One of the most convenient features of the cruise was the Disney Navigators App. You'll need to download it before your cruise begins, but it does not work until you are connected to the ship's wifi. You do not have to purchase a wifi package because this is a limited connection for the app only! Once you open the app there are directions for connecting it and getting everything set up. It's very simple, but if you have trouble the Guest Services cast members will help you though it! The only time I had an issue were a few evenings in our stateroom when the wifi did not seem strong enough to connect, otherwise it worked great. Texting Something that many people will be excited to see is the ability to text other people onboard. You CANNOT text people who are not on the cruise. I like this because I am disconnected from the outside world, but I can still communicate with the people I want to on the ship! When you open your app it displays an individual code for yourself. You can give that code to other people that you know or meet and they can then contact you. We became friendly with our table mates at dinner because they had a little girl a few months older than our son. So we swapped codes and kept in contact with them and made plans to meet on the beach at Castaway Cay. It also came in handy to use within the family. My husband went to the gym a couple of times and I was able to let him know where we were when he was done. NavigatorThe Navigator is the name of the daily guide that is placed in your room with all of the activities and shows on the ship. The app has a digital version broken down in to categories for browsing. This was nice because I didn't have to carry the paper with me everywhere I went. I kept my phone in my pocket and I could quickly see what was going on around the ship. You can mark events as "Favorites" with a heart and it will save them for you to access quickly. If you enable push notifications on your iPhone, it will send reminders to your home screen. |
My son is on the cusp of Nursery versus Big Kids Club for most cruise lines. We took this cruise in early January and he turns three in early March. A couple weeks before the cruise he also mastered potty training. With all that stated, I knew he would still be required to be in the nursery. It's not safe to have an "almost" three year old in the same space as 12 year olds! I also believe that the cruise lines set their age groups set for specific reasons, they are not arbitrarily picked out of a hat. So we had him placed where Disney recommended, even though it cost us $9 an hour. It was well worth it to have a little it of kid-free time on our vacation. SecurityWhen we first boarded the ship we went right over to the nursery to be sure that all of the online registration information carried over. We had to fill out a few more forms in the nursery and they gave my son a band to wear for the duration of the cruise. If you've stayed at a Disney Resort in the last few years you'll recognize the band as a Magic Band. If you choose to keep the band at the end of the cruise it costs $12.95 and unlocks special features on the Disney Infinity game. My son was required to wear the band at all times... Yeah, right! It stayed on for about 10 minutes before he pulled it off. (You can see it on his wrist to the left). So we kept it in our bag at all times. When he would go in to the nursery program we'd strap it to his ankle. The band has all of his information stored on it. If there were an emergency, the nursery staff members will scan it and it tells them exactly which muster station to bring him to and who he belongs to! Each time we brought him or picked him up we had to give our secret password, sign papers and swipe the Magic Band. General Experience We had a very good experience with the nursery program. My son went on three different evenings after dinner, he also went once during the day so we could attend the mixology class, and we dropped him off one more time during the day so we could explore the ship a bit. Hubby headed to the gym and I went to the future cruise desk to ask some questions. The ladies in the nursery were always happy and friendly. They knew my sons name after his first visit. Each time we dropped off or picked up we saw 3-4 cast members in the nursery with the children. They definitely keep to adult to child ratio low. My son would specifically ask to go to the kids club each day. This was a good sign to us, he liked it! Sleeping
FoodThe nursery does have an option in which they will feed your child lunch or dinner if they are present during the set hours for meals. So if you wanted to head up to a specialty restaurant or take some time for the spa, your child won't go hungry! We did not use this option because we wanted our son to experience the fun of the dining rooms. If it were a longer cruise I would have definitely considered it. Our table mates at dinner use the meal service one night when they went to Palo rather than the main dining room. They said it was very convenient. AvailabilityI reserved approximately nine hours of nursery time before the cruise. While on the ship we were able to adjust by adding and subtracting from certain days and times. I was also able to drop in one day with him, they checked their system and they had space for him. Our table mates also had their daughter drop in one night without any problems with availability. I am going to assume that cruises over any type of school holiday or break may be more crowded! it's a small world nursery photosJust like Disney World, a Disney Cruise has plenty of character meet and greets! At first glance, the lines look long. I was not looking forward to standing around waiting to meet these characters. Fortunately, the lines move quickly because multiple Cast Members manage each line. There is always a cast member there to take a picture with your camera, as well as a ship photographer, and someone who is managing the line to ensure it runs smoothly. The characters are around 3-4 times throughout a 5-day cruise. The characters are almost always in the atrium on decks 3, 4, and 5. The "most popular" characters always tend to be on deck 3, the main floor of the atrium. Some characters even showed up at events in the D Lounge. Castaway Cay also offers character meet and greet opportunities. The two most common locations are the Post Office, which is located to your right after you get off the ship. The other location is typically Mount Rustmore. On my last Disney cruise we had the opportunity to meet Captain Jack Sparrow on the adults only beach! An interesting side note about the post office: It's Real! You can mail a letter from Castaway Cay, it will take about a month to receive your mail back at home.
Disney Cruises offer a unique dining experience. They offer something called Rotational Dining. At the beginning of the cruise you'll find your dining rotation on your Key to the World Card AKA, room key. What happens is, you rotate through the three main dining rooms throughout your cruise but your wait staff rotates with you. So they still get to know your preferences, names, and build a relationship. We were on a five-day cruise we we ate in two of the dining rooms twice. Our rotation was ACCLA, or Animator's Palate, Carioca's, Carioca's, Lumiere's, and then Animator's Palate one final time. At first glance the order of the rotation looks odd, but it's done so to ensure nothing is missed. Night two was the optional "dress-up" night and night three was Pirate Night. I purposely left out Palo because we did not dine there on this trip. I briefly mentioned it in my Adults Only post from the other day if you're interested in more information. Cabana'sThe top-deck buffet is located on level nine. I have always been impressed with Disney's buffet when comparing it to other cruise lines. They always have items that other cruise lines don't, like crab legs, prosciutto, and many more! There are even self-serve soda fountains located throughout the buffet. PS: Disney doesn't charge for soda/pop. The decor is light and beachy. There are windows everywhere with nice views, well... if you have nice weather. We didn't! Poolside- Daisy's De Lites, Pete'sBoiler Bites, and Pinocchio's PizzaOut on the pool deck there are all-day options available. Daisy' De Lite includes lighter fare such as fruit, salads, and fresh made paninis. Pinocchio's Pizza serves up 5-6 different type of pizza or a custom pizza based on the ingredients in the display case. Pete's Boiler Bites always offered burgers, hot dogs, grilled chicken, fish etc in one window. The other window had Lamb & Chicken Schwarma. I had a tasty Gyro Pita one day while we used the Aqua Lab. Animator's Palate This is my favorite dining room on all ships. The show is different on Magic/Wonder than it is on Dream/Fantasy, which is nice! I've experienced both shows and enjoyed each for their own unique attributes. I don't want to give away too much here because it's just an all around fun experience! The menu is Pan-Pacific with some standard options as well. Click on the first photo on the left and it will enlarge the image, you can use the right and left arrows to view the others after. Carioca'sThis dining room was added/converted back in October's dry dock. The space used to be the Parrot Cay dining room. personally, I think I preferred the style of Parrot Cay over Carioca's. Parrot Cay was vibrant and full of tropical color. Carioca's is quite plain with a few splashes of color around. The new decor just screams that it's missing something! Carioca's is nice for lunch though. We ate here on embarkation day. They have a buffet set up at the front of the room and it's MUCH less crowded than the Cabana's Buffet upstairs. We ate dinner in here on "dress up" night and Pirate Night. The first night was the traditional Carioca's menu which is South American inspired. Our waiters Franklin and Francesca were amazing. They made us napkin hats (Minnie and Peter Pan) and Franklin did a magic trick for our son! On Pirate Night every dining room gets the same themed menu and same choices. The children's menus turn in to pirate hats and the wait staff runs a parade and game of limbo down the main aisle. Lumiere'sLumiere's hosts a la carte/ sit down breakfast each morning for anyone who wishes to skip the buffet. This was the dining room in which we only ate once. The dinner menu is French inspired and the room's theme is Beauty and the Beast. At first glance it looks fairly plain, but there are are lot of Beauty and the Beast details hidden about. At one point during dinner they have people from the "village" come through searching for the anyone who has seen the Beast! Cookies, Cookies Too, and Serenity Bay BBQ
People hear Disney and automatically think KIDS! Yes, Disney cruises are great for kids, but did you know they offer MANY different activities and spaces for adults only?? From Dining, bars, a pool, beach, etc there are plenty of places to escape from your children and have a moment with your significant other or other "mature" friends! I'm going to give you a run down of all the adults only spaces and review one of the activities we took part in. Quiet Cove Pool
Serenity BeachAfter Hours DistrictWithin the After Hours district you'll find Keys- the piano bar, O'Gills Pub, and Fathoms night club. These are adult only spaces at night. During the day, they offer things like Coaster Crafting, Bingo, and trivia. We took a Mixology Class in Keys on the first sea day. (I will review more below) Mixology Class
I also saw wine tastings, whiskey tastings, cooking demonstrations, and many more adult only activities! PaloPalo is the 18+ specialty restaurant onboard. It does have an extra cost to it. We did not take the opportunity to dine there on this trip, but I did in 2012 when I cruised on the Dream. The food is delicious and views are spectacular! If you are interested in a bit more about Palo, you can visit my old entry from when I sailed on the Dream HERE. As with on the Dream and all other Disney ships, Palo is located on the top deck with a large expanse of windows to watch the sunset if you time your dinner just right ;)
Disney is well known as an entertainment company, so it should not come as a surprise to you that their entertainment options are enjoyable, vary widely, and cater to all ages! I will break down the entertainment onboard in sections below. Theater Shows
We did have the opportunity to see Twice Charmed, a new rendition of the Cinderella story. Theatrically is was great. The singers were wonderful, costumes were beautiful, and the set was impressive. Personally I just was not a fan of the story line. Essentially the step-sisters place a spell on Cinderella and go back in time to re-do the night of the ball to ensure she does not have her chance with Prince Charming. I will leave it at that for anyone who may see the show. I don't want to spoil the experience! The other show we saw was Disney Dreams. I loved this one. It was a medley of Disney Animated classics from the 90s. These were the Disney movies I grew up on! Aladdin, Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, and more. They threw in some Frozen for the "new school" Disney fans and kids. I was quietly singing along with many of the songs. The performers were top notch, they sounded like the actual characters from the movies when singing. Movie Theater
Pirates IN the Caribbean Every Caribbean and Bahamas sailing on a Disney Cruise Line ship includes a deck party. No other cruise line's deck party can compare! You will see people dressed in basic pirate gear, like us, to full pirate costumes! Earlier in the afternoon your room attendant will leave bandanas in your room. Even the dinner is themed on that evening, no matter which dining room you are in, everyone has the same menu for Pirate Night. The deck party starts a bit late for the young ones, 9:45pm. It begins with songs and dancing on decks nine and ten. Mickey does an impressive aerial stunt and then around 10:15pm they shoot fireworks off the ship. It's an impressive show! These aren't small time fireworks, they are professional and the shows goes on for a good amount of time. After the fireworks they have a pirate buffet in Cabanas, the buffet on deck nine. We kept our son up late on this night so he wouldn't miss the experience. Hey, it's vacation and we wanted to take it all in!
Disney always seems to have the edge in many aspects of their cruises. The staterooms fall in that realm. The typical Disney Cruise Line stateroom is larger than the typical cruise room. Not only are they slightly bigger, but they also have the split bath concept! On both of my Disney cruises I had an oceanview room. On the Disney Dream I had an oceanview guarantee and they assigned the room about 3 weeks before my cruise. We had a handicapped accessible room at the rear of the ship, it was probably 3-4 times the size of a regular room and somewhat triangular! This time, on the Magic, I had a Category 9A. I picked the room this time and it was perfectly mid-ship. We were two rooms away from the mid-ship stairs & elevators which was very convenient.
The room had a lot of storage options. The desk/vanity area had 10 storage drawers, to the right of the desk was a tall cabinet with two large drawers and a double-door cabinet, and then next to the closet was another set of 5 drawers. Of course, there was also the closet to hang clothes. Suitcases fit nicely under the bed with plenty of extra space.
If privacy is a concern for your family, you'll be happy to know that the curtain between the bed and sofa is fully functioning. We closed ours nightly to create a separate room for our son so we could watch a little bit of TV before going to bed. The sofa bed was a quick and easy switch, we didn't need our room attendant to help us because the back of the sofa folded down and the bed was there! My son loved having his own little "room" in our room! Overall Disney's staterooms have a fresh clean feel to them. Everything was in tip top shape. The television programming is strictly Disney and two news channels, Fox & BBC. They played two feature movies throughout the day at set times. Everest and the Walk. We saw bits and pieces of each throughout the trip. There was a channel playing Disney cartoon movies over and over as well as channels with Disney Junior, Disney cartoon shows, and the regular Disney Channel you see at home. Our one complaint was that closed captioning was not an option in the stateroom. My husband is hearing impaired and was disappointed that they did not have that as a standard setting on the TVs.
A few days ago we returned home from a Disney Magic cruise. We spent five nights onboard the newly re-imagined ship going to Cozumel, Mexico and Disney's private island Castaway Cay. I had been on a Disney cruise in 2012 with my mom, but my husband and son had never been on Disney Cruise Line. This was to be a new experience for them both. Going in to the cruise I was a bit nervous about going on the "oldest ship in the fleet." I am happy to report that the Magic did not disappoint. If I had not already known that it was their oldest ship I would have never known it was more than a year old. Everything, in our experience, was in tip top shape.
Over the next week or two I will be posting pictures, reviews, and tips on the following areas:
I was being interviewed by a potential client the other day when she asked me to name some of the most memorable cruises I had taken. It got me to thinking and I decided to make a list of my past cruises, what was memorable, and a snap shot from each one! Reminiscing is fun sometimes :) and yes, it's very normal to have a client interview the agent, it helps people feel comfortable with the person they are booking their trip with. I will follow this up soon after with a review of my land trips over the past few years as well.
High Traffic Areas
Update!!! (Nov 21, 2015) Our 2.5 year old has now flown on six round trip flights. This original post is a few years old, but I am adding more info to the bottom that concerns flying with young children. So I thought I would provide a summary of our experiences with each of the following airlines: Southwest, United, American, and JetBlue. These are our own unique experiences and don't necessarily represent what you might encounter. We could have been very lucky and very unlucky in certain situations. Southwest Airlines Son's Age: 3 months Car Seat: Peg Perego Primo Viaggio 30/30 Family Pre-Boarding: Yes. Families can board after group A. Helpful Flight Attendants: Yes. Friendly, offered a seatbelt extender Flight Time: 6:30am and 1:30pm Flight Length: Fort Lauderdale to Houston, 2 hours; Houston to Dallas, 45 minutes. Important to Note: The Flight attendants were very friendly and responsive to our needs. They offered a lap belt extender right away. The infant carrier car seat fit without disrupting the person in front of us. There were extra seats on our flight to Dallas, but none on our flight home. So we strapped the carseat in on our way out and had a lap infant on the way home. Lap infant are not considered safe, however we were not fully aware of the dangers when we flew then. United Airlines Son's Age: 5.5 months. Car Seat: Peg Perego Primo Viaggio 30/30 Family Pre-Boarding: No. Families board with the rest of the passengers based on boarding zone. Window seats, center seats, then aisle seats. Helpful Flight Attendants/Gate Attendants: Yes and no. Flight Time: 6am, both directions. Flight Length: approx. 3 hours direct to and from Chicago. Important to Note: On the flight to Chicago the gate attendant very nicely moved our seats upon request because there was an open seat in the back row. This allowed us to bring the car seat on the plane and keep it next to us. We made the mistake of not purchasing a ticket for my son and had to make the switcheroo. The flight home there were no empty seats and I held a crying baby for 3 hours :( American Airlines Son's Age: 12 months/ 1 year Car Seat: Britax Marathon. Family Pre-Boarding: No. Board with the group you are assigned. Helpful Flight Attendants/ Gate Attendants: No and no! Flight Time: 6am and 2:30pm (flight home was delayed significantly) Flight Length: approx 3 hours direct to and from Dallas. Important to Note: Encountered flight attendants and gate attendants that did not want to help, i.e. give me the lap belt extender when pilot told flight attendants to buckle up, attitude when asking for water for my son's bottle, sarcastic remarks about families being allowed to board early, etc. I used the Travelmate Gogo Kidz to wheel him, in his carseat, around the airport. JetBlue Son's Age: 19 months. Car Seat: Eddie Bauer XRS 65 (same as Safety First Guide 65) Family Pre-Boarding: Yes, after the people who are part of the loyalty club and those who paid for extra services. Still boarded before majority of the people on the flight both times. Helpful Flight Attendants: Very helpful. Flight Time: 8am and 10:30am Flight Length: approx. 3 hours to and from Boston. Important to Note: We bought an inexpensive carseat to use for travel from now on. Very lightweight and easy to fit on planes. We purchased our son a seat for both legs of the flight. On the flight to Boston he was rear facing and he slept for a little bit. He did wake up and have some ornery moments before we landed, though. On the flight home we got to the airport early and were able to get on a standby flight three hours earlier than originally planned. We were placed in the last row. We decided to forward face him on this flight because it was not his nap time and we thought the TV would keep him occupied. He fell asleep anyway, but the TV was helpful during his waking moments. I used the Travelmate Gogo Kidz to wheel him, in his carseat, around the airport. JetBlue Son's Age: almost 2.5 years old. Car Seat: Eddie Bauer XRS 65 (same as Safety First Guide 65) Family Pre-Boarding: Yes, after the people who are part of the loyalty club and those who paid for Extra Space seats. Still boarded before majority of the people on the flight both times. Helpful Flight Attendants: Very nice on the way there and less than stellar on the way home. Flight Time: 8pm and 10pm (1 Red-Eye) Flight Length: approx. 5 hours to and from Las Vegas Important to Note: Our flight out there was at dinner hour, so we brought food on the plane. We allowed our on to forward face for this flight because we knew he wouldn't sleep. We bought special kid-safe headphones and I downloaded many Elmo & Curious George episodes to occupy some time. The flight there went smoothly. The flight home we encountered a poorly informed flight attendant who told me that my son could not rear face in his car seat. She threatened to have security take me off the plane if I did not turn the carseat forward. 1) FAA guidelines allow a parent to rearface the carseat as long as the child fits the parameters for rearfacing in the seat. 2) This was a red eye flight and I wanted my son to SLEEP! The moment I got home I wrote customer service and it was confirmed that I was in fact correct. JetBlue
Son's Age: A little more than 2.5 years old. Car Seat: Eddie Bauer XRS 65 (same as Safety First Guide 65) Family Pre-Boarding: Yes, after the people who are part of the loyalty club and those who paid for Extra Space seats. Still boarded before majority of the people on the flight both times. Helpful Flight Attendants: Very helpful. Flight Time: 11am and 11pm (flight delayed and left around 12:30am) Flight Length: approx. 5 hours to Los Angeles Important to Note: We purchased Extra Space seats for this trip. I highly recommend them, especially with a car seat that you want to rear face. There are no worries about the seat fitting and you get ample room to stretch out. Oh yeah and your child can't kick the seat in front of him/her!! Griffith Observatory & the Hollywood Sign We wanted to find a great spot to get pictures of the Hollywood sign. Everything online mentioned the Griffith Observatory as having one of the best views. So we set out for the top of the mountain. What all these websites failed to mention was the tremendous number of other people headed there. The parking lot, that was mentioned as convenient, was completely full. Cars were parked a mile down the mountain road! We finally found a spot on the side of the road and started to hike up. It was not enjoyable with a 2 year old. We gave up and went back to the car about 1/2 way up. It gets pretty steep, even on the sidewalk, at times. We drove to the top to turn around and by some miracle he very front spot was open when we got there! We grabbed it. The stars aligned for us in that moment! So we got back out and headed over to the area to see the Hollywood sign. Well is this is the best view in the city I will tell you not to waste your time. The sign was still very far away and hard to get in the pictures. The views from up there were really neat, you could see down on to the greater L.A. area. My son saw a knock-off Elmo character and kept pointing at him. So my husband brought him over. I warned him that he would want money but my husband ignored me. Yup, just after talking to him he asked for money! It was also very hot the day we were there, in the upper 90s.We're from Florida but this was too much for even us! Hollywood Blvd & the Walk of FameI am typing up these locations in a different order than we actually visited them. Getting to the Hollywood walk of fame was the second thing we did on our first day in L.A. Once we arrived, it took us some time to find parking. A few of the garages were cash / valet only so we skipped those. Finally we found one that was hourly and we could use credit cards. It was located on N Orange Drive and Hollywood Blvd. We didn't do much here other than walk up and down the strip. We did stop in to a few stores to browse, but that was it. It was too hot for us on this day and we didn't last long! There is a lot to do though. Plenty of stores, the Chinese Theater, a mall. I had a packed agenda so we decided to move on to the Griffith Observatory (see above) after this. Fast & Furious LocationsThis was the first thing we did after getting off the ship and picking up the rental car. I planned this one out as a surprise for my husband. We like the Fast and the Furious franchise of movies because we also have a love of cars. You should have seen us in high school,we didn't know each other, we both added things to our cars. So I looked up the address of a few of the more famous locations: Toretto's Market and their house! He had no idea where we were going, but I told him where to turn. When we turned on to the block something clicked and he realized where we were! Toretto's Market, AKA Bob's Market is walking distance form the house. The address is 1234 Bellvue Ave. It is on the corner of E Kensington & Bellvue. We bought a few drinks and snacks from the couple working there. I assume they were the owners. We were 50 cents shorts and the lady told us not to worry. We had money in the car so I walked back to the car and gave her a couple bucks simply because she was nice about us being short on the money when we were inside. We noticed that most of the people who stopped in were also taking pictures and therefore were fans of the movies as well! Santa Monica 3rd Street Promenade & Pier After running around L.A. all day we headed over to Santa Monica. We were staying in the Doubletree a few blocks away from the pier. I was starving at this point and not in a good mood. We checked in, dropped our bags, and then we went to the 3rd Street Promenade and had a heck of a time finding something to eat between lunch and dinner. Blame it on a combo of my indecisiveness, places closed for remodeling, and heat. We settled on Pizza Antica. The food was fine but they served room temperature water and did not provide ice. It wasn't air conditioned. I am used to Florida where everything is in A/C. Not an ideal meal, but it was fine. I don't go on vacation to shop at stores we have at home, so from there we headed to the Santa Monica Pier! The pier is crowded. Why? Because it's a fun place to be. Restaurants, rides, the beach. I don't know what the local opinion is, but we enjoyed our evening there as tourists. I had previously bought Groupons for unlimited-ride bands at Pacific Park. We stuck to the little kid rides because our son was the real reason we came to the amusement park on the pier. There were plenty of rides for toddlers (my son rode the air balloons, planes, car, boats, and even went on the ferris wheel with my husband. I am not a fan of heights, so I stayed on the pier and played photographer ;) California Science CenterOn our second day in L.A. I wasn't sure what to do. So we sat in the hotel room that morning looking up fun things for families. I stumbled on the California Science Center and saw that they have a shuttle there. So we said "Why Not?" Well I am so glad we chose to visit. First of all it's completely FREE! Yes, that's right, FREE! The only thing that require money are the IMAX movies and Endeavor (the shuttle). We didn't see an IMAX movie because we have a 2 year old, but we did choose to see the shuttle I think it was $2 per person. Very very reasonable! There is an entire exhibit dedicated to explaining the shuttle program and space. Then in a separate building (not far at all) was the shuttle and it's full mission history.
The museum has two "family" rooms that fill to capacity quickly. It was a shame because we were unable to get in to either one. They looked fabulous and I would encourage anyone spending the day there with little ones, try to get in! There were habitat rooms with different animals, aquatic tanks, and more. A physics room where people could experiment with different forces. Even an opportunity to ride a bike across a high wire! An all around great museum for little to no cost. The next day was Monterey. I was excited for this stop. Princess doesn't stop here so it was a nice treat to go somewhere that normally does not get cruise ship guests. On our agenda was a nice walk along the coast to the Monterey Bay Aquarium. We took the Monterey Bay Coastal Trail. It was beautiful!! The weather was ideal for our mile-long walk and the trail is a mix of scenic and quaint. Connor decided that this was the day to make his parents look incompetent. As soon as we arrived at the aquarium he began screaming. Nothing made him happy. Holding him, strolling him, offering food, etc. NOTHING! I was not about to waste the $75 we had just dropped on buying the tickets to get in. We attempted to look at some of the tanks, but it was not happening. We walked over to the food court to eat and perhaps calm him down. Sometimes he acts out when hungry and he doesn't know why he feels like crud. The food court is nice. They have healthier options than most places which was impressive. After the cool down session we decided to embark on our adventure through the place. We found kid friendly areas, there were plenty! So we let our son play to burn off some steam, again in hopes of calming him down. I call the last one "Short Kid Problems" He behaved during the time we were in the kid areas, but the moment we moved on to other things he broke out in tantrums and naughty behavior. The aquarium is awesome. Connor has been to the "big ones" Shedd (I was not impressed) and Georgia Aquarium, so we make it a point to bring him to aquariums everywhere we go. We actually liked the Sea Life Aquarium in Grapevine Texas, small be really nice. He loves fish and animals in general so it just makes sense. The back of the aquarium has a large deck area that affords some amazing views of the bay. We spent quite a bit of time out there looking for otters and other animals. It was a beautiful day for us. We came from Florida where it's in the 90s, so the upper 60s/low 70s was blissful. We explored the touch tanks for a bit. My son kept petting the drain instead of the animals. It was kinda funny. We kept telling him that it was not an animal and he insisted on petting it. Okay, you're not crying at this point, whatever makes you happy!!! As a kid 23 years ago I remember the jellyfish section being amazing. It's still beautiful to this day! We then made our way to the back room area with the large tank full of sharks, sardines, and other large sea life. Connor was enthralled with it for a few minutes until the naughties came back! As soon as I snapped this picture of him, he took off running. Full speed. Back through the jellyfish exhibit. I took off after him through the crowd. He didn't look back for a second to see if we were even following him. Generally he will check to make sure Matt or I follows. Not today.. He was on a mission. Now if you've ever been to the Monterey Bay Aquarium you may know that the jellyfish exhibit is very dark. Good luck catching a 2 year old running through there! I finally caught him in the entrance where the sardines swim in circles above. He was cracking up laughing when I caught him. Thats about when I threw up the white flag ad surrendered. We left to make our way back to the ship at this point.
I lacked a lot of photos from the aquarium because I was busy chasing, calming, and disciplining my son. It was not a good day for us. I am sad because I wanted to get more photos of it. As luck, or Murphy's Law, would have it: Connor fell asleep within seconds of leaving the aquarium. We decided to walk through Cannery Row and along the trail again to make our way back to the ship. It was peaceful and a great way to unwind from the chaos of the day. It's a shame that Florida weather isn't conducive to beautiful walking trails. We only have a handful of cool days in our "winter" that would allow for a nice long walk. Most other days it's far too hot or rainy! We chose to ride on the top of the tender for the ride back to the ship because it was nice out. Our plan for the second day was to use the HOHO Bus to see all the popular things in San Fran. I bought the tickets directly through Big Bus, they were the same company that offered them through Royal Caribbean. It was a few dollars cheaper on our own. This was my first mistake. Let me explain... Last time I was in San Francisco was 2009, with a friend. We were there for a teaching conference. We bought HOHO tickets and used the bus to get around and see everything after the conference had ended. It worked out perfectly, so I assumed it would work the same way this time. I could not remember the company I bought them from last time, but it was NOT Big Bus. I would highly recommend choosing another company. Big Bus stops at some weird, random, useless locations in my opinion. It doesn't stop at Alamo Square, but a block away down a hill. It stops at the "wrong" side of the Golden gate Bridge. What do I mean? I mean it stops on the North side where the angle is so sharp that it's near impossible to get a good shot. Here is the BEST shot I could get on this recent trip. While beautiful, the bridge is barely visible. It was very difficult to get a good picture because this was was also overcrowded. A lot of people just hanging out on the viewing wall made it difficult to find a spot for a picture. One positive than I can mention is that when we got off the ship they allowed us to go on the buses that were parked inside the "terminal" rather than make us walk down the street to the official stop. They had Big Buses inside the terminal because that was the company assigned to the Royal excursions. I assumed that they might make us go outside because we bought our tickets on our own. We rode around for close to an hour before the first place that we wanted to get off. We got off here because I wanted another picture in front of the Painted Ladies. I grew up watching Full House as a kid, so these houses always looked so cool to me. The grass was in pretty bad shape, I am guess it is from the drought? Connor spotted the playground. We let him play for 20 minutes because most of the trip was focus on things we (Matt and myself) wanted to see, we made time to let him burn off some energy in between stops. This was the 1st of three playgrounds for the day!
After Chinatown we hopped on the bus again and headed back to our ship. We were tired. It was about 3:30pm at this point and we needed to get the little guy to nap. and he wouldn't... We ended up going to the Windjammer for dinner right around when we sailed back under the Golden Gate Bridge! I was tempted to go back upstairs for some evening shots, but I was too tired from the long day we had. We even saw some whales breaching the water throughout our journey away from the city by the bay! So my photos are from inside the buffet. Oh well.
*Warning, this is lengthy. The night tour is amazing and I could not help but share all my photos and details. All of the images can be viewed larger by simply clicking on them :) I had been to Alcatraz in August 1992 with my parents on our family vacation. Matt has never been. While I was searching for the different tour options I came across the night tours. They are only offered on certain dates/ seasons. I thought it would be really neat to see if at night. Maybe it would add to the scary effect!? Some people have said that they would rather go to Alcatraz in the day for their first trip. So I was a bit hesitant. Was Matt going to miss out on something by going at night? I am always second guessing my choices when it comes to vacations because I want everything to be memorable, perfect, and worth it! Matt actually got on me about this during this trip. I kept asking "Did you like it?" after everything we did. He told me to calm down and just enjoy myself. Not everything turns out the way you want. The roof of each ferry is covered in Solar Panels! Downstairs there are TV screens explaining how they derive their power from alternative sources. It even shows the percentage of power coming from each source at a given time. We went sailing by our ship as we headed off to Alcatraz. The Alcatraz pier and the one in which the Jewel docked were right next to each other. We had chosen the earlier night tour, it began at 5:55pm. I am glad we did because this gave us additional time after to explore the island and attend the "extra" tours. Well I can assure you, making your first Alcatraz trip a night tour is totally worth it. I am so glad I booked it. When you arrive it is still daylight, so you can see the outside of the buildings with sunlight. We had some great opportunities while there. When we got back home from the trip Matt said the the Alcatraz tour was his favorite part of our entire vacation. A guide, National Park ranger,walked with us from the bottom, all the way up (I think he said it's equivalent to 13 flights of stairs). He would pause along the way talking about history and other facts of the island. This gave everyone the chance to catch their breath and still have energy for the self guided/headphone tour inside. Once we arrived at the cell house we were directed to a line that wraps around the showers/receiving area for new inmates. At the end of this line you were given headphones in your preferred language. At this point the tour is mostly self-guided with your headphones. You can pause if you want to take more time to explore an area. The cellhouse was actually pretty crowded and there were moments where it was hard to see something being discussed because of the crowd. As the evening went on it got better as people headed back off the island. I will let the next few pictures tell the story of the tour. Once our headphone tour ended we had the opportunity to see the hospital. They don't always open it to the public, but on this evening it was. We headed up there to check it out. Medical equipment from those days was so different. The wheelchair creeped my husband out, so I took a picture and told him I would use it as torture if he ever crossed the line with me, haha. We also saw "Birdman's" cell/ hospital room. They kept him up there because he was so bad! After the Hospital, we opted for two of the bonus tours. First up was the "Behind the scenes" tour. We weren't sure what this meant, but it sounded interesting. We were warned that you must have stable footing to go on this tour. Our guide was fantastic. He really knew a lot about the history and details of Alcatraz. I wish I could remember his name! He took us in to Corridor A, which is locked during normal "business hours." Within this area there is a stairwell that goes DOWN. It leads to the underground area of Alcatraz. Many many moons ago there was a Citadel on the island and that building was incorporated in to the construction of the prison. We got to go under the main prison to see the old construction, corridors, rooms, etc. It was fascinating. I don't want to give away too much just in case someone has the chance to go on the tour.We had to wear hardhats because the area is old and there are low ceilings. We went on one final tour of the evening which focused on the story of the infamous 1962 escape of three inmates. The guide was incredibly knowledgeable about the details of the case. I have always been curious as to whether they survived the ordeal. During this tour I was able to get some of the most impressive night shots of the buildings and island.
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AuthorHi! I am Nicole Perry, owner of Sunkissed Adventures. Categories
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