elphie101
Left my heart in Tomorrowland
- Joined
- Sep 30, 2008
Sunday October 19 - Cruise Day 2
Probably the worst thing about our cruise was that we never adjusted to "ship time" - that is to say, our bodies were always on work/WDW time. Especially for adults the activities on the ship tend to start and end later, so we missed the majority of the adult entertainment - and got up really early in return! Oh well.
This started right on the first morning, when we both opened our eyes before 7am. We both knew we were up too early and ought to go back to sleep, but first I slipped outside to our verandah to check out our first sunrise at sea.
We were facing the West, so I imagine it was even more beautiful on the other side
After that, we both went back to sleep for another hour or so! We're on vacation, in the middle of the ocean - what else do you do? As we got ready, we perused the navigator to make our plans for the day. There were a few things I definitely wanted to do: visit the kids club during their open house hours (when adults were allowed in, which we had missed the chance to do the previous day), see Jack Jack's Diaper Dash in the atrium, and of course our pre-paid Mixology class that afternoon. We decided to head up to Cabanas for breakfast and then check out the kids clubs, since the open house was only for an hour that morning.
Cabanas was far more crowded at 8:45am than it had been at 2pm the previous day. Once again we weren't allowed to touch anything, not even the stacks of plates - CMs were passing plates out to us as we approached the buffet. There were enough people that the only seats we could find were outside, as opposed to sitting in the air conditioning (though at least we were shaded). The one downside to eating outside while the ship was moving is it was so windy! We had to weigh our napkins down with our glasses to keep them from flying away.
My breakfast - eggs, french toast, sad bacon, hash brown, some danish (I want to say cheese or apple), watermelon and a Krispy Kreme. I don't know why I grabbed the donut, as I don't really like Krispy Kreme (shoot me, but I'm from Dunkin Donuts country!), I think I only had a bite. I know I didn't touch the danish. Everything else was perfectly delicious buffet breakfast food (you can also see Kevin's plate - pancakes and hash browns. He looooooves hash browns when they come in this form)
Our view at breakfast - can't be beat!
After breakfast we walked around the ship a bit before heading down to Deck 5, where the Oceaneer Club is located. The Oceaneer Lab was not open for open house, and we never did make it back to check it out (reason #1 to cruise again!). The Club/Lab serve the 3-12 year olds on the ship, for those that do not know (the spaces are connected and the Lab I've heard has more kind of computer games/stuff to please the older age bracket).
The first thing you have to do when you enter the club is wash you hands, just like the kids do who get dropped off there. It is hands down the COOLEST hand washing machine I have ever experienced - I wish they had it in every restroom on the ship!
Now, the Oceaneers Club is super freaking cool! If there's one thing Disney does right by, it's kids.
The main room with dance floor (you can see the doorways to the other themed rooms)
Pixie Hollow (the stools were so tiny!)
Where they serve meals (adorable)
And then there was Andy's Room - and I FREAKED OUT!
Driving RC
Finally there was a Monsters Inc Scare Floor room, which I also freaked out in. They were playing Toy Story on the screen (open house times can also be used as a chance for families to play together or for kids to play together if not all of them are over 3 - not just for honeymooners to explore!)
After exhausting the Oceaneer's Club, we then headed to Vibe (for 14-17 year olds) because it was also on Deck 5. Well, it turned into a bit of an adventure - while Vibe itself is on Deck 5, you can only get to it by walking all the way forward on the Deck 4 jogging track, then climbing a very nondescript staircase up to Deck 5. Kind of perfect for the high school crowd if you ask me! There was no mistaking it once you found it though:
Unlike the Oceaneer's Club there was no fun handwashing machine, just average wet wipes (that you had to use to enter the club)
Considering it was only 9:15, I'd hazard a guess most of the target age group for Vibe was still asleep!
These cool little pods where you could watch TV/listen to music
The freaking smoothie bar!
We weren't able to go out to Vibe's private pool deck, but dang doesn't it look cool! I would have loved this if I was in high school
There wasn't nearly as much to see here, as it was more of just a lounge, so we left pretty quickly
The hallway changed colors!
I asked Kevin if he wanted to go find Edge next (for 11-14 year olds) but he was kind of done, so we decided to go change into our suits and hop into the adult pool. Since we went swimming, I have no photos, but the pool was EMPTY. We were one of maybe two people swimming. So secret Fantasy fact: if you want some privacy on a sea day, go at 9:30 in the morning! The adult pool has three levels to it - a really shallow ankle deep section (where the bar stools are), a deeper, maybe 6ft section in the center, and then a waist deep section on the opposite end. We took our time just enjoying every area, and Kevin decided to get an energy drink (because he hadn't had any caffeine yet). The bartender asked if he wanted a shot of Jager with it! He was shocked. As for me, I got a mimosa, because we were on our honeymoon after all! It was here we found out my favorite of all alcohol deals - $3 mimosas before noon! Man oh man do I miss the Fantasy for that (although I'm told it's on all DCL ships!) After some time, we also tried the hot tub, because it was usually SLAMMED with people. Kevin was disappointed to find that the glass bottom wasn't really directly over the ocean, and more like over many parts of ship equipment. I'm personally not a huge hot tub fan, so we didn't stay too long there.
We stayed at the pool for about an hour, and once we were all swimmed out we made our way back to the room to shower off and veg out to a little more Halloweentown. Finally our stomachs were grumbling so loudly that we figured it was time for lunch! Cabanas had just changed over to lunch so we had a ton of fresh offerings
Pasta du jour, fries, broccoli and shrimp. I have no photos of Kevin's plate, though I'm sure you can guess what he had.
After we ate we headed down to the atrium to browse the shops for souvenirs and get ready to watch Jack Jack's Diaper Dash, aka baby racing. We decided to go up to Deck 4 for a better vantage point of the action.
I love these mosaics!
Kevin picked one kid - we'll call him Overalls - to take it all. Before the event started he kept breaking free from his family and zipping across the room faster than anything. Pretty soon, the CM called for final entries and started the race. It was a hilarious event to watch - seeing what the family members did to try and get their kids to crawl. There were a couple of different waves to determine the 3 finalists.
The girl in pink one this one - she came back from behind to sweep it!
I don't know if this will work, but I took video of the final round - Kevin's pick won! (Click to play)
After the race we explored the Art of Disney gallery right behind us (of course the ship has an Art of Disney....) and somehow found ourselves up on Deck 11 again, at this dangerous locale:
Yes, all you can eat ice cream. Sign me up! Again, the CMs were making cones for you, which I much preferred since I'm awful at making ice cream cones. We always got vanilla, but I know they had chocolate and I think banana and strawberry most of the time (they always had vanilla and chocolate though). Kevin ended up running to Flo's Cafe (the grab & go pool deck food) opposite the ice cream for an empty soda cup, since he doesn't like his ice cream in cones.
And, like most "free" things, it was delicious!
We had about two hours left before our Mixology class, and the only thing left on our schedule was the DVC presentation in The Tube. Kevin put his foot down though, and said he didn't want to hear a sales pitch on his honeymoon, free drinks or not. And with that, I only had one request left - to take a nap. Yes, our long morning of eating, playing in clubs, swimming, eating, watching babies and eating again had tired me out. Kevin actually was tired as well, so we went back down to deck 7 and closed the blinds for a decent nap.