Day 5 – Wednesday – Cozumel

The ship docked in Cozumel in the morning.  Tracy and I had been here before, and weren’t planning on getting off the ship.  My parents did some shopping in port, I think.

After waking up and eating breakfast, Tracy wanted to go lay out in the sun.  I decided to go to the gym.  I did about 2 miles on the elliptical, and then did some work on the weight machines.  All told, I was probably there for 60-75 minutes, and then I went back to the room and showered.  

Day 4 – Tuesday – Costa Maya

We were due to dock in Costa Maya approximately mid day.  Tracy, my dad, and I were scheduled to go on an excursion to the Chacchoben Mayan Ruins (my mom wanted to shop), and the meeting time was around 1pm.  So, with that in mind, we were able to sleep in a little bit.  We woke up, got dressed, and then we met my dad for lunch at Cabanas.  After lunch, we went down the Walt Disney Theater, where we presented our excursion tickets (which had been in our rooms on the first day when we boarded the ship), and were told to have a seat, that we’d be leaving shortly.  They also gave us detailed directions on where to go once we got on shore (“The pier is basically an “L” shape.  When you come to the corner, go to the right. Do not go straight. If you go straight, you will get wet. Go to the right.  Walk down that part of the pier towards the big orange building.  It is the only building, it’s not hard to find.  Look for the people that will be holding up signs exactly like this one (holds up sign) that say “Chacchoben Family Tour”)

Day 3 – Monday – Grand Cayman

For Grand Cayman, we didn’t have any excursions planned.  Tracy and I had done an “Island Tour and visit to Stingray City” when we were here on our honeymoon cruise (with Carnival), and didn’t see a need to do it again.  My mom just wanted to shop.

Day 2 – Sunday

Woke up and went to breakfast at the Enchanted Garden (after working in Fantasyland I keep wanting to call it Enchanted Grove, which used to be the name of the little snack place near the Tea Cups, but it’s now called Chesire Cafe … anyways, I digress).  Enchanted Garden is one of the 3 “main dining” restaurants for dinner, but for breakfast it is buffet style, with the drinks being taken care of by a server.  Buffet was pretty much a typical breakfast buffet.  Pastries, toast/bagels, scrambled eggs, breakfast meats, cereal, pancakes, french toast, and mini-Mickey waffles.  Most of the food was pretty good, but the Mickey waffles were sadly cold, and dry.  Cold Mickey waffles don’t taste nearly as good as the warm fresh ones.

Cast of characters:
Eric – me
Tracy – my wife
Helene – my mom
Rob – my dad

Saturday 9/28 – Embarkation (Port Canaveral, FL)

Rather than paying $15/day to park at the port, we chose to pay $8/day to park at a parking lot operated by the Radisson hotel, 5 minutes away. We parked, and waited about 20 minutes for a bus to the port. Once we arrived, we were directed across the street, and told to take the escalator upstairs. The security check was pretty quick, a metal detector and an x-ray for our carry-on luggage. (The “checked” bags were off-loaded from the shuttle bus and given to porters who would get them onboard and they would be waiting outside our stateroom). After Security, we were in the main departure hall of the Disney terminal. Inside the departure hall, one side is lined with a long line of check in stations, and the corresponding queue lines. The other side has a waiting area, and an area where you can sign your kids up for the kids clubs on board. At the back of the room is a large window that looks out to the ship, and an entrance to the walkway to board the boat.