It’s hard to believe we were getting off the ship in Galveston eight days ago. Nate was so sad he would not smile for any pictures. By the way, the land quit rocking for Vicki by Monday.
I'm making it sound like we stayed on the ship the whole time. We didn't. Here's what we did at our two ports of call.
GRAND CAYMAN ISLAND. Early Tuesday morning we arrived at George Town and dropped anchor a bit off shore as there is no pier there to accommodate a cruise ship. By 7:30 we were in line to take one of the tenders ashore.
George Town was my favorite of our two stops. The whole town seems to enjoy an easy pace of life. Once ashore we walked and shopped a bit before we had to check in for the port adventure we had booked. Vicki had found a tour with Captain Marvin's Watersports (http://www.captainmarvins.com) to swim with stingrays and go snorkeling. On checking in we took a bus to their private pier and then a boat out to the reef on the north side of the island.
Vicki was the only one of us to have ever snorkeled before. Only Jenna and Ben snorkeled at our first stop. The rest of us had a hard time and gave up because the water was so choppy.
After a little time snorkeling we moved over to the sandbar where the stingrays congregate to be fed. The water was shallow enough there for us to walk around. Vicki and I thought it was fascinating to swim with the rays. Jenna and Nate went back to the boat pretty quickly and Ben followed them after a while.
The female rays are four to five feet in diameter, a little larger than I expected. This is probably what made the kids get out of the water. I didn't think it was any worse that getting bumped around by a bunch of hungry calves. They feel like wet, rubber mats. They say kissing a stingray brings seven years good luck so Vicki and I are set until January 2020.
When we left Stingray City we headed over to another spot to go snorkeling. The water was a bit calmer here and I was able to get the hang of breathing through the tube. I saw some amazing sea life as I was floating above the coral reef. We bought a waterproof camera ahead of time but it sprang a leak and we didn't get any underwater pictures.
When our tour was over we returned to George Town where we got an unexpected opportunity to call home for free (a perk of the tour with Captain Marvin) so we called Mom and found out about all the bad weather going on back home. She was thrilled to hear from us as we had told her when we left that there would be no way for us to call each other.
We wound up our time there with a trip to Dairy Queen and a little shopping along Harbor Drive before taking the tender back to the ship.
COZUMEL. We departed Grand Cayman shortly after the last tender ran and arrived at Cozumel early the next morning. This time the Magic was able to dock at the Punta Langosta Pier at San Miguel so we could walk right off the ship.
As we walked ashore and entered the shopping area at the end of the pier we came upon several statues. I had suspected the statue was a real person and my suspicions were confirmed when the statue jumped at Nate and said, "Boo!" That was worth the price of admission right there.
We hadn't booked any port adventures for this stop. Vicki and I discussed finding a place to swim with dolphins, but given the kids' experience with the stingrays the day before we opted to just try to find a beach instead.
We wound up going to Mr. Sancho's Beach Club and Restaurant (http://www.mrsanchos.com) which was a 10-15 minute taxi drive from Punta Langosta. This turned out to be a really nice place to enjoy the beach. You can buy the beach package which includes food and access to various amenities at the club, but basic beach access is free and suited us just fine.
There are several souvenir vendors at the beach club and we bought some things there. Nate wound up breaking something right after I had told him to be careful. This could have been an expensive lesson for the boy if the vendor hadn't been kind enough to reduce the price a bit. They also glued the item back together for Nate.
We had less time off the ship at Cozumel so by the time we got back to San Miguel we had to rush through the rest of our shopping or be left behind.
OTHER ADVENTURES ASHORE. There were so many options for things to do while at port, and you’re there for such a short time you only get a small taste of the place you are visiting. Our dining companions went to a sea turtle farm on Grand Cayman and swimming with a dolphin on Cozumel. Their youngest daughter, Addison, was really cute as she told about their experiences when we gathered around the table each evening.
PIN TRADING. One last shipboard experience. You may recall that we went to Disney World during our fall break back in 2008. The kids were introduced to Disney Pins and pin trading on that trip. We told the kids to pack their pins for the cruise because there would be a designated time where they could trade pins with the ship's officers. They loved it and came away with some really cool pins.
We also met one of the gift shop employees, Mary who is from Jamaica. She was so kind to us and helped our kids out quite a bit in their pin trading. I had met her early in the cruise and struck up a conversation which continued for several days. The next time we walked past the gift shop I made it a point to stop and introduce Vicki and the kids.
Mary may well be one of the best goodwill ambassadors aboard the Magic. She engages people with a sense of connection that goes deeper than just politely interacting with customers. The last night of our cruise we made sure to go back and say good-bye to Mary and she teared up when we parted. I noticed several other passengers were doing the same thing. She and our two servers will be crew members from our cruise I will never forget.
CONCLUDING REMARKS. There's plenty more I could tell about our trip, but I have probably pushed the limit on length as it is so it's time to wind this tale up.
When we visited Disney World back in ’08 we told the kids our goal was to return in five years, which would be this fall. We talked about this on the road home and told the kids we would probably put our trip to the parks off a year due to the cruise. All three kids said, "Forget the parks. We want to cruise again!" We were blown away, but the more I think about it I’m not really surprised. I think this comes from the fact that it’s easier to relax on the ship. There's still more to do than you can squeeze in, but we don't go away feeling terribly rushed to get everything done that we felt was important. That’s not always the case in a theme park. The ship was also comfortably crowded because you can only have so many people aboard. Even on the last day when it was cold and most people stayed inside the ship didn't feel overcrowded. You can't say that when you’re at Disney World.
In the end, this was a vacation we will all cherish. We hope to get another trip to Disney World and another cruise in before Jenna graduates so we'll see what happens. Until then it’s life as normal, but that’s not so bad. As a matter of fact, we have a whole lot to be thankful for even if it’s all part of the daily routine.
Oh, I posed a short video about “Our Magical Cruise” on Vimeo and embedded it below. Enjoy!
Joe
Our Magical Cruise from Joe & Vicki Swann on Vimeo.
A two minute short showing our adventures aboard the Disney Magic and on Grand Cayman and Cozumel.
Sunday, January 27, 2013
Friday, January 25, 2013
Our Cruise Aboard the Disney Magic, Part 3
Last week: fun in the sun. Today: freezing rain, a quarter inch of ice on all the trees (beautiful), and no school.
As promised, this edition will be all about our entertainment and dining experiences. Every evening we received a Personal Navigator — four page, full color newsletter detailing the schedule of activities available the next day as well as other important information. I'm just going to focus on the stage shows and meals here, though I should mention a couple of other things we did. We all went to see hypnotist Ricky Kalmon. I saw the Disney Innovations presentation (on ideas Disney developed which changed the theme park industry). We also took in magician Freddy Fusion.
NOW SHOWING IN THE WALT DISNEY THEATRE. The Disney Magic Performers put on two shows each evening and they were phenomenal. We always went to the early show because we were assigned the late seating for dinner.
We missed the first night's show due to the delay in boarding. We could have made it, but had no idea the show was starting when we were arriving in the ship’s lobby.
The Sunday night's show was Twice Charmed: An Original Twist on the Cinderella Story. In this story Lady Tremaine and her two daughters are given the chance to go back in time and attempt to foil Cinderella's good fortune.
Monday's feature was Villains Tonight! which presented many of the Disney villains in an attempt to determine who is the most evil. I think the duel between Queen Grimhilde (from Snow White) and Maleficent (from Sleeping Beauty) is still going on.
The stage show moved topside Tuesday night with the Pirates IN the Caribbean Deck Party. Guests were invited to come to dinner as pirates if they wished and then gather on decks 9 and 10 for the party at 9:45. Captain Hook (from Peter Pan) repelled in from the forward funnel and tried to take over but his attempts were foiled by Mickey Mouse who flew in by zip line from the aft funnel and upstaged Hook with a fireworks display. (Disney ships are the only ones that feature a fireworks show at sea.)
Wednesday night's show, Disney Dreams: An Enchanted Classic, was the best show in our opinion, and we understand that it has won awards for being the best show on any cruise ship in the world. It is also exclusive to the Disney Magic. It tells the story of a little girl who is growing up and in danger of losing the power of her dreams until she is visited by Peter Pan and characters from several other classic Disney tales.
The last night's show, Remember the Magic! A Final Farewell, recapped some elements from the previous shows and featured bits from two guest acts. The first was ventriloquist Kevin Johnson. He was followed by magician Freddy Fusion (whom we had seen in an earlier show). Freddy happened to pick a cute little girl (I'm guessing she was four) to come up on stage. Well, she sort of picked him. She almost stole the show but he was able to choose a second helper from the audience while still letting the girl be on stage. To his credit it really turned out well and everyone was in stitches.
At the risk of being redundant, the entertainment was top quality.
FOOD, FOOD, AND MORE FOOD. If you go hungry on a cruise ship you have no one to blame but yourself. There is food in abundance. We were told the galley staff prepares 10,000 meals a day. For the most part all food and drink was included in your fare, so it was really odd getting your food and not paying for it (and a reality check to have to pay for it when we got back on land). The exceptions to this that I know of were specialty drinks (alcoholic and non-alcoholic) and the adults only Palo restaurant.
We ate several of our breakfasts at the Topsider Buffet on deck 9 overlooking the stern, though breakfast was also offered at the restaurants on decks 3 and 4.
You could also go up to deck 9 most any time of the day and visit Pinocchio's Pizzeria, Pluto's Dog House (hamburgers, hot dogs, etc.), and Goofy's Galley (sandwiches and such). We did this for lunch most days, though the restaurants also had buffets if you wanted to do that.
THE EVENING MEAL. Dinner is the big meal. Each night offered a completely different menu with several choices for a four course meal. I started out trying to record what we ate, but simply lost track. Suffice it to say our picky eaters ate chicken every night while the rest of us tried things we don't normally get, like lamb, veal, etc. I never had stomach issues due to seasickness, but I did due to eating way, way too much.
As I mentioned above, Palo is an optional restaurant. We never made reservations for this. Instead, we participated in the normal, family dining rotation. Disney does something unique here in that you get to experience each of the three main restaurants at least once on your cruise. Your servers and dining companions rotate along with you.
We ate in Lumiere's the first and fourth nights. This restaurant has a French theme with inspiration from Beauty and the Beast.
This was followed by a meal in Animator's Palate the following evening. The theme here is based on the Disney cartoon artwork. The whole place is in black and white when you begin your meal and color is gradually added while you eat. Toward the end of your meal Mickey comes in to complete the color transformation. This show is only done once for your rotation. Should you be on a longer cruise like we were do not skip out on your first night in Animator's Palate. The whole place stays black and white the next time you dine there.
The last restaurant in our rotation was Parrot Cay (“cay” is pronounced "key"). This is simply a tropically themed restaurant. We ate here the most because our rotation sent us there for the character breakfast with Mickey and company and for breakfast on our last morning aboard. This was the morning our servers folded really cool origami hats for us out of the cloth napkins.
CRUISE CASUAL. There is a dress code of "cruise casual" for the evening meals. Disney tells you what not to wear here, but not much about what to wear. We took jeans and collared shirts and were fine every evening, however, one night was officially formal night and another semi-formal night which I would have appreciated knowing, though this was optional. Of course, you were welcome to wear you finest swashbuckling attire for the Pirates IN the Caribbean night.
THE PEOPLE. As I mentioned above, our servers and dining companions followed us through the dining rotation so we shared six dinners and two breakfasts together. These seven people helped make the cruise extra special for us.
I'll start with our dining companions. We lucked out here! Scott and Sarah live in the greater Houston area and have three beautiful daughters: Kaylee (14), Morgan (9), and Addison (6). We had more fun eating with them and looked forward to hearing about their adventures each day. We could relate to them very well as they seem to hold values and beliefs close to ours. We learned in conversation that they are Christians who are very involved in their church like we are.
The other two people who were part of our dining experience were our sever, Pairoj (pronounced "Pyro"), who is from Thailand, and our assistant server, Maria, who is from Serbia. We found out that Pairoj and Maria had only worked together as a team for two weeks, but they sure work well together. They also balance each other out nicely.
Pairoj is a cutup. He likes to come up behind you, tap on one shoulder, and speak in the opposite ear. Pairoj started messing with Ben from the very first night. After he brought Ben’s main course he came back, grabbed Ben’s knife and fork, and proceeded to cut up the chicken, even popping a piece into Ben’s mouth. Ben was a little shocked and embarrassed at first, but we could tell the attention pleased him. The next night Ben sort of waited for Pairoj to cut up his chicken again.
Ben is a lot like me in that he doesn’t like to reveal his thoughts and feelings too much. This goes no matter what’s going on inside, but sometimes he gets to a point where he can’t contain it any longer and his inner feelings spill out all across his face. We enjoyed watching Pairoj’s antics breech that barrier with Ben and make a smile break out almost every night.
Toward the end of the cruise Pairoj would do a few magic tricks which totally impressed Nate. For one trick Pairoj made a crayon disappear. When Nate tried to repeat the trick he wound up chunking the crayon over his shoulder and beyond the table behind him. Then Nate showed Pairoj how to fold a paper biplane out of his menu (which looks better than it flies) and had Pairoj trying to fly it across Animator's Palate. As you can tell, Pairoj was a lot of fun.
Maria was a good balance to Pairoj, though that's probably her role as assistant server. Her sweet, gentle spirit made the table a warm and inviting place to be for us each time we dined and that was as priceless as Pairoj's antics.
Pairoj and Maria spoiled us. On Sunday someone asked, "Hey, what's for lunch?" Vicki's answer, "Whatever you fix for yourself," was yet another reality check.
Joe
As promised, this edition will be all about our entertainment and dining experiences. Every evening we received a Personal Navigator — four page, full color newsletter detailing the schedule of activities available the next day as well as other important information. I'm just going to focus on the stage shows and meals here, though I should mention a couple of other things we did. We all went to see hypnotist Ricky Kalmon. I saw the Disney Innovations presentation (on ideas Disney developed which changed the theme park industry). We also took in magician Freddy Fusion.
NOW SHOWING IN THE WALT DISNEY THEATRE. The Disney Magic Performers put on two shows each evening and they were phenomenal. We always went to the early show because we were assigned the late seating for dinner.
We missed the first night's show due to the delay in boarding. We could have made it, but had no idea the show was starting when we were arriving in the ship’s lobby.
The Sunday night's show was Twice Charmed: An Original Twist on the Cinderella Story. In this story Lady Tremaine and her two daughters are given the chance to go back in time and attempt to foil Cinderella's good fortune.
Monday's feature was Villains Tonight! which presented many of the Disney villains in an attempt to determine who is the most evil. I think the duel between Queen Grimhilde (from Snow White) and Maleficent (from Sleeping Beauty) is still going on.
The stage show moved topside Tuesday night with the Pirates IN the Caribbean Deck Party. Guests were invited to come to dinner as pirates if they wished and then gather on decks 9 and 10 for the party at 9:45. Captain Hook (from Peter Pan) repelled in from the forward funnel and tried to take over but his attempts were foiled by Mickey Mouse who flew in by zip line from the aft funnel and upstaged Hook with a fireworks display. (Disney ships are the only ones that feature a fireworks show at sea.)
Wednesday night's show, Disney Dreams: An Enchanted Classic, was the best show in our opinion, and we understand that it has won awards for being the best show on any cruise ship in the world. It is also exclusive to the Disney Magic. It tells the story of a little girl who is growing up and in danger of losing the power of her dreams until she is visited by Peter Pan and characters from several other classic Disney tales.
The last night's show, Remember the Magic! A Final Farewell, recapped some elements from the previous shows and featured bits from two guest acts. The first was ventriloquist Kevin Johnson. He was followed by magician Freddy Fusion (whom we had seen in an earlier show). Freddy happened to pick a cute little girl (I'm guessing she was four) to come up on stage. Well, she sort of picked him. She almost stole the show but he was able to choose a second helper from the audience while still letting the girl be on stage. To his credit it really turned out well and everyone was in stitches.
At the risk of being redundant, the entertainment was top quality.
FOOD, FOOD, AND MORE FOOD. If you go hungry on a cruise ship you have no one to blame but yourself. There is food in abundance. We were told the galley staff prepares 10,000 meals a day. For the most part all food and drink was included in your fare, so it was really odd getting your food and not paying for it (and a reality check to have to pay for it when we got back on land). The exceptions to this that I know of were specialty drinks (alcoholic and non-alcoholic) and the adults only Palo restaurant.
We ate several of our breakfasts at the Topsider Buffet on deck 9 overlooking the stern, though breakfast was also offered at the restaurants on decks 3 and 4.
You could also go up to deck 9 most any time of the day and visit Pinocchio's Pizzeria, Pluto's Dog House (hamburgers, hot dogs, etc.), and Goofy's Galley (sandwiches and such). We did this for lunch most days, though the restaurants also had buffets if you wanted to do that.
THE EVENING MEAL. Dinner is the big meal. Each night offered a completely different menu with several choices for a four course meal. I started out trying to record what we ate, but simply lost track. Suffice it to say our picky eaters ate chicken every night while the rest of us tried things we don't normally get, like lamb, veal, etc. I never had stomach issues due to seasickness, but I did due to eating way, way too much.
As I mentioned above, Palo is an optional restaurant. We never made reservations for this. Instead, we participated in the normal, family dining rotation. Disney does something unique here in that you get to experience each of the three main restaurants at least once on your cruise. Your servers and dining companions rotate along with you.
We ate in Lumiere's the first and fourth nights. This restaurant has a French theme with inspiration from Beauty and the Beast.
This was followed by a meal in Animator's Palate the following evening. The theme here is based on the Disney cartoon artwork. The whole place is in black and white when you begin your meal and color is gradually added while you eat. Toward the end of your meal Mickey comes in to complete the color transformation. This show is only done once for your rotation. Should you be on a longer cruise like we were do not skip out on your first night in Animator's Palate. The whole place stays black and white the next time you dine there.
The last restaurant in our rotation was Parrot Cay (“cay” is pronounced "key"). This is simply a tropically themed restaurant. We ate here the most because our rotation sent us there for the character breakfast with Mickey and company and for breakfast on our last morning aboard. This was the morning our servers folded really cool origami hats for us out of the cloth napkins.
CRUISE CASUAL. There is a dress code of "cruise casual" for the evening meals. Disney tells you what not to wear here, but not much about what to wear. We took jeans and collared shirts and were fine every evening, however, one night was officially formal night and another semi-formal night which I would have appreciated knowing, though this was optional. Of course, you were welcome to wear you finest swashbuckling attire for the Pirates IN the Caribbean night.
THE PEOPLE. As I mentioned above, our servers and dining companions followed us through the dining rotation so we shared six dinners and two breakfasts together. These seven people helped make the cruise extra special for us.
I'll start with our dining companions. We lucked out here! Scott and Sarah live in the greater Houston area and have three beautiful daughters: Kaylee (14), Morgan (9), and Addison (6). We had more fun eating with them and looked forward to hearing about their adventures each day. We could relate to them very well as they seem to hold values and beliefs close to ours. We learned in conversation that they are Christians who are very involved in their church like we are.
The other two people who were part of our dining experience were our sever, Pairoj (pronounced "Pyro"), who is from Thailand, and our assistant server, Maria, who is from Serbia. We found out that Pairoj and Maria had only worked together as a team for two weeks, but they sure work well together. They also balance each other out nicely.
Pairoj is a cutup. He likes to come up behind you, tap on one shoulder, and speak in the opposite ear. Pairoj started messing with Ben from the very first night. After he brought Ben’s main course he came back, grabbed Ben’s knife and fork, and proceeded to cut up the chicken, even popping a piece into Ben’s mouth. Ben was a little shocked and embarrassed at first, but we could tell the attention pleased him. The next night Ben sort of waited for Pairoj to cut up his chicken again.
Ben is a lot like me in that he doesn’t like to reveal his thoughts and feelings too much. This goes no matter what’s going on inside, but sometimes he gets to a point where he can’t contain it any longer and his inner feelings spill out all across his face. We enjoyed watching Pairoj’s antics breech that barrier with Ben and make a smile break out almost every night.
Toward the end of the cruise Pairoj would do a few magic tricks which totally impressed Nate. For one trick Pairoj made a crayon disappear. When Nate tried to repeat the trick he wound up chunking the crayon over his shoulder and beyond the table behind him. Then Nate showed Pairoj how to fold a paper biplane out of his menu (which looks better than it flies) and had Pairoj trying to fly it across Animator's Palate. As you can tell, Pairoj was a lot of fun.
Maria was a good balance to Pairoj, though that's probably her role as assistant server. Her sweet, gentle spirit made the table a warm and inviting place to be for us each time we dined and that was as priceless as Pairoj's antics.
Pairoj and Maria spoiled us. On Sunday someone asked, "Hey, what's for lunch?" Vicki's answer, "Whatever you fix for yourself," was yet another reality check.
Joe
Monday, January 21, 2013
Our Cruise Aboard the Disney Magic, Part 2
Reality check: today’s high was 36°F.
We’ve finally gotten our pile of dirty clothes small enough to fit into the hamper. Solid ground is still rocking for Vicki but not as badly as yesterday.
I think it’s time to focus on the incredible ship on which we sailed.
A BIG SHIP. The Disney Magic is the oldest of the four ships in the Disney Cruise Line fleet, making her maiden voyage in July 1998. She is 964 feet long, has a beam of 106 feet, and a gross tonnage of 83,300. To put the size another way, deck 4 features a promenade which encircles the ship. This is where you report to board the lifeboats should there be a need to evacuate, but normally it serves as the walking/jogging track. Three times around is a mile. She’s a big boat.
Oh, the ship’s horn plays the first seven notes of When You Wish Upon a Star. Really cool!
A FLOATING HOTEL. The Magic has 875 staterooms and a capacity of about 2400 passengers. She has 10 decks (well, 11 if you count the Vibe Teen’s Club in the top of the forward funnel). Decks 2, 6, 7, and 8 are almost completely devoted to staterooms with more scattered about on decks 1 and 5. The rest of the public space is devoted to dining, entertainment, and three swimming pools.
We explored most of the public areas of the ship, but we didn’t quite get to everything, and of course, there’s all the crew areas the public doesn’t have access to. The only part of this we would see was the crew’s pool which is in the bow around deck 6. We were told there are three more decks below the waterline where the engine room and crew’s quarters are located.
A DIVERSE CREW. Speaking of the crew, there’s about 950 serving on board. They come from all over the world and their name tags list their country of origin. As a matter of fact, Jenna was the only one of us to run into a member of the crew from the U.S.
It was fascinating to stop and talk to some of them about their home country. The only trouble I had with this was in trying to adapt to all the accents. I am assuming fluency in English is a requirement, but you’d have to be really good to drop the accent of your mother tongue. I can usually adopt to one person’s accent pretty quickly, but to hear so many in one place, and in a noisy environment at times, was a challenge.
OUR STATEROOM. We were assigned stateroom #8568 which was on the starboard side, aft. My only complaint here was that it was just below the topside area where Mickey’s children’s pool was located. I stole away for a nap on a couple of occasions and could hear kids running and chairs scraping the deck above.
As I understand it, Disney ships have larger staterooms than normal. I can only compare it to living in an RV without the kitchen or dining area. We had a half bath (sink and toilet) and a bathroom (a shower and sink, but no toilet) which is a feature unique to Disney ships. Our stateroom also had a verandah which was a pleasant place to watch the world slide by. Since we were on deck 8 it was a long way down to the water.
Vicki and I shared a queen size bed and there were three twin beds for the kids. The kids’ beds folded up to be out of the way during the day. The couch flipped open to make one bed, a second was stowed in the ceiling above the couch, and the third was on the other end of the couch from our bed and folded up into the wall.
Our stateroom was serviced twice a day. Out host came during the morning to stow away the beds and then while were at dinner to get them back out. This is one of many examples where Disney’s attention to detail and serving their guests, to the point of pampering and extravagance, shines through. We tried not to be slobs (clarification: Vicki, Jenna, and I tried not to be slobs), but even at that our host would straighten all our personal items each time he was there. It felt odd the first night but we quickly got used to it.
I read somewhere that the Magic is capable of desalinating 1200 tons of seawater a day. I know we were never lacking for clean towels, either in the room, at the pool, or to take with us ashore. We also suspect we slept on clean sheets each night. Then consider all the napkins and tablecloths that were washed daily, the demand for fresh water has to be huge.
Speaking of towels, every night there was a towel origami animal waiting for us in our room along with a Sleepy the Dwarf chocolate for each of us (this was a chocolate doubloon on the night of the Pirates IN the Caribbean party). We were hoping to get a towel swan one night but alas, we got an elephant, a dinosaur, a rabbit, a cobra, and a chimp.
OTHER SHIP AMENITIES. I explored practically every part of the ship, but looking at the map I know I missed a few nooks and crannies. If you are curious about the layout and things to do you should look up the Disney Magic on the Disney Cruise Line website. They have pictures and an interactive ship map there.
The Magic has four restaurants as well as several walk-up food service areas. It also has two theaters: the Walt Disney Theatre for stage show performances and the Buena Vista Theater where we saw the following movies: The Avengers, Lincoln, Wreck It Ralph, and Monsters, Inc. (I’ll address our dining and entertainment experiences in the next edition.) There are also a number of lounges and such around the ship, some family oriented, some adult oriented, and some that became adult oriented in the evenings.
Disney is really good about providing entertainment opportunities for all ages. There were several age appropriate areas (such as the teen club I mentioned above) where kids can go. These areas also exist for younger children, though kids of this age have to be checked in and out by their parents.
I mentioned that there are three pools aboard. These are located on deck 9. The forward pool is for adults only. The second pool is open to all ages and is midship between the two funnels. The Funnel Vision, a 24x14 foot screen on the back of the forward funnel, is visible here and you can watch movies, cartoons, and such from the pool or poolside deck. The children’s pool is behind the aft funnel.
If you climb up to deck 10 you’ll find a small basketball court, foosball tables, and ping pong. You can play ping pong all by yourself in a strong wind.
I’ve written a lot about the Magic and only scratched the surface. There’s two gift shops, an art gallery, a health and fitness spa, a video arcade…I could go on. I even found where guests who have service animals take them to use the bathroom (the aft observation deck on deck 7).
You really have to be a stick in the mud to get bored while on board. I did take a book along expecting to find some time to do a little pleasure reading. I never had time to open my book.
There’s still more to come, but it will be later in the week before I have opportunity to write again.
Joe
We’ve finally gotten our pile of dirty clothes small enough to fit into the hamper. Solid ground is still rocking for Vicki but not as badly as yesterday.
I think it’s time to focus on the incredible ship on which we sailed.
A BIG SHIP. The Disney Magic is the oldest of the four ships in the Disney Cruise Line fleet, making her maiden voyage in July 1998. She is 964 feet long, has a beam of 106 feet, and a gross tonnage of 83,300. To put the size another way, deck 4 features a promenade which encircles the ship. This is where you report to board the lifeboats should there be a need to evacuate, but normally it serves as the walking/jogging track. Three times around is a mile. She’s a big boat.
Oh, the ship’s horn plays the first seven notes of When You Wish Upon a Star. Really cool!
A FLOATING HOTEL. The Magic has 875 staterooms and a capacity of about 2400 passengers. She has 10 decks (well, 11 if you count the Vibe Teen’s Club in the top of the forward funnel). Decks 2, 6, 7, and 8 are almost completely devoted to staterooms with more scattered about on decks 1 and 5. The rest of the public space is devoted to dining, entertainment, and three swimming pools.
We explored most of the public areas of the ship, but we didn’t quite get to everything, and of course, there’s all the crew areas the public doesn’t have access to. The only part of this we would see was the crew’s pool which is in the bow around deck 6. We were told there are three more decks below the waterline where the engine room and crew’s quarters are located.
A DIVERSE CREW. Speaking of the crew, there’s about 950 serving on board. They come from all over the world and their name tags list their country of origin. As a matter of fact, Jenna was the only one of us to run into a member of the crew from the U.S.
It was fascinating to stop and talk to some of them about their home country. The only trouble I had with this was in trying to adapt to all the accents. I am assuming fluency in English is a requirement, but you’d have to be really good to drop the accent of your mother tongue. I can usually adopt to one person’s accent pretty quickly, but to hear so many in one place, and in a noisy environment at times, was a challenge.
OUR STATEROOM. We were assigned stateroom #8568 which was on the starboard side, aft. My only complaint here was that it was just below the topside area where Mickey’s children’s pool was located. I stole away for a nap on a couple of occasions and could hear kids running and chairs scraping the deck above.
As I understand it, Disney ships have larger staterooms than normal. I can only compare it to living in an RV without the kitchen or dining area. We had a half bath (sink and toilet) and a bathroom (a shower and sink, but no toilet) which is a feature unique to Disney ships. Our stateroom also had a verandah which was a pleasant place to watch the world slide by. Since we were on deck 8 it was a long way down to the water.
Vicki and I shared a queen size bed and there were three twin beds for the kids. The kids’ beds folded up to be out of the way during the day. The couch flipped open to make one bed, a second was stowed in the ceiling above the couch, and the third was on the other end of the couch from our bed and folded up into the wall.
Our stateroom was serviced twice a day. Out host came during the morning to stow away the beds and then while were at dinner to get them back out. This is one of many examples where Disney’s attention to detail and serving their guests, to the point of pampering and extravagance, shines through. We tried not to be slobs (clarification: Vicki, Jenna, and I tried not to be slobs), but even at that our host would straighten all our personal items each time he was there. It felt odd the first night but we quickly got used to it.
I read somewhere that the Magic is capable of desalinating 1200 tons of seawater a day. I know we were never lacking for clean towels, either in the room, at the pool, or to take with us ashore. We also suspect we slept on clean sheets each night. Then consider all the napkins and tablecloths that were washed daily, the demand for fresh water has to be huge.
Speaking of towels, every night there was a towel origami animal waiting for us in our room along with a Sleepy the Dwarf chocolate for each of us (this was a chocolate doubloon on the night of the Pirates IN the Caribbean party). We were hoping to get a towel swan one night but alas, we got an elephant, a dinosaur, a rabbit, a cobra, and a chimp.
OTHER SHIP AMENITIES. I explored practically every part of the ship, but looking at the map I know I missed a few nooks and crannies. If you are curious about the layout and things to do you should look up the Disney Magic on the Disney Cruise Line website. They have pictures and an interactive ship map there.
The Magic has four restaurants as well as several walk-up food service areas. It also has two theaters: the Walt Disney Theatre for stage show performances and the Buena Vista Theater where we saw the following movies: The Avengers, Lincoln, Wreck It Ralph, and Monsters, Inc. (I’ll address our dining and entertainment experiences in the next edition.) There are also a number of lounges and such around the ship, some family oriented, some adult oriented, and some that became adult oriented in the evenings.
Disney is really good about providing entertainment opportunities for all ages. There were several age appropriate areas (such as the teen club I mentioned above) where kids can go. These areas also exist for younger children, though kids of this age have to be checked in and out by their parents.
I mentioned that there are three pools aboard. These are located on deck 9. The forward pool is for adults only. The second pool is open to all ages and is midship between the two funnels. The Funnel Vision, a 24x14 foot screen on the back of the forward funnel, is visible here and you can watch movies, cartoons, and such from the pool or poolside deck. The children’s pool is behind the aft funnel.
If you climb up to deck 10 you’ll find a small basketball court, foosball tables, and ping pong. You can play ping pong all by yourself in a strong wind.
I’ve written a lot about the Magic and only scratched the surface. There’s two gift shops, an art gallery, a health and fitness spa, a video arcade…I could go on. I even found where guests who have service animals take them to use the bathroom (the aft observation deck on deck 7).
You really have to be a stick in the mud to get bored while on board. I did take a book along expecting to find some time to do a little pleasure reading. I never had time to open my book.
There’s still more to come, but it will be later in the week before I have opportunity to write again.
Joe
Sunday, January 20, 2013
Our Cruise Aboard the Disney Magic, Part 1
We have seen a lot of things and covered a lot of miles. To that end I thought I’d start off with our travel itinerary.
Please indulge me if I ramble a bit. I will be writing with all the wide-eyed wonder of someone who has never been on a cruise before. And besides, this is something our family will come back to and read years from now.
PACKING. We couldn’t get away with any early packing since our travel plans were a secret from the kids. Well, Vicki might have been able to have done some of it, but she put in a lot of time at church to have things in place while we were away. As it turned out, we went out to eat with Mom after telling the kids the news and then came home and tore into packing.
The whole process went smoothly, though not without an incident or two. For example, just before we left I noticed the bird feeder was almost empty. Having taken the lessons from Mary Poppins to heart I decided to refill the bird feeder only to spill about ten pounds of bird seed all over the kitchen floor. We were only an hour later than we meant to be when we got on the road.
I will say here that I decided not to pack any electronic entertainment so the laptop, iPad, and iPod all stayed home. And when we got to port the cell phone was turned off and left in the van. One of the best decisions I’ve ever made.
ROAD TRIP. We decided to drive to Galveston so the road trip is a part of the adventure. All of the first Friday (the 11th) was devoted to driving and we covered some 750 miles through West Tennessee, Arkansas, and down the eastern edge of Texas before stopping in Livingston for the night.
The kids all traveled very well. The ban on electronic entertainment was only for me. They kept themselves busy between their own tablets, watching I Love Lucy and Gilligan’s Island on the van’s DVD player, and doing homework.
The next morning we had plenty of time to cover the remaining 150 miles to Galveston and do some last minute shopping for necessities.
ARRIVAL AT PORT. We were due to check in at the port by 2:30 that afternoon. We knew it was foggy when we first got to Galveston, but we had no clue the fog had closed the port and kept all ships at sea, delaying the arrival of the Magic. (Disney Cruise Lines had left us messages about this, but they were calling our home phone.) Since the ships weren’t in we were told to go kill a few hours time in Galveston. We found a neat bookstore and then ate a late lunch at Star Drug Store. We were finally able to check our luggage a little after 3:00, but then had to wait an hour and a half to park. It was after 7:00 by the time we were processed and stepped aboard.
All this is to say that this delay was the only thing that went wrong over the whole trip. We wound up missing a lot of the boarding celebration and didn’t know about a show we could have gone to, but we still had time to explore the ship a bit and find our stateroom before supper. We were too excited about our first cruise ever to let a little foggy weather get us down, though we did feel sorry for all the people getting off the ship who had missed flights home and for the crew who had to serve and unplanned meal and deal with a smaller window of time to be ready to sail again.
CRUISE ITINERARY. To speed things up a bit, the ship actually didn’t leave Galveston until 4:30 the next morning (the 12th), and I wouldn’t have known that if I hadn’t been awake and noticed the street lights moving outside.
We were at sea for two days (Sunday and Monday) covering the 1100 or so miles around the western end of Cuba to our first port of call, George Town on Grand Cayman Island. The next day (Tuesday) we had about eight hours to go ashore and see the island before the ship weighed anchor and sailed the next 370 miles to Cozumel overnight. We enjoyed Cozumel on Wednesday, but had a little less time to be ashore before the Magic had to leave and head for home.
Thursday was our last full day at sea. We covered the last 790 miles and arrived as scheduled on Friday morning. There were a lot of sad, dejected children -- young and old -- walking off the ship. We were back in the van and on the road by 10:00.
DRIVING HOME. We decided to take a different route on the way home so we took the ferry over to the Bolivar Peninsula and headed up the coast a bit before turning inland to catch the interstate near Beaumont. We drove across Louisiana and into Mississippi and spent the night in Laurel. That leg of the journey was about 460 miles. Yesterday we drove through the northern half of Alabama and straight up Middle Tennessee to cover the last 430 miles home. Nate got sadder and sadder every mile of the way. We had the van unloaded by 5:00.
Since getting home the kids have dug out a couple of Disney movies to watch.
WEATHER. Overall we had great weather when driving. It was only overcast and foggy for the short hop from Livingston to Galveston. That weather continued for our first day at sea. We could see ships and oil rigs in the distance, but visibility was low. The sun did try to break through, but it was short lived. It was also cool, but none of us felt the need for a jacket when on deck.
The weather changed for the better as we approached the northern end of the Yucatan Channel and entered the Caribbean Sea. It was sunny and warm by lunchtime of our second day, and we were enjoyed temps in the low 80s on Grand Cayman and Cozumel.
Even in the southern latitudes we still had lots of clouds. I only got a couple of chances to enjoy the stars without city lights around. It really reminded me of how things were here in Cross Plains before Nashville, Springfield, and White House got so bright.
Our last day at sea was the chilliest. I wore my jacket and the crew were offering blankets to those sitting on deck. By lunchtime the windchill was bad enough that they closed the pools and all the poolside food service counters.
The wind was something I didn’t expect. It only makes sense; I’d just never thought about it. If you’re on a ship moving 20 knots into a 15-20 knot headwind it’s going to be windy. I felt wind-whipped all the way to Grand Cayman whenever I was on deck.
Speaking of weather, while we were enjoying the sun and warm temps the folks back home were dealing with snow. We got an unexpected opportunity to call home for free on Tuesday while on Grand Cayman. Mom told us school had dismissed early the day before and was two hours late that morning. When we returned to port we learned that they wound up dismissing two hours early on Tuesday as well, and were closed all day Wednesday.
SEA LEGS AND SEASICKNESS. I thought the seas in the Gulf of Mexico were a little rough, but keep in mind my only shipboard experience before now was the summer I was a deckhand on the General Jackson which runs the Cumberland River. However, I chatted with one of the junior officers on deck and he said the sea that day had been rougher than they normally experience there. He estimated the waves to be five to six feet. (He told me they had experienced 10-15 foot waves once when crossing the Atlantic which even made some of the crew sick.) Naturally, it was hard to walk a straight line at times. All this smoothed out along with the weather when we sailed into the Caribbean.
Only Nate complained of a little seasickness in our family, but that was brief for him and he never wanted to go to the health clinic. I was surprised we fared that well. Our seasickness problems actually started when we got back to land. Both Vicki and Nate said they felt the ground was rocking all day. I felt a little of this yesterday morning while showering. Vicki is still feeling it after two full days of being ashore. I’m wondering if she’s dealing with a small sinus infection due to all the rapid climate change which is contributing to her inner ear troubles.
TRAVEL SUMMARY. Just to summarize the distance we’ve traveled, I’m estimating we sailed around 2260 miles, though a ship’s officer would express it as 1960 nautical miles. One of the onboard TV channels continuously displays a map plotting the ship’s current position along with heading, speed, and a few other details. Unless we were near a port we were usually doing 19-20 knots, or 22-23 mph. We also traveled through waters over 11,000 feet deep.
Nate and I looked at the map after our first day at sea and he asked if we would make it Grand Cayman on time to which I replied, “Well, they sure aren’t going to pull this thing over and stop for the night.”
Additionally, we put 1787 miles on the van getting to and from Galveston (of course, some of that included local driving to find a hotel or a place to eat). Both routes we took were about the same distance. That means we traveled about 4000 miles total!
Stay tuned. There’s more to come!
Joe
Please indulge me if I ramble a bit. I will be writing with all the wide-eyed wonder of someone who has never been on a cruise before. And besides, this is something our family will come back to and read years from now.
PACKING. We couldn’t get away with any early packing since our travel plans were a secret from the kids. Well, Vicki might have been able to have done some of it, but she put in a lot of time at church to have things in place while we were away. As it turned out, we went out to eat with Mom after telling the kids the news and then came home and tore into packing.
The whole process went smoothly, though not without an incident or two. For example, just before we left I noticed the bird feeder was almost empty. Having taken the lessons from Mary Poppins to heart I decided to refill the bird feeder only to spill about ten pounds of bird seed all over the kitchen floor. We were only an hour later than we meant to be when we got on the road.
I will say here that I decided not to pack any electronic entertainment so the laptop, iPad, and iPod all stayed home. And when we got to port the cell phone was turned off and left in the van. One of the best decisions I’ve ever made.
ROAD TRIP. We decided to drive to Galveston so the road trip is a part of the adventure. All of the first Friday (the 11th) was devoted to driving and we covered some 750 miles through West Tennessee, Arkansas, and down the eastern edge of Texas before stopping in Livingston for the night.
The kids all traveled very well. The ban on electronic entertainment was only for me. They kept themselves busy between their own tablets, watching I Love Lucy and Gilligan’s Island on the van’s DVD player, and doing homework.
The next morning we had plenty of time to cover the remaining 150 miles to Galveston and do some last minute shopping for necessities.
ARRIVAL AT PORT. We were due to check in at the port by 2:30 that afternoon. We knew it was foggy when we first got to Galveston, but we had no clue the fog had closed the port and kept all ships at sea, delaying the arrival of the Magic. (Disney Cruise Lines had left us messages about this, but they were calling our home phone.) Since the ships weren’t in we were told to go kill a few hours time in Galveston. We found a neat bookstore and then ate a late lunch at Star Drug Store. We were finally able to check our luggage a little after 3:00, but then had to wait an hour and a half to park. It was after 7:00 by the time we were processed and stepped aboard.
All this is to say that this delay was the only thing that went wrong over the whole trip. We wound up missing a lot of the boarding celebration and didn’t know about a show we could have gone to, but we still had time to explore the ship a bit and find our stateroom before supper. We were too excited about our first cruise ever to let a little foggy weather get us down, though we did feel sorry for all the people getting off the ship who had missed flights home and for the crew who had to serve and unplanned meal and deal with a smaller window of time to be ready to sail again.
CRUISE ITINERARY. To speed things up a bit, the ship actually didn’t leave Galveston until 4:30 the next morning (the 12th), and I wouldn’t have known that if I hadn’t been awake and noticed the street lights moving outside.
We were at sea for two days (Sunday and Monday) covering the 1100 or so miles around the western end of Cuba to our first port of call, George Town on Grand Cayman Island. The next day (Tuesday) we had about eight hours to go ashore and see the island before the ship weighed anchor and sailed the next 370 miles to Cozumel overnight. We enjoyed Cozumel on Wednesday, but had a little less time to be ashore before the Magic had to leave and head for home.
Thursday was our last full day at sea. We covered the last 790 miles and arrived as scheduled on Friday morning. There were a lot of sad, dejected children -- young and old -- walking off the ship. We were back in the van and on the road by 10:00.
DRIVING HOME. We decided to take a different route on the way home so we took the ferry over to the Bolivar Peninsula and headed up the coast a bit before turning inland to catch the interstate near Beaumont. We drove across Louisiana and into Mississippi and spent the night in Laurel. That leg of the journey was about 460 miles. Yesterday we drove through the northern half of Alabama and straight up Middle Tennessee to cover the last 430 miles home. Nate got sadder and sadder every mile of the way. We had the van unloaded by 5:00.
Since getting home the kids have dug out a couple of Disney movies to watch.
WEATHER. Overall we had great weather when driving. It was only overcast and foggy for the short hop from Livingston to Galveston. That weather continued for our first day at sea. We could see ships and oil rigs in the distance, but visibility was low. The sun did try to break through, but it was short lived. It was also cool, but none of us felt the need for a jacket when on deck.
The weather changed for the better as we approached the northern end of the Yucatan Channel and entered the Caribbean Sea. It was sunny and warm by lunchtime of our second day, and we were enjoyed temps in the low 80s on Grand Cayman and Cozumel.
Even in the southern latitudes we still had lots of clouds. I only got a couple of chances to enjoy the stars without city lights around. It really reminded me of how things were here in Cross Plains before Nashville, Springfield, and White House got so bright.
Our last day at sea was the chilliest. I wore my jacket and the crew were offering blankets to those sitting on deck. By lunchtime the windchill was bad enough that they closed the pools and all the poolside food service counters.
The wind was something I didn’t expect. It only makes sense; I’d just never thought about it. If you’re on a ship moving 20 knots into a 15-20 knot headwind it’s going to be windy. I felt wind-whipped all the way to Grand Cayman whenever I was on deck.
Speaking of weather, while we were enjoying the sun and warm temps the folks back home were dealing with snow. We got an unexpected opportunity to call home for free on Tuesday while on Grand Cayman. Mom told us school had dismissed early the day before and was two hours late that morning. When we returned to port we learned that they wound up dismissing two hours early on Tuesday as well, and were closed all day Wednesday.
SEA LEGS AND SEASICKNESS. I thought the seas in the Gulf of Mexico were a little rough, but keep in mind my only shipboard experience before now was the summer I was a deckhand on the General Jackson which runs the Cumberland River. However, I chatted with one of the junior officers on deck and he said the sea that day had been rougher than they normally experience there. He estimated the waves to be five to six feet. (He told me they had experienced 10-15 foot waves once when crossing the Atlantic which even made some of the crew sick.) Naturally, it was hard to walk a straight line at times. All this smoothed out along with the weather when we sailed into the Caribbean.
Only Nate complained of a little seasickness in our family, but that was brief for him and he never wanted to go to the health clinic. I was surprised we fared that well. Our seasickness problems actually started when we got back to land. Both Vicki and Nate said they felt the ground was rocking all day. I felt a little of this yesterday morning while showering. Vicki is still feeling it after two full days of being ashore. I’m wondering if she’s dealing with a small sinus infection due to all the rapid climate change which is contributing to her inner ear troubles.
TRAVEL SUMMARY. Just to summarize the distance we’ve traveled, I’m estimating we sailed around 2260 miles, though a ship’s officer would express it as 1960 nautical miles. One of the onboard TV channels continuously displays a map plotting the ship’s current position along with heading, speed, and a few other details. Unless we were near a port we were usually doing 19-20 knots, or 22-23 mph. We also traveled through waters over 11,000 feet deep.
Nate and I looked at the map after our first day at sea and he asked if we would make it Grand Cayman on time to which I replied, “Well, they sure aren’t going to pull this thing over and stop for the night.”
Additionally, we put 1787 miles on the van getting to and from Galveston (of course, some of that included local driving to find a hotel or a place to eat). Both routes we took were about the same distance. That means we traveled about 4000 miles total!
Stay tuned. There’s more to come!
Joe
Saturday, January 19, 2013
The Cat Is Now Out of the Bag
We have just gotten home from what was probably our best vacation ever! We are using adjectives like “phenomenal” and “splendid” and “fantastic” to describe it.
THE SECRET IS NOW OUT. Back on the 10th we surprised the kids with the news that they would not be going to school the next day, nor the next week, but that they would be going on a six night cruise aboard the Disney Magic instead. They were ecstatic! Nate even put on an impromptu dance show.
For the sake of those of you who do not know this, we had originally booked a Disney cruise for January 2010. It was actually our main present to the kids for Christmas ’09, and to make the deal sweeter, Will, Darice, and their kids had booked the cruise too. Unfortunately, Pauline’s cancer had progressed more than any of us knew. Those of you who have been keeping up with us for a long time will recall that her health took a turn for the worse shortly after the new year and we quickly saw that we needed to cancel our trip so Vicki could take care of her mom. Pauline passed away on the day we were supposed to set sail. Ever since we had been keeping an eye out for more “kids sail free” deals from Disney but none came up at a port within reasonable driving distance for us. And then, as Aunt Mar’s health began to wane, we put that idea on the back burner for a while.
It was back in October that Brent and Sabrina were in to visit family and she mentioned to me that Disney was running the deal again for cruises out of Galveston. That conversation was really so close to Aunt Mar’s funeral that I immediately rejected the idea, but the seed was planted and it began to grow. When I mentioned it to Vicki she initially rejected the idea like me, but then the idea started to grow on her as well. By the end of October, having waited almost too late, we booked a cruise and began making plans to go. We decided then not to tell the kids until the day before we were to leave just in case something went awry.
The problem with that part of the plan is that we had a big secret to keep. I had no idea how hard it was not to discuss things with Vicki until this, and there were a lot of details that needed to be discussed. And then there were all the people who wound up needing to know that were would be gone, like teachers, folks at church, etc. To make things a little harder, all of Jenna’s swimsuits were worn out from the summer and we had to do some off season swimsuit shopping without making her suspicious. (Vicki wound up telling her we were going to Wilderness in the Smokeys for a long weekend.) Two weeks ago the secret was still holding, though Jenna had her suspicions, and we were a nervous wreck.
Going back to the day the kids found out, we were bursting with the news but somehow got them out the door to school without a leak. Vicki met me in Springfield for lunch and we couldn’t wait for school to be out so we could break the news. Sometime around 4:00 that afternoon we gathered the kids around the kitchen table and made their day. (We actually let Jenna tell the boys about the supposed trip to Gatlinburg first and then corrected her with the real news.)
There is no way I can tell all about a six night cruise in one sitting, so I will do like I did for our trip to Disney World back in 2008 and write it up in installments, each telling some aspect of our adventure. To that end, expect four or five editions to the Swann Family News to be published in the next week to ten days, after which I will return to my normal routine.
Since you have that to look forward to I will leave you with a couple of stories from before our trip until I can collect my thoughts.
CAT UP A TREE. A few of days before we were to go on out cruise we came home to discover Tagalong up in a tree in our yard. He hadn’t clue how to get down and Miss Cat and Dusty were both looking at him from the ground. I’m not sure, but I think they were enjoying it.
I had decided not to rescue Tagalong because it has been my experience that a rescued cat never learns how to climb down while a hungry cat learns this skill quickly. Tagalong, however, got a break. After two full days in the tree and our departure at hand I had to get him down. Unfortunately, he picked the large pecan tree in our yard. I had to back the truck up to the tree and put the extension ladder in the bed of the truck just to reach him. He was so hungry that he didn’t let Miss Cat bully him away from the food dish.
THAT’S MY PENCIL. I think I have said before that Judy thinks of the coolest Christmas presents to give the kids. Part of this year’s gift included packages of pencils with their names embossed on them. (I got a set of pencils like this when I was a kid, but the company misspelled them and they all had “Joe Swam” on them.)
That came in really handy for Ben at school the other day when another boy in his class picked up his pencil and began to use it. It doesn’t take much to imagine the conversation that followed.
“Hey! Gimme my pencil back.”
“It’s not your pencil. It doesn’t have your name on it.”
“Oh yes it does.”
The other kid then looks at the pencil and is surprised to see Ben’s name really is there. Then he tries to rub the name off, but couldn’t so he gave the pencil back. Not that we care who it was, but Ben won’t rat the boy out.
Joe
THE SECRET IS NOW OUT. Back on the 10th we surprised the kids with the news that they would not be going to school the next day, nor the next week, but that they would be going on a six night cruise aboard the Disney Magic instead. They were ecstatic! Nate even put on an impromptu dance show.
For the sake of those of you who do not know this, we had originally booked a Disney cruise for January 2010. It was actually our main present to the kids for Christmas ’09, and to make the deal sweeter, Will, Darice, and their kids had booked the cruise too. Unfortunately, Pauline’s cancer had progressed more than any of us knew. Those of you who have been keeping up with us for a long time will recall that her health took a turn for the worse shortly after the new year and we quickly saw that we needed to cancel our trip so Vicki could take care of her mom. Pauline passed away on the day we were supposed to set sail. Ever since we had been keeping an eye out for more “kids sail free” deals from Disney but none came up at a port within reasonable driving distance for us. And then, as Aunt Mar’s health began to wane, we put that idea on the back burner for a while.
It was back in October that Brent and Sabrina were in to visit family and she mentioned to me that Disney was running the deal again for cruises out of Galveston. That conversation was really so close to Aunt Mar’s funeral that I immediately rejected the idea, but the seed was planted and it began to grow. When I mentioned it to Vicki she initially rejected the idea like me, but then the idea started to grow on her as well. By the end of October, having waited almost too late, we booked a cruise and began making plans to go. We decided then not to tell the kids until the day before we were to leave just in case something went awry.
The problem with that part of the plan is that we had a big secret to keep. I had no idea how hard it was not to discuss things with Vicki until this, and there were a lot of details that needed to be discussed. And then there were all the people who wound up needing to know that were would be gone, like teachers, folks at church, etc. To make things a little harder, all of Jenna’s swimsuits were worn out from the summer and we had to do some off season swimsuit shopping without making her suspicious. (Vicki wound up telling her we were going to Wilderness in the Smokeys for a long weekend.) Two weeks ago the secret was still holding, though Jenna had her suspicions, and we were a nervous wreck.
Going back to the day the kids found out, we were bursting with the news but somehow got them out the door to school without a leak. Vicki met me in Springfield for lunch and we couldn’t wait for school to be out so we could break the news. Sometime around 4:00 that afternoon we gathered the kids around the kitchen table and made their day. (We actually let Jenna tell the boys about the supposed trip to Gatlinburg first and then corrected her with the real news.)
There is no way I can tell all about a six night cruise in one sitting, so I will do like I did for our trip to Disney World back in 2008 and write it up in installments, each telling some aspect of our adventure. To that end, expect four or five editions to the Swann Family News to be published in the next week to ten days, after which I will return to my normal routine.
Since you have that to look forward to I will leave you with a couple of stories from before our trip until I can collect my thoughts.
CAT UP A TREE. A few of days before we were to go on out cruise we came home to discover Tagalong up in a tree in our yard. He hadn’t clue how to get down and Miss Cat and Dusty were both looking at him from the ground. I’m not sure, but I think they were enjoying it.
I had decided not to rescue Tagalong because it has been my experience that a rescued cat never learns how to climb down while a hungry cat learns this skill quickly. Tagalong, however, got a break. After two full days in the tree and our departure at hand I had to get him down. Unfortunately, he picked the large pecan tree in our yard. I had to back the truck up to the tree and put the extension ladder in the bed of the truck just to reach him. He was so hungry that he didn’t let Miss Cat bully him away from the food dish.
THAT’S MY PENCIL. I think I have said before that Judy thinks of the coolest Christmas presents to give the kids. Part of this year’s gift included packages of pencils with their names embossed on them. (I got a set of pencils like this when I was a kid, but the company misspelled them and they all had “Joe Swam” on them.)
That came in really handy for Ben at school the other day when another boy in his class picked up his pencil and began to use it. It doesn’t take much to imagine the conversation that followed.
“Hey! Gimme my pencil back.”
“It’s not your pencil. It doesn’t have your name on it.”
“Oh yes it does.”
The other kid then looks at the pencil and is surprised to see Ben’s name really is there. Then he tries to rub the name off, but couldn’t so he gave the pencil back. Not that we care who it was, but Ben won’t rat the boy out.
Joe
Sunday, January 6, 2013
Happy New Year!
Happy New Year! School resumes tomorrow. Our Christmas decorations have been put away, and we are about to get back into our normal routine. Nate is very blue about going back to school tomorrow.
DINNER IN ASHLAND CITY. Right after I published the last edition we loaded up in the van and headed to Ashland City to visit our cousins there. The occasion turned out to be a short progressive dinner. We started out at the Dee's house where we enjoyed a wonderful steak dinner. After opening presents we then headed down the street to Jim and Judy's house for dessert. We had a great time together and the time to leave came all too quickly.
GEORGIA FUN. The next day we headed out after church to visit the
Jones family. We were later than planned getting off which had one certain niece of ours leaving hilarious "Where are you?"messages on Vicki's voice-mail.
I happened to catch one of these calls while Vicki was driving to hear Emily ask, "Uncle Joe, where are you?"
"In the van heading to your house," I replied. "Where are you?"
When Emily told me she was behind the Christmas tree I really wanted to ask if her mother knew she was using her cell phone.
As always, trips to the Jones house are fun and restful. There's plenty for all to do from games to ping pong to movies. They had a jigsaw puzzle going when we got there and we wound up giving them another puzzle for Christmas. What was funny about that puzzle was that it got started on the table after we had all opened presents. After a while it was put aside for other activities, but Jenna and Zachary got it back out the next day and completed all but the last two pieces before heading to bed themselves. There's just something wrong about that I think.
We rang in the new year with a bonfire, s’mores, and fireworks which was lots of fun. The kids and I got cold and went in before midnight. Vicki, Will, and Darice stayed out and talked, but I think they were in a little before midnight also. As usual, I didn’t make it to see the new year in.
We stayed in Athens until Thursday and then headed home, stopping in Marietta to eat lunch with Daryle and Ann Beth on our way through.
ARE YOU READY FOR UPWARD BASKETBALL? Believe it or not, basketball season is here again. The boys had games yesterday. Both teams started their season with losses, though both games were entertaining and close.
It was fun to watch Nate play on a team without Ben once again. I think this year will give him a chance to learn some things about the game without his bigger brother there. He needs that time to grow on his own. He's a better player than he gives himself credit for, he just needs the chance to discover that for himself.
Ben's game was fast paced. Those boys were up and down the court quite a bit and it was beginning to show during the second half.
I like Ben's coach. He knows how to keep those boys focused. What's funny to me is that the man, who is shorter than Ben and about ten years older than me, is fast. He challenged the boys to a race at practice and surprised all of them when he won. Ben came in as close second.
MESSY IS IN THE EYE OF THE BEHOLDER. The other night Jenna had an errand to run upstairs. Both boys were up there at the time. Ben greeted her when she got to the top of the stairs, and noticing his sister taking in the scene answered her thoughts, “I know, it’s a wreck,” and then added with gusto, “But I love it that way!”
Then Nate gave his own assessment: “A wreck? It looks pretty decent to me!”
Joe
DINNER IN ASHLAND CITY. Right after I published the last edition we loaded up in the van and headed to Ashland City to visit our cousins there. The occasion turned out to be a short progressive dinner. We started out at the Dee's house where we enjoyed a wonderful steak dinner. After opening presents we then headed down the street to Jim and Judy's house for dessert. We had a great time together and the time to leave came all too quickly.
GEORGIA FUN. The next day we headed out after church to visit the
Jones family. We were later than planned getting off which had one certain niece of ours leaving hilarious "Where are you?"messages on Vicki's voice-mail.
I happened to catch one of these calls while Vicki was driving to hear Emily ask, "Uncle Joe, where are you?"
"In the van heading to your house," I replied. "Where are you?"
When Emily told me she was behind the Christmas tree I really wanted to ask if her mother knew she was using her cell phone.
As always, trips to the Jones house are fun and restful. There's plenty for all to do from games to ping pong to movies. They had a jigsaw puzzle going when we got there and we wound up giving them another puzzle for Christmas. What was funny about that puzzle was that it got started on the table after we had all opened presents. After a while it was put aside for other activities, but Jenna and Zachary got it back out the next day and completed all but the last two pieces before heading to bed themselves. There's just something wrong about that I think.
We rang in the new year with a bonfire, s’mores, and fireworks which was lots of fun. The kids and I got cold and went in before midnight. Vicki, Will, and Darice stayed out and talked, but I think they were in a little before midnight also. As usual, I didn’t make it to see the new year in.
We stayed in Athens until Thursday and then headed home, stopping in Marietta to eat lunch with Daryle and Ann Beth on our way through.
ARE YOU READY FOR UPWARD BASKETBALL? Believe it or not, basketball season is here again. The boys had games yesterday. Both teams started their season with losses, though both games were entertaining and close.
It was fun to watch Nate play on a team without Ben once again. I think this year will give him a chance to learn some things about the game without his bigger brother there. He needs that time to grow on his own. He's a better player than he gives himself credit for, he just needs the chance to discover that for himself.
Ben's game was fast paced. Those boys were up and down the court quite a bit and it was beginning to show during the second half.
I like Ben's coach. He knows how to keep those boys focused. What's funny to me is that the man, who is shorter than Ben and about ten years older than me, is fast. He challenged the boys to a race at practice and surprised all of them when he won. Ben came in as close second.
MESSY IS IN THE EYE OF THE BEHOLDER. The other night Jenna had an errand to run upstairs. Both boys were up there at the time. Ben greeted her when she got to the top of the stairs, and noticing his sister taking in the scene answered her thoughts, “I know, it’s a wreck,” and then added with gusto, “But I love it that way!”
Then Nate gave his own assessment: “A wreck? It looks pretty decent to me!”
Joe
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