(all the pictures will be in a gallery in the last post. Whenever that comes.)
2nd Sea Day – Monday
Breakfast this morning was at Cabanas. One thing we noticed throughout the cruise was the muffins. Although they had chocolate chips or blueberries on top, there were almost none in the actual muffin. My blueberry muffin this morning had 1 blueberry (other than the ones on top). Tommy’s chocolate chip muffin had 2 chocolate chips. The muffins were good otherwise (maybe a little dry, but that is probably due to the lack of toppings.)
Later in the trip, Tracy and I were planning on doing a ziplining excursion, and my mom would be doing a land and sea tour of Tortola. My dad wanted to stay on the ship and relax, so we booked time for the kids in the nursery for the time we’d be off. But, we thought it would probably be a good idea to give them some practice time there first to get used to it. So we made a reservation for today.
When we dropped the kids off, Lily was absolutely fine. Tommy, who has been in daycare since he was 8 weeks old, and has never had an issue being dropped off, wasn’t having any of it. He kicked and screamed for a good 5 minutes before we were finally able to get him handed off to a counselor. The nursery staff assured us that it was fine, and they would text us if he didn’t calm down and needed to be picked up. We still heard him crying as we walked down the hall, but apparently, he calmed down a little later, because we weren’t asked to come get him early.
We tried to use the kid-free time to go down the Aquaduck. We got nearly all the way to the top of the line, and then it broke down. We were running out of Nursery time, so we had to go get changed and pick up the kids, rather than wait for the slide to come back up.
After we picked the kids up from the nursery, it was time for Lunch. This meant another trip to Cabanas, and some more indistinct, unmemorable buffet food. (Don’t get me wrong, the food was good, but there was nothing to set it apart from other trips to Cabanas.) I had no issue finding working Coke Zero dispensers.
I think in the afternoon, we took the kids to Nemo’s Reef, the splash pad area near the pool. Both kids enjoyed splashing, although Tommy wouldn’t go near the slide or under any of the waterfalls. Our hopes that splashing would tire the kids out enough to nap was partially successful. Lily went to sleep. Tommy did not.
Dinner tonight was in Animator’s Palate. Time for my favorite appetizer, the truffle pasta pursettes. They were as good as always, and I feel like I got a slightly more generous portion than normal. They also had the butternut squash soup, which I ordered as a second appetizer. It came out slightly warmer than lukewarm, which was not great, but it tasted good.
After dinner, Tracy and I took the kids with us, and went to 70’s music trivia. (Although the evening music trivias are supposed to be adults only, I guess they figured Tommy and Lily were too young to notice they were in a bar, and they weren’t being disruptive, so they were allowed to stay.) We missed a few songs/artists, but overall did pretty well. (Not well enough to win, but we had won 50’s/60’s last night, so we still got a prize.)
Tortola – Tuesday
We woke up and went to breakfast. My mom had an early excursion, and then Tracy and I had a mid-morning excursion to go zip lining. We met up with my dad as we were finishing breakfast, and he came with me to drop Tommy and Lily off at the Nursery. (He would be staying on the ship, so wanted to make sure he knew where the nursery was and what the pickup process was if he needed to get the kids.) Tommy, once again, threw a fit as we tried to go into the Nursery. This time, he calmed down a little more quickly, and we were able to hand him off almost easily.
Tracy and I met up with our excursion group, and walked to where the bus was waiting. We got a scenic tour of the island, including one hill where the driver/tour guide told us “Sorry, I have to turn off the AC, the bus needs all the power it can get to make it up the hill”. Once we reached the top, there was a great scenic overlook, and we got off the bus for a few minutes to take some photos (and, probably, to let the engine cool down a bit).
We got to the zip line place, and got our equipment on. While doing this, we were looking up at some of the highest zip lines, and getting a little nervous. But, once we got started, it was really fun (even if I ended up twisting around and facing backwards for about half of each line. Oddly enough, it’s just like the hill on Kali River Rapids, I always end up backwards down that one too.)
After we were done zipping, we returned our equipment, got back on the bus, and headed back towards the ship.
We picked up the kids from the nursery, and went to get some food up on the pool deck. I’m not sure what changed, but the pizza is now edible, and the burgers aren’t as badly overcooked as they used to be. Both are positive changes.
I think we went back to the room to try (unsuccessfully, no surprise) to get the kids to nap before dinner. Tonight was Pirate Night, and most everything on the Pirate Night menu is uninteresting. The mango soup appetizer was pretty good. Tommy and Lily both agreed as well. The caramel macademia cheesecake tart for dessert was also pretty good.
No music trivia tonight, and no show either. After the kids were in bed, I went to watch the Pirate Night fireworks, while Tracy stayed to keep an eye on them.