Puerto Rico Cruisin' (2019) - Day Six

I mentioned it early in the trip blog, but now seems like a good time to revisit the strategy.  You might remember that Elisa was hesitant about cruising, namely because of her motion sickness and the 2008 cruise, where she felt like she was on the boat a good three weeks after it was over.  So what did we do?  I had instructed Elisa to start taking Bonine a day before the trip even started.  Knowing we would be doing things like catamarans in Puerto Rico, I didn't think it would hurt.  I then told her to keep it up throughout the trip and we'd see how things would go.  And the result?

Pretty.  Dang. Good.  I wish I could say that Elisa didn't feel the ship at all - we did have some moments where the swaying of the ship was bothersome, but we never got to the point where it was debilitating.  In fact, as we woke up on our first full morning, Elisa was in pretty great spirits, and I was happy to see that the wonder of a Disney Cruise (it is spectacular) was winning out over a little movement of the boat.

I also thought that our itinerary was working to my advantage.  This was a 6 night cruise, but the day at sea wasn't until the end.  That's right.  We had left Puerto Rico just a day before and we would wake up coming into a different port for four straight days.  We'd start in St. Maarten, head to Antigua, hit St. Lucia, and end in Barbados.  I think that, in general, really helped the motion of the ocean.  We were also incredibly fortunate with our weather.  As I sit back and truly analyze the entire thing, I'm quite sure we only were in real rain twice.  The first was in the rainforest, and we were safely in the car.  The second was at the caves when we were tubing (it was raining on one end and sunny when we exited).  Besides that, the weather was truly exquisite. I'm not sure if that is regular January weather or if we got lucky, but it helped  - both our experience and Elisa's motion sickness.

And sure enough, when we woke up, we were slowly working our way to our first port - St. Maarten. The boys and Elisa were up pretty early with me, so we got dressed and headed up to the ship forward to watch ourselves coming into port.  Slowly but surely, we inched our way (while Sam went back to being obsessed with the foosball tables).  But before long, we were hungry, so we thought we would head down to Cabanas and see if the crowds were manageable.

Man, this was a great daily buffet.  It wasn't just eggs and bacon.  They had something for everyone.  Egg scrambles, Eggs Benedict (like 4 varieties), pancakes, Mickey Waffles, French toast, every breakfast meat under the sun, oatmeals and cream of wheat, bagels, breakfast breads (danishes, donuts, etc.) and a station that would make to order eggs or omelets.  There was also, obviously, a full drink area as well as a fruit and cereal station.  So it will not surprise you that every day we visited Cabanas, I had to make a stop to get Sam his fruit loops.  Yes, that was definitely a hold over.  Wait a minute.  We've been back from our trip for almost a month now and Fruit Loops are still a holdover for Sam.

I also really liked how they did their egg station.  Most buffets, you order and then sit and wait for it to be made.  Here, they took your order, found out which general area you were sitting at, and gave you a number.  You could go enjoy the buffet, sit down, and they would bring you your eggs.  A nice touch, and especially helpful with kids.  Periodically, a cast member would also walk around with danishes, donuts, etc.  Color me impressed.

While I was getting the cereal for Sam, I also noticed that Genevieve was working that counter.  Man, they work hard.  Serving dinners until 10-11 at night and then back to Cabanas at 7am.  Give them raises!

After a nice breakfast, it was time to go collect our tickets and head to one of the adult clubs to check-in for our excursion.  This won't surprise you, but I put the excursions into a sort of tournament for everyone to choose, and then I try to balance them over the course of the trip to make sure that we aren't doing the exact same thing over and over.  For St. Maarten, we were only doing a 1/2 day excursion so we could do some more things on the ship as well.  This excursion - a Caribbean Beach Day was simple enough.  We would take a boat to the island, walk over to a private part of the beach, have access to our own little cabanas, have lunch, and just play in the surf.

We checked in and got 486 towels (okay, it only felt like that when carrying them around) and waited for the excursion to begin.  St. Maarten is set up that there are some shops not far off the ships (there were 3 others cruise ships at St. Maarten with us), but to get to the main aspect of the island, you need to take a water taxi.

So we followed a line leader to a water taxi and boarded.  Apparently, however, we weren't very good at this.  During the water taxi ride, said line leader passed out little tickets for our return journey.  We HAD to have these to catch a water taxi back without having to pay.  But when we got off the water taxi near the mainland, our party of 8 had 0 tickets.  We were at the front of the line, and she handed us our tickets - well, 6 of them.  Considering there were 8, I started wondering if this beach day was going to turn into a high stakes game of Survivor, with 2 of our party forever stranded.  No, maybe not.  She went through the line and had given a couple tickets to toddlers, even though toddlers didn't need a ticket.  Man, that seemed like a lot of drama just to get tickets to a water taxi.  More on that later, though.

With the great ticket fiasco of 2019 out of the way, we headed down the beach side, passing a variety of restaurants.  I enjoyed the competition.  Every restaurant had some variation of the same deal.  Rent cabanas from them and get X number of alcoholic drinks.  Only $20!  I noticed a trend that the worse deals were closer to the water taxi.  The better ones were a lot farther away - but that's the point I guess.  If you were willing to walk all the way down the beach, treasures (and deals!) awaited you.

Before too long (about halfway down the beach), we hung a right off the beaten path and into the sand.  We walked right up to the ocean and were instructed that all of the blue cabanas were ours.  Yay!  And then, our excursion group proceeded to run over each other trying to get ones right at the water.  We were a bit more than half lucky.  We snagged five, and my parents and Connie got 3 on the second row.  And then, the excursion folks would leave us alone until it was lunch time.  So in a matter of seconds, the boys were sun-blocked and ready to swim.  Sam had his water wings, and all the boys had goggles.  I turned around for about 10 seconds and they were all in the water and splashing around.  The water was pretty warm - not too cold, but it wasn't that pristine water you would expect.  Don't get me wrong, it was lovely.  But I was kind of hoping for "it's like you're in a bathtub" kind of water.  Don't worry - we get that later.

For the first little while, the boys just played in the water.  Then, Miles discovered shells.  And one thing to know about me - one of the most relaxing things I do on a beach is walk up and down it looking for shells.  I just love the feeling of our feet in the water, searching for little, undiscovered treasures.  I walked down toward the water taxis and back, and by the time I reached our family, I had two handfuls of shells.  Miles was thrilled.  He is definitely my sea creature kid.  So he went through a bunch of them and then I took Elisa along searching down the other side of the beach.  We made it all the way to the other end and back, and had even more shells to go through.  It was super calming.

And then, Sam and Miles needed my help.  They wanted a sand castle.  So here I was, thinking this would be a wonderful experience of a father and two of his sons.  We would sit in the sand, talk about our designs, and work together to construct a lovely sand castle with moat.  This was going to check a box on my vacation bucket list!

Needless to say, these are kids sitting at an ocean.  And my dream didn't mesh with the reality.  Miles was all in at first, but before I could even sit down and start pulling sand to me, Sam was back in the ocean and splashing around.  Bye Sam!  Lukas had no interest from the beginning, so I didn't even look for him.  Miles, on the other hand, said he was in.  So while I started putting together a massive pile, Miles said he would start working on the moat.  And to be fair, he hung in there for awhile.  He probably built...1/4 of a moat.  I, however, was going into OCD focused mode.  But I looked around a few minutes later and Miles was back in the water.  Now, any normal person would just give up and go play.  Oh, have you met me?  No, the kids wanted a damn magical sand castle? They were getting a magical sand castle.  So I worked for the next 45 minutes or so (okay, maybe a bit less) by myself, but by the end, I did have a pretty good sand castle.  At least, I was proud of it until Elisa said it was very phallic in nature.  Oh good. I've built a pornographic sand castle and wasted an hour or more of my Caribbean Beach day!

But even though she was a critic (or was happy about it?  Who knows), I was happy with it.  The kids walked over, said "oh cool!" and then walked away.  El. Oh. El.  At least I tried.

After lounging around, though, everyone was getting hungry.  And sure enough, lunch was right on time.  We headed back up the beach and were greeted with a picnic lunch of chicken, burgers, and hot dogs.  They even had dessert.  Everyone got their food and got settled, while I ran back and forth collecting everything that everyone had forgotten (utensils, drinks, etc.).  By the time I arrived back at our beach chairs, Miles had found a way to dribble ketchup all down his front.  Whoops.  Good thing we had 872 towels from the ship, amirite?

After our beach lunch, the excursion folks told us that we were free to do whatever we wanted.  We had our water taxi tickets, so we could go shop, explore, or whatever.  For the most part, the kids were done on the beach and wanted to go to the pools on the ship, so we packed up and headed back to the water taxi.  While there was some shopping around, we also decided to just get back to port and hit those duty free shops.

We got in line and waited for the next water taxi.  Sam entertained those manning the line and before too long, we were on the ship.  Oh, and the irony?  We would discover the very important water taxi tickets in my mom's purse some days later.  All that drama and they didn't even ask for them.  Wheee!

But we did take the water taxi and unloaded right into some shops.  Like the pro shopper that she is, Elisa immediately went into a jewelry store and found a couple bracelets and a pendant.  Man, she's efficient.  I don't blame her those.  She got fantastic deals and they were Alex and Ani brand, so we knew the quality was great.  After that shop, we headed into another jewelry store, where Elisa discovered a fantastic piece of art.  It was a jeweled stingray.  The color was awesome.  Black and white and gold.  It really was a sight to behold.  Elisa also discovered a really cool snake ring.  The seller could sense blood in the water.  So when I looked at the prices (a cool 8 grand for the string ray), I nearly choked.  But don't worry.  For the cool price if $5900, they would be willing to part with both the ring and the stingray.  WHAT A DEAL!

Lucky for me, Elisa didn't lose her wits and was able to walk away.  Yowza, though.  I mean, that would have been a lot more than the cruise itself.  I did wish I was a lottery winner, though, where you could walk into that and drop the money and not even think about it.  Someday, maybe.  Okay, no, but let's not kill the dream, shall we?

After going through a few more shops, where we considered some shirts (but didn't buy), we finally gave up and headed back to the ship.  I have to be honest: St. Maarten was not my favorite port.  In the end, it would rank as #3 in Beauty and #4 in Excursions for me.  And don't worry - I will be updating the rankings as we go.

So back to the ship we went, where the first stop was the very important Deck 9 where the boys and Elisa could get some ice cream.  Then, we got settled so the boys could go swimming and Elisa could go to the Cove Bar, get a coffee, and chill out at the Adult only pool.  Cruises, man.  There's something (and somewhere) for everyone!

The boys, now ready for swimming, started with the water slide on deck.  They each rode twice, but got a bit tired of the wait to ride down.  While they were on their second rides, I went over to Daisy's De-Lites and got a plate full of fruit (cantaloupe, grapes, watermelon, honeydew).  The boys came over and loaded up on healthy snacks (no ice cream from this guy!) and then wanted to go over to the Goofy family pool.  Now this is pretty fun.  Sure, it's a regular old pool (and two hot tubs), but they face a massive TV screen where Disney movies are always playing.  Over the course of our trip, we would glance/pass by/watch like 10 different Disney movies.  It was fun watching the boys swim, glance and watch a movie, and then go back to swimming.

But after a half day at the beach and more time in the water, I think even the boys were done.  They said they were ready to go to the room (well, except Sam who could have stayed in the pool all day long).  So we headed back and got everyone showers, washing off all the sand and chlorine from the day.  From the Cruise Itinerary, tonight's dinner would take us to Triton's and it was an optional dress up night.  For Disney cruises 6 days or under, there is no true formal night.  Well, Elisa and I embraced this.  We didn't want to lug along fancy clothes for everyone.  So here we were, in shorts and t-shirts.  Knowing this was a Disney Cruise, I figured a good number of our fellow cruisers would go right along with us.

Yeah...not so much.  Apparently almost everyone else on the ship likes to lug fancy clothes with them and put on suits and ties and fancy dresses.  And while I didn't feel THAT out of place, it was certainly a weird collection of folks.  Not everyone dressed up, but enough did that I felt a bit like a fish out of water.  For their part, Disney didn't care.  Everyone was welcome and the fancy clothing was definitely optional.

We got some great family and kid pictures at a variety of photo stops outside of Triton's and then headed into dinner.  When we got settled and chatted it up with Judy, we saw that tonight's menu was French inspired.  Oh, I had been hoping for this.  I'm always in the mood to try good and unique foods and sure enough, escargot (snails) was on the menu.  I was really proud of Lukas.  He not only ordered escargot, but he really liked them.

And for those who read the last blog, let me reinforce that I eat like a pig on vacations and this cruise was no exception.  Elisa was eager to point out that I seemed to always order more than 1 in any category.  Oh well, I guess I have a reputation to live up to, right?  I started with the Lobster and Jumbo Shrimp.  I added the escargot.  Then I got the French Onion soup.  Yes, I know.  But at least I admit it.  And then, I made a mistake. A big one.  I was really torn on the entree.  I only wanted one, but two options sounded really good.  One was Conchiglie Pasta with Lobster.  The second was a Chateaubriand prepared steak.  I thought I'd get a second opinion, so I asked Judy which of those two sounded better.  Her response?  "How do you like your steak cooked?"

So that settled it.  She thought the steak was better.  Cool.  We worked through our appetizers and soups/salads and then I eagerly waited for my steak.  And here it was (and it looked fantastic).  But just as I was digging into my plate, here came the Conchiglie Pasta as well.  Okay, now I really looked like I was out of control in my eating.  Just didn't say a word.  I, however, learned my lesson.  If you don't pick one and you ask which of two are best, you're getting two.  You have been warned.

Truth be told, though, I was glad I got both.  While the lobster in the pasta was good, the pasta itself was only average.  The steak was excellent.  It all ended up working out.  And true to form, I rounded out my meal with an Apple Tartin.  For the second straight night, Miles and Sam wanted to go to Oceaneer Club and Lukas wanted to check Edge out again, so I dropped them off (the club is REALLY close to Triton's which was nice!) and then went back to finish dessert.

After the meal, which was very good (Two for Two, Disney!), Elisa was once again ready to go chill in the room.  The boys, however, wanted to be picked up promptly because tonight's show was the "Golden Mickeys".  It was setup to be like the Golden Globes or Academy Awards, but all the nominees were new and old Disney movies and characters.  We got our seats (Sam stayed for this one) and I was impressed at the levels Disney goes with their presentation.  They had a live feed just outside the theatre where a woman was interviewing cruise families as though they were on the red carpet.  That's devotion to a theme.

The show ended up being fine.  Some of the collections of Disney movies were really good, and I liked how they went back and forth between them.  And the premise (the Stage Manager gets asked by Robert Iger...yep, in full recorded videos where they talk back and forth) was pretty cool.  I mean, kudos to Iger for playing a role in a Disney cruise production, but overall, it wasn't AS good as the ventriloquist from the night before.  It was still really enjoyable.

The biggest takeaway, however, came after.  As we walked through the gift shops (and Miles got his first two stuffed animals of the trip....cruise ship Chip and Dale), Sam decided what he really wanted - his own Golden Mickey.  Those things are huge and heavy.  Needless to say, I denied his request for the evening.  He settled for a Pluto and cruise ship stuffed animal while Lukas got a cool Mickey pirate shirt.

But after a long day of sun and surf, we were all pretty done.  We headed back to the room and settled in for the night.  After all, we had an all day excursion planned for the next day, and it was one that I was especially looking forward to.

Next time, join us for that bathtub like water, swimming with sea friends, a brave leap from Miles, and more.