Our Cruise Aboard the Disney Magic, Part 4

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.