happily walked across the street to Winn Dixie for the usual road trip supper of going to a grocery store to buy exactly what you want to eat for supper. Healthy,  not too expensive and interactive to shop for - we enjoyed our shopping expedition!  With a microwave and fridge we were all set to enjoy supper!  Good thing we brought our own cutlery from home!

Must go to bed and sleep as long as necessary tomorrow morning!

Day 2 - Universal Studios

The alarm at 5:15 am was rather startling considering that felt like 3:15 am our time. Hmm , two days in a row with a 3 am alarm!!  But we were on a mission. We knew that our hotel room key at Cabana Bay allowed us early admission into Universal’s two parks at 7 am this morning.  And that meant getting up, eating hot oatmeal in our room (because the restaurant didn’t open till 6 am - maybe 7 am, I am not sure), checking out of our room, leaving luggage with luggage services and catching a 6:15 am shuttle to the parks. 

We were rewarded with a spot fourth in line at Universal Studios Florida by 6:35 am. They actually opened the gates shortly after 6:45 am. And so we were first in line to ride Despicable Me at 6:55 am!  We immediately headed to the World of Harry Potter and walked right up to ride the amazing Escape from Gringotts ride. That ride is a combination of technology with green screens and an old fashioned roller coaster so it doesn’t make me motion sick. After that we caught a train ride at King’s Cross Station to go to the other park “Islands of Adventure”. We caught the train ride by  by 7:45 - three major rides under our belt in the first hour when the park was just opening to the general public. By the time we left the parks about 1 pm we could see Escape from Gringotts had a 120 minute wait and Despicable Me was a 70 minute wait! 

One downside was waiting in line at Forbidden Journey at Hogsmeade - we waited in line for about 15 minutes when they announced they expected the delay to be significant so we left the lineup. That was shortly after 8 am in the morning so if you had just lined up for that ride first thing in the morning you would have felt you wasted your precious early morning riding time!  

We left the parks, feeling fulfilled but exhausted and headed over to Disney’s Port Orleans French Quarter to join J about 2:30 pm. J isn’t that big a Universal fan so he didn’t want to spend the money on a day pass. Once at the French Quarter we relaxed in the room for an hour. P stayed in the room but JG , J and I walked along the path along the river to the Riverside resort. JG was hoping to see an alligator but the most we could hope for was a few lizards!  It was a lovely walk!

We returned to the room and collected P for supper. You could take the boat transit to Disney Spings and that says “vacation” to take a boat rather than a bus for transit!  With a boat ride on both ends, supper ended up taking 4 hours. Dinner at Planet Hollywood was very well received. Dessert at Ghiradelli ( a banana split for the other three and a Starbucks Chai tea latte with soy for me!

Another early start tomorrow so I need to get to bed!  One minute re busy day before calmness and serenity will reign supreme!

Our Adventure Begins Christmas Day!

Christmas Day 2017 has arrived!  We have been planning this vacation for so long I cannot believe it has actually arrived!  So this may be the last year where our family of four has similar vacations so we thought it was a good one to celebrate. In the first half of 2018 our eldest, JG, will graduate from University with a degree in geology.  Our youngest, will graduate from high school and my husband, J, will retire from work so lots of changes on the horizon!  Hence why this vacation has been in the planning for a couple of years now!

The plan is to board a cruise ship in Fort Lauderdale, but to spend a few days in Orlando before that happens. In boarding the ship on the 28th, we counted backwards to work in a day at Universal and a day at Disney so that meant flying out Christmas Day!  We were able to have a fairly ordinary Christmas Eve eating a Ukrainian Christmas Eve dinner with great family friends and going to church. We were in bed by 10 pm but the alarm went off at 3 am!

So Christmas Day we ordered a taxi for 3:45 am and because we wanted a van to manage 4 grownups and all the associated luggage they were a little behind schedule. We were picked up and left the house at 4 am, arriving at the airport at 4:15.   Once we cleared security and customs (5 am) we had time to have everybody open their gifts of a new t-shirt and a small selection of chocolates!  Clearly the trip is the gift this Christmas!  We flew to Houston Airport, arriving a bit ahead of schedule at 11 am. With a four hour layover we each chose our preferred food for lunch. JG chose Mexican burrito ( Papacittos) I chose salmon, rice and green beans (Landry’s) and P and J chose smoked brisket and chicken. 

The flight to Orlando was uneventful and had us arriving at 6:15 pm. We picked up our luggage and Hertz rental car without incident. Hertz even gave us a Starbucks gift card as a gift!  Traffic proved to be quite busy even on Christmas Day!  JG, P and I are staying at Universals Cabana Bay to take advantage of early admission into Universal studios tomorrow morning at 7 am. J is enjoying the peace and solitude offered at Disney’s Port Orleans French Quarter. Dinner at The Hard Rock Cafe was memorable for the effort to get there as opposed to the turkey dinner I thought it offered. Pretty sure we were directed to the wrong restaurant!  We will all be reunited at the Disney hotel tomorrow night. 

Mom st get to bed!  What a wonderful start to the vacation!

Disembarkation

Today I awoke at 5:30 am and by 6 am there was lots of action next door in the room stewards work area. 

LC and I went for one final breakfast in the Lido and it was very busy. Mom ordered breakfast in the room. 

On Holland America you can stay in your own stateroom while awaiting your time slot to disembark. I cleared out of my room and waited in Mom and LC's room so they started stripping down my room. At 8:15 we left our room and then sat in the Oceans Bar awaiting a porter and wheelchair for Mom. Those porters know the operation and the quickest way to move. By the time a porter pushed Mom we were probably through immigration in 15 minutes. 

An uber XL vehicle picked us up and we paid $16.58 for an uber (then added a $5 tip for our luggage)!  Much better than taking a $90 transfer through Holland America!

Our flight through Toronto seems to be on time. It will be good to be home with my family by 9 pm tonight!

What a wonderful vacation. 

Last Day at Sea

I awoke this morning with a phone call from LC advising me we had not moved our clocks back and it was indeed 8 am instead of 7 am. My sister had helpfully reminded me last night that we got an extra hour of sleep - only she was a day ahead of schedule!  I felt particularly groggy because I had taken a gravol to help me sleep - it was particularly rough at midnight last night when the movie ended. 

So off to the dining room we went for one final leisurely breakfast. Today is Shrove Tuesday (the day before Ash Wednesday) so Mom and I had pancakes for breakfast. 

Today there was a rather light offering of organized activities onboard the ship - that allowed ample time to pack up bags getting ready for our impending departure tomorrow. Instead Mom, LC and I went to the Lido deck for a swim and a hot tub in the morning. 

I attended Mariner's lunch in the dining room with Captain Emile de Vries (I and a few hundred other people)!  It was a lovely lunch which offered free champagne if that appeals to you. LC and I then went to a travel presentation entitled Travels with Ian on the World Stage. Our new Port Lecturer shared pictures of sites to see around the world. 

We then walked 3 laps for a mile around deck 3. We then collected Mom from the stateroom to go for a slushy drink around the pool and enjoy our last day!

One last supper in the dining room, a movie around the pool and a duelling pianos set at 9 pm and we were all done!

Our wonderful privileged vacation has come to an end. We are so very fortunate to have had the opportunity to spend such memorable family time together. We are blessed.