Friday, February 4, 2011

Disney Cruise - Grand Cayman & Twice Charmed

This is our third day of our cruise and a Tuesday and we are just arriving at Grand Cayman Island. Our third Sunrise.
We needed to stay away from the island so we would not disturb the coral. So we dropped anchor between two Carnival boats. This one is the Valor.
And this one is the Legend.
A crew member needed to raise the Mickey flag.
Since we had an inside stateroom, we did not have a porthole. But instead we had this really neat porthole-looking mirror. On the new Disney boats these would be virtual portholes that will give you a TV view of what is outside. And once in a while Mickey would swim by.
The town of Georgetown on Grand Cayman Island.
This is the tender that will take us to shore.
Ships in the harbor during the rising sun.
The Disney Magic was under attack by pirates. This is a real pirate ship. Notice the flags.
The crows nests.
The second pirate ship.
For a very short time Logan sat with us on the tender. Judy and I opted to go to the lower floor on the tender but the rest stayed on the top floor because Kellan was in a stroller. Logan realized that his family didn't follow him down and he got very teary-eyed and said, "Where is my family? I want to be with my family!" So to the top floor he went.
We immediately headed for the beach.
The sun was bright even though it was partly cloudy (that means mostly sunny) and breezy. We needed to rent an umbrella, which blew away twice. So much for the beach guy that we rented it from and who secured it in the sand. It wasn't sand as we know but sand made up of mostly crushed coral.
Most of the Smentek men playing in the ocean.
There were several things we could do on shore, one of them was parasailing.
Everywhere we went it was 5:00. Jimmy Buffet had his Margaritaville all over the place.
The three cruise ships in a row.
The Disney Magic. If you notice, all our lifeboats are painted yellow. Disney needed special permission for a world organization to paint them yellow because all other lifeboats are Orange. This is one of Disney's colors.
Kellan says "Hi".
Our third Sunset.
Time for another Broadway show. This time it was "Twice Charmed".
You can see Cinderella descending the staircase behind the story.
They are trying to find the rightful owner of the glass slipper.
The Prince and Princess.
This is the ugly step mother and and the two "sisty uglers".
Her fairy Godmother.
Kirstin and Liam. He wasn't so interested in all the princess stuff but was a good sport about it.
Logan, Jeff and Kellan.
It was a Happily Ever After ending. And then we were off to dinner.
Our assistant server was Jose and he is from Honduras.
This is our fourth towel animal.
This is my very delicious dessert, complete with decorations.

Wednesday, February 2, 2011

Disney Cruise - Day at sea & The Villians

Today we are at sea for the whole day.
We came up to look at the sunrise and ran into Kellan. So we kidnapped him for 30-45 minutes.
This is our second sunrise on the cruise.
Since we were stuck on the boat , it was time for the boys to check out the water slide. I already knew that Liam would love it.
A successful run. and back up he went, over and over again.
On the other hand, I didn't think that Logan would go down. Something about heights. But he went down just fine. But on the first curve he didn't lean and flipped over on his belly for most of the way down. That is a good way to get water up your nose.
You can see that he really liked it and he made the rounds as well.
Calm seas - well they were four foot swells. Felt like you were on land.
The family pool was packed with people watching "A Bug's Life"
Kellan got into the fun too in his own pool.
Don't do it!
I think I am having fun. I'm wet any way.
Stairwell, straight down for nine floors.
Pouring on the coals.
Lunch time on the back deck.
Then we went to see "The Villains".
A lot of bad guys out there.
This is Hades.
Speaks for itself.
Ursula.
The Evil Queen-before.
The Evil Queen-after.
Capt'n Hook and Mr Smee.
Cruela.
Jafar.
Star chart.
It was formal night so we got to eat in the Beast's Ballroom.
And the Beast's rose was in the ceiling lights.
The Menu.
Captain John, the one who drives the boat, eat with us.
Two of our guests.
Dessert is served. And some of those desserts were gooooooood!
Best Buds.
Donald came for a chat.
As well as Minny. It was formal night so they dressed up.
Fish chart.
In the front of the boat, on the fourth level, is where the mooring lines and anchors were. Each anchor weighed 31,492 pounds and there were two being used with a spare by the crew pool. And each of the two anchor chains weighed 154,845 pounds. There were ten mooring lines, fore and aft, each being 720 feet long and the breaking point is 205,630 pounds. Impressive.
Our third towel animal.