The Happiest Cruise on Earth

Our family was fortunate to go on a Disney Cruise with ten other fabulous families from our neighborhood. It was the most magical and perfect vacation. It makes me smile everytime I think about it. We all still talk about our favorite things and there were many! Some of my favorites are:

Seeing the ship come into view for the very first time. We arrived in Orlando at 11 p.m. and stayed overnight at the airport hotel. We, along with several other families, took a shuttle 90-minute shuttle ride from the airport to the ship. When the Disney ship came into view, I was awestruck. It was beautiful. I couldn't believe our family was fortunate enough to be going on such an amazing vacation. I thought of all of the financial problems we had suffered through during Jeff's many years of unemployment. Now we were so blessed to be able to comfortably afford the trip of a lifetime.

The blow horn on the ship. A few times a day it would play the first 7 notes of "When You Wish Upon A Star" (which is also one of my favorite songs that Billy Joel sings - he recorded it for a special Disney album.) I felt Disney joy every time I heard that horn!

The Disney characters. They were walking all over the ship at all hours and the kids loved them! I have a lot of really cute pictures of Ethan and his friends with a lot of the characters. Adam refused to be photograhed with any of them!

Snorkeling on St. Thomas.  I had never been snorkeling before. We went to a beach that had a small reef just a few yards from the beach. The water was a crystal clear turquoise and the fish were beautiful. On one of my swims out to the reef, I whacked a sea urchin with my hand. I popped my head above water and brought my hand up to look at the damage. There were seven urchin tines sticking out of my forefinger and the skin was turning purple and swelling. The pain was unbelievable. I started swimming as fast as I could. My mind was racing trying to think if I had ever heard of anyone dying from a sea urchin sting.  As I got to shore, one of my friends told me to go to the guy selling smoothies because he would know what to do. I showed the smoothie maker my finger. I thought he was going to look shocked and horrified and tell me he would call an ambulance immediately. But, no. He just calmly said, "You need to pee on your finger. That will stop the pain and the tines will work themselves out of your skin in a week or so." I was so happy I wasn't going to have to be hauled away in an ambulance or die from sea urchin poisining that I didn't really have  a problem with his remedy. There were a few porta-potties on the beach and I went in and peed on my finger. The pain eased a little immediately. By the next morning, the pain was completely gone and the tines eventually worked their way out of my finger - just like the smoothie guy predicted. It added a little excitment to my day and it still makes me laugh when I think about it.

Our dinner waiters.  I think we had the two best waiters on the entire ship - Julian and Alvin. They were assigned to us the first day and they stayed with us for all seven dinners as we rotated to different dining rooms each night. Julian was from France and had a mesmerizing French accent. He had just married one of the waitresses that worked on board. Alvin was from the Phillipines and had a wife and several children back home that he was supporting. They were friendly and funny and treated us like royalty. By the end of the cruise, they felt like family.

Pirates In the Caribbean Night.  In the materials that Disney sent prior to our trip, it mentioned there would be a pirate night and we could dress up like pirates. Our trip was only a month before Halloween so it was easy to find pirate gear in all of the stores. I had so much fun creating costumes for us! We had a pirate themed dinner with delicious grub, pirate music and we danced in a Conga line through the restaurant. There was a pirate show on deck and fireworks were launched off the ship into the Caribbean sky. Ethan and I ended the night by laying on lounge chairs on the pool deck watching "Pirates of the Caribbean" on the huge outdoor movie screen, eating frozen yogurt and sipping soda. It was a perfect evening.

Castaway Cay. Disney has it's own private island and our ship made a stop there for a day. It is gorgeous there and perfectly Disney. We took a leisurely bike ride around the island with the Shaws and Findleys. Later we hung out on the beach and in the warm, turquoise water. We had felt raindrops off and on during the day but by 3:00 we had a torrential rain and lightning storm. The Disney employees were telling everyone to get off the beach and find shelter for protection from the lightning. We sought refuge in the Disney gift shop. We were all squeezed into the shop like sardines and waited 45 minutes for the lighting to die down. We then made the 10 minute walk back to the ship.  As we boarded, a Disney employee was handing out warm towels to each passenger - Disney never fails to surprise me.

Own private balcony.  Jeff and I had been on two previous cruises - to Mexico and Alaska.  Both times we had an inside stateroom. We promised ourselves if we ever went on another cruise, we would have a room with a window. When we saw our stateroom options on the internet for the Disney Cruise, we were wooed by the pictures of the cabins with a balcony so we booked one.  We weren't sorry. We enjoyed breakfasts, reading, lounging and chatting out there with the warm breeze as we floated through the Caribbean. We loved it!

Scooters on St. Maarten.  We rented motorized scooters (and one ATV) with the Findleys and Shaws so we could tour the island. There were fourteen of us in all and everyone doubled up so we had six scooters and the ATV. The woman at the rental shop gave us a map and told us we wouldn't get lost - there's just one road around the island. Ethan sat in front of me on a scooter and Adam shared a scooter with Jeff. We found a beautiful, secluded beach and stayed there for a couple of hours. We got back on our scooters and were heading up the dirt road back to the main road when we encountered a bull standing in the road staring directly at all of us needing to pass him. Jeff and Adam were the first to pass him but then it was my turn and I was terriefied. My heart was racing as I stepped on the gas. The bull never moved and we all made it by him without a problem. Our next stop was going to be an old fort but somehow, we all got separated from each other. Ethan and I were on the far side of the island and we had lost everyone. I circled around the streets near the fort and eventually found the Findleys. Tracee said the last time she had seen Jeff and Adam was when they went the wrong way down a one-way street. Panic set in when I heard an ambulance siren. But, we all survived and made it back to the ship in one piece. Riding around that gorgeous island on scooters was the most fun I had had in a long, long time!

Friends. Having so many friends on the cruise with us made it extra fantastic. Adam and Ethan ran around with their friends day and night. Disney had a million things to keep them all entertained. Ethan's group of friends loved watching people ride up and down in the glass elevators so they could make faces at them. After the first night on the ship, we realized Adam needed a midnight curfew. We had to extend it to 1 a.m. on a couple of nights because the Disney Kids Club and planned some really fun midnight activities for Adam's age group. Jeff and I loved vacationing with some of our best friends. There was always someone to talk to or hang out at the pool with or to save us a seat for the shows. After our trip, I asked the kids if they would ever want to go on another cruise. They said only if all of their friends went with them. Jeff and I felt the same way - it would never be the same without all of our wonderful friends - it truly was a once in a lifetime experience!