Vacation day 5 - Grand Cayman

Well, here we are again. Actually, I’m still here from my last post (I’m posting two days in a row, so go back and ready day 4 if you haven’t already). It’s now 10:45 p.m., the wind has picked up, and a few clouds are rolling in. In think I’ll go down a deck where it’s still open to the air, but it’s more sheltered from the wind. It’s a tough life, here at sea. It’s been at least 10 minutes since my last piña colada.

Let’s see how day 5 went.

We had to get up at the early hour of 7 a.m. this morning in order to be ready on time. Well, 7 a.m. IS early for a vacation. We had arrived at our next port of call, George Town, Grand Cayman. Capital city of the Cayman Islands. Population: 12,000. And what an interesting 12,000 they are. But well get to that in a bit. 

There’s a huge reef around Grand Cayman, so we had to do what is called tendering in order to get from the Magic to the shore. Tendering is just a nautical term for taking people off a big boat and putting them on a little boat to take them ashore. Roman was very excited to “ride the little boat” which was miniscule compared to the Magic, but still held something like 50 people.

George Town was really something. It was unlike anything I’ve ever seen. Let me try to paint the picture for you. I think the Cayman Islands are still part of the Commonwealth, and maintain a British governor. Wether that’s true or not, they drive on the “wrong” side of the street, which was very hard to get used to. I kept looking the wrong way when trying to cross the street. They also have roundabouts, or traffic circles, just like in England (or so I’ve seen on the TV).

From what I saw, there’s was no real planning put in to the housing layout. There were 3 million dollar homes within sight of old tin-roof shack dwellings. It was very strange. The animals were interesting too. We saw chickens walking around outside a Dairy Queen. Little lizards were easy to spot anywhere you looked, and I saw at least 10 iguanas over 3 feel long. Right in the city. Oh, and one Very large rat.

The rat was funny. And it (sort of) brings us to the next thing about George Town; the shopping. Specifically, the jewelry. There are dozens of high-end jewelry shops, all selling very nice merchandise and fantastic prices. Well, ‘fantastic prices’ is sort of a relative term. Christine was looking at a huge diamond ring that would easily sell in Canada for $6000 and we could have brought it home for the low price of $2300. Absolutely sir, we’ll take it. Would you take a cheque?

Which brings us to the rat. Christine was looking at a $15,000 necklace when a woman screamed outside the jewelry shop. We looked towards the open doors to see what was going on just in time to see man with a broom chase a rat the size of a small dog into the store. He trapped it with the broom, and jumped on it a few times before sweeping it outside. Christine looked at me in horror, I looked at the store owner, and he looked at me like that sort of thing happens every day. Utterly unfazed, he went on about the necklace. Crazy.

We had an excursion booked on Grand Cayman, Captain Marvin’s Stingray City Tour and Snorkeling Adventures. It was awesome. We took a bus to the company’s boat, and  headed out to sea. There were probably 20 of us on the boat, and I think everyone had a great time. Our first stop was an area called the coral gardens, which was pretty far out, but still well within sight of shore. Still, the depth was only around 10 feet or so; 10 feet of the cleanest, crystal clear water you’ve ever seen. It was like a pool, only cleaner. Christine got her flippers and snorkel gear on and ventured out while I stayed back and got Roman ready with his life jacket and goggles. He was very brave as he went into the water with Christine, and I stood by and took a few photos. After a while, Roman wanted back in the boat and it was my turn to snorkel. 

It didn’t go as well as I imagined my first snorkel trip would go. I made the mistake of jumping right in off the boat (rather than going down the ladder) and I took in a but mouthful (lungful) of seawater. Coughing and sputtering, I wasn’t deterred. I got my composure together and continued on my way. The coral gardens are amazing. Imagine a white sandy floor dotted with coral formations all between 3 and 8 feet in diameter. Oh, and billions of tropical fish, everywhere you look. It was beautiful. I would have enjoyed it more if my lungs and throat weren’t burning with sea water.

Our next stop was the barrier reef that surrounds Grand Cayman. Roman didn’t want to go in to the water this time (he was getting sleepy) but I did much better there. I went first, followed by Christine. The water was still around 10’ deep, and the barrier reef actually pokes out of the water in spots, so it’s massive. The fish were much bigger there. Not “eat you” big, but still pretty big. There were fish from the size of your little finger all the way up to the size of pie plates. We saw brilliant coral formations, blazing with colour. Plants of every size, shade, and shape. All through crystal clear water. It was breathtaking. I could have spent hours there, but after too short a time it was time to go.

Our last stop was the area they call stingray city, which is a sand bar just inside the reef.  The water was only around 4’ or so there, so we didn’t need snorkel equipment. By this time Roman was asleep, which was so disappointing; he would have loved this part. The water was warm and as we entered into it, dozens of stingrays swam all around us, gliding by our legs, and brushing by our fingers. It was so cool. Christine had enough after a few encounters (she got a little freaked out) but I loved every minute of it. The stingrays were docile and graceful. One of the guides got a hold of one and taught us how to hold it. She was probably 3’ across, and seemed perfectly content to lay there in my arms. They feel very slippery, with a sort of bristly feeling. It’s hard to explain, but it was definitely worth the trip. I loved it. The overall experience was terrific, and the crew were friendly, funny, personable, and informative.  I’d certainly go again.

We would have liked to do some more shopping in Grand Cayman, but time was short and we had to get back to the ship. hopefully we’ll have some more shopping time in Cozumel tomorrow.

Once we were back on the Magic, Roman headed back to the Oceaneer’s club and Christine and I got dressed up to for dinner at Palo’s, which is the exclusive restaurant on the Magic, and (by some accounts) the finest restaurant on the sea. I can certainly see why. As a bit of an explanation, most of the food is included in the price of the cruise, but with Palo’s, there’s a $15 fee per person, and you have to book it. We were lucky to get a time that was convenient for us.

The entire experience was amazing. Our waiter was great, and he made our experience so much better. We had so much food it was shameful; course after course came, and it all was fantastic. I had what was probably the best steak I’ve ever had, and I thought Christine was going to explode from her reaction to the desserts. We normally share a dessert when we eat out; at Palo’s, we shared three. We can’t think of a better meal we’ve had at a restaurant. It was moments like this that make us feel like this is really the honeymoon we never had.

When we headed back to get Roman, he very much wanted to stay at the Oceaneer’s club, so we decided to take in another live show. Twice Charmed is the story of what happens just after the ending of Cinderella. It turns out that Cinderella’s wicked step mother has a wicked fairy god-father and he turns back time so they can stop Cinderella from putting on the glass slipper. It was really well done, and the special effects, costumes and sets were excellent.

Well, it’s getting late, and we have a big day in Cozumel tomorrow. Good night from the Disney Magic!

Vacation day 4 - A Day at Sea

Wow, I have a lot to write about. I’m writing this at around 10:00 p.m. from the upper deck of the Magic. There’s a gentle sea breeze blowing, the stars are out, and it’s probably around 20 degrees celsius; in short it’s a wonderful way to round out a couple of incredible days.

Ok, let’s get started. Yesterday we had a day at sea as the Magic continued her voyage to George Town on Grand Cayman. I started the day early by writing the entry for the previous day (which I’m sure you all enjoyed immensely) while Christine got Roman up and ready for breakfast. It was a brilliantly sunny day and our plan was to drop Roman off at the Oceaneer’s Club and have a nice swim and soak in the sun while Roman played below decks with the other kids and councilors. Unfortunately, Roman had other plans, and so we ended up taking turns playing cars with Roman and laying in the sun.

The upper decks were quite crowded, as many of the passengers made their their way towards the sunlight, but we still managed to find some room. That’s the unfortunate thing about a day at sea; nobody going ashore makes for a crowded ship. Still, it was not too bad, and we had a nice time working on our tans.

Here’s a tip; if you ever find yourself on a cruise and you want to participate in an evening’s formal activities, don’t work on your tan, and don’t wear sunglasses in the sun. Our lilly-white prairie skin was a teensy bit overwhelmed by the caribbean sun, and we ended up with awful tan/burn lines and raccoon goggles, which didn’t go exactly well with our formal attire that evening.

Even that couldn’t dampen our excitement for formal night on the Magic. Formal night includes a show they call the Golden Mickeys, which is a sort of mock awards show where they “award” various characters for things like best hero, best villain, best love story, etc. It’s all just a pretense for a very elaborate Broadway-like live theater performance. They put on an amazing show; each number was an interpretational collage of different Disney movies. It was quite something to see, and it certainly kept all three of us very entertained.

We had some time before dinner so we decided to try our luck to see if Roman would smile for a formal family photograph. You’ll all soon see what Roman thought of that idea when we bring the photo home. We ended up putting Roman down and having a nice photo of just the two of us, which everyone around us thought was pretty funny. We also had our photo taken with the Captain of the ship, but I doubt that one turned out any better. Roman just doesn’t like having his photo taken. I wonder who he gets that from?

Dinner that night was incredible as usual, and Roman was very well-behaved. After the meal the young master decided he wanted to visit the Oceaneer’s Club, and Christine and I were happy to oblige. We checked out one of the bars on board where a musical comedian was performing.  He could sing and play just about any song request from the audience and put a funny twist on it. He was hilarious, and immensely talented. After his show Christine and I danced a bit and then thought we should try to retrieve our boy. 

Once again it was hard to get him away from the kid’s area, but we had to do it. We had an early day the next day in Grand Cayman.

Vacation Day 3 - Key West

Good morning from the Gulf of Mexico!

As I suspect will be the case with at least a few days on this journey, I didn’t get a chance to post yesterday. So let’s catch up, shall we? We sailed all throughout Saturday night and arrived in Key West, Florida by 11:30. Prior to arriving in port, our morning was filled with a nice breakfast followed by some family fun in the pool. Roman has an awesome time splashing around in the water, and we had a hard time getting him out. Christine and I took turns alternating between playing with Roman in the pool and laying in the sun. It was wonderful.

By the time we got out of the pool, we had docked in Key West and were able to leave the ship. Or rather, those who didn’t have a 3-year-old in dire need of a nap could leave the ship. We headed back to our cabin for a bit of a family nap. Once we were rested we were ready to hit the town. We had thoughts of Key West, but Roman had thoughts of hot dogs. So once we were rested and fed, we were ALL ready to hit the town. That was around 4:00 or so.

Key West is a very unusual town. I can see why people call this a “walking around” town. There was a lot to see and do within walking distance of the pier. It’s hard to describe Key West. The streets are packed with shoppers, eccentric locals, food vendors, bars, and all manner of things. There were small alleyways between buildings that were jammed with small stalls selling just about everything you can imagine. It was such an eclectic mix of stuff; a guy sitting on the sidewalk weaving and selling hand woven palm leave hats, in front of a high-end clothing store. That sort of sums it up. Christine can probably tell you more about the shopping. She did some power-shopping  during our short time in port.

While some of that power-shopping was taking place, I found myself an internet-cafe and uploaded some photos to Facebook. I’ll talk about the technology in a later posting but suffice to say that internet access was far cheaper in port than it is on the ship!

After some shopping (and a taste of some of Key West’s famous key lime pie) we headed back to the ship. The sun had gone down and we were treated to the awesome sight of the Magic light up at night in port. I’m still trying to get over the size of this thing.

It was around 6:00 when we got back to our stateroom, which was enough time to get Roman ready for the pajama party that was happening in the Oceaneer’s Club (the kid’s area) as the ship left port. We decided to leave early for the party, and were so glad we did. We ran into lots of Disney characters on the way, and were able get some neat photos. Roman was at first very shy but it didn’t take him long to warm up to Mickey and the gang. Well, that was until we ran into Sleeping Beauty. She was gorgeous, and I think Roman hit a whole new level of shy. It was adorable.

Once the photos were over and Roman was happily playing with all the other kids at the pajama party, it was time for a Christine and I to enjoy a nice adult meal. I’ll talk about the food here in a separate post, but let’s just say for now that the food is wonderful. After a very agreeable meal we wandered the ship for a while. We took in some live music, and part of a comedy show that was playing in one of the bars. By that time it was WELL past Roman’s bed time, so we made our way back to the Oceaneer’s Club to  get our son. It was no surprise that he didn’t want to leave, but we eventually got him back to the stateroom. He and I watched a movie (mostly to calm him down, as he was still SO excited) and Christine headed up to the upper decks for a late night soak in the hot-tub under the stars. It was a late night for all of us, but we had such a good time. And that’s how day 2 of the cruise went.

As I write this, it’s 10:00 on vacation day 4. It’s a beautiful morning, the sun is shining and the temperature is perfect. We’ve just had a nice breakfast, and are looking forward to our day at sea. Tonight is formal night, so we get to play dress up. Look for photos of us in our fancy clothes!

Vacation Day 2 - Magic

The accompanying photos to our trip are here

Wow. There’s a reason why they call this ship the Magic. But lets back up a bit before we get to that.

The remainder of our journey yesterday went relatively smoothly. We boarded the next plane to Orlando (5 hours late - see yesterday’s entry) and arrived around 11:30 p.m. local time. We were directed to Disney’s check-in counter in the airport (they have their own section of the Orlando airport) where The Disney Magical Express was to whisk us away to our vacation wonderland.

The Disney Magical Express turned out to be a bus, and it wasn’t exactly express-like as we waited 45 minutes in the bus for other passengers to arrive, but all-in all things went smoothly. One cool thing was that they took care of our luggage, which arrived at our hotel a few hours after we did (the hotel brought it up to us the next day).

The hotel. We stayed right in Disney World at the All-Star Movies resort, which is one of Disney’s value (cheap) resorts. Our room was unexceptional, but we didn’t require much for the short overnight stay. There was still plenty of cool stuff to look at, though. We were beginning to comprehend the grand scale with which Disney does stuff.

Even though it was well after 2 a.m. when we finally got to bed, Roman was a real trooper through all of this. He was a little overtired (and excited), so getting him to bed was a bit of a chore, but at the end of the day (night) he did better than we could have hoped for him.

That brings us to today. As I write this, it’s 11:15 p.m. and we’ve had quite a day. We had to travel from the hotel we stayed in last night to a different Disney resort (on our dime), so we could get a shuttle to the port. This one was called the Swan Resort and was certainly not one of Disney’s value (cheap) resorts. It was probably the nicest hotel I’ve ever been in.

After an hour or so wait at that hotel (traveling on this vacation involved a LOT of hurry up and wait) we were finally on our way. The driver of this Disney Magical Express (bus) was lively and informative as he kept us entertained with what I imagine bus drivers like to call humor (it’s about what you’d expect), but he managed to give us a few chuckles. He also told us where to look at exactly the right time to get the first glimpse of our ship. We were still miles away from it, but as we crested the hill and got our first look at the Magic, there was palpable excitement in the bus as we all took in the awesome sight of the Magic in port.

When we got to the port itself, there was (of course) more waiting. And once we got our “key to the world card” (combination room key and “key to your credit card” card) we had to show that no fewer than 5 times before we were able to board. Security was airport tight.

Upon boarding, we were greeted by a crew member (Canadian!) who welcomed and chatted with us, and once he asked our family name, announced (very) enthusiastically over a microphone “Ladies and gentlemen, may I present to you the Fehr family!” This was met with thunderous applause from the gathered crew. It felt a little cheesy, but was still pretty neat. Disney sure knows 

So, we were finally on the ship. It was somewhere around 3:00 or so. We had some time to wander around and take in the spectacle that is a cruise liner. The ship is incredible. She’s 964 feet long, weighs 83,000 tons and has 877 staterooms. Everything here looks fantastic. Everyone here is friendly. We can’t quite get over it. I’ve never experienced any vacation where there are hoards of people who’s only goal is, ostensibly, to make your experience better. It’s quite something.

To kick everything off, everybody gathered on the upper deck for a big party. There was dancing, music, singing, and such an incredible energy. It was an amazing feeling. And where was Roman for all of this? Passed out on Christine’s shoulder. Considering that this was still a day of mostly traveling, which is hard on everybody, and that Roman missed his nap again, it was to be expected. He did, however, wake up just in time to see all the Disney characters come out to perform. He was pretty excited about that. And that’s how we left port Canaveral; dancing and shouting and laughing in the sunshine with the rest of our fellow travelers. What a beginning.

Oh, and you know that big horn that big ships sometimes sound? Sort of a BWAAAAAAAAAAAP! Well, on the Magic, it a huge horn that plays the tune of “when you wish upon a star”. Awesome. I’m not a huge Disney fan or anything, but this ship has a way of turning everyone into a kid again.

Roman was in awe of the kid’s deck. We took him for an introductory tour and we had a hard time getting him to leave. There are huge pirate ship play structures, movies, games, activities, and so much more for him to do. The area has an entire of staff who facilitate everything and make it fun for the kids. Heck, if we wanted to, we could drop Roman off every morning at 9 and pick him up at midnight (not exaggerating). If the kids are there over a meal time, they’ll feed them. And if anything ever goes wrong, we carry a pager so we’re notified. Roman will be with us for most of the trip, but it’s nice to know there’s a place he can go if we want some grown-up time.

Well, it’s getting late and I’m awfully tired. It’s been an amazing day, and we’re looking forward to what tomorrow will bring. We make our first stop at Key West tomorrow. We have nothing specific planned, but I’m sure we’ll find something to do. Good night, everybody.

Vacation Day 1 - Traveling with Frustration

I wasn’t supposed to have time to write this. We were supposed to be happily on my flight to Orlando, watching movies, playing with my son. We were to arrive in Orlando by around 10:00 or so, just in time to put a sleepy Roman to to bed. 

That’s not how it’s going to happen now. But I’m getting ahead of myself.

Our day started like any other family about to embark on a cruise, which is to say hectically. But manageably so. We got everything packed up and my sister Tracey drove us to the airport. Roman was very excited to get on the airplane, and after a nice bre

akfast with Tracey we boarded the plane. Our 11:30 flight was 

delayed around 15 minutes or so (the start of our problem) but eventually we were on our way!

During the flight, I watched part of the Bill Mahr documentary “Religulous” on my iPhone (which is, so far, hilarious) while Roman and Christine watched in-flight videos. Our flight had a touch-screen multi-media centre built in to the back of each headrest, so that was cool. Roman had one small time-out on the plane, but that was likely because he missed his nap. We were late into Toronto, and ended up sitting on the tarmac for 20 minutes waiting for (by the pilot’s explanation) another plane to “get out of our way.”

So by the time we got to the point where we were waiting for our baggage to go through US customs, or more accurately, by the time our baggage finally showed up, we’d already missed our connecting flight. So a 50 minute Toronto layover has turned into a 5-hour Toronto layover. With a 3-year-old. Grrrr. At least Air Canada gave us meal vouchers for our trouble. $10 each. In an airport where a beer costs $8 and a hamburger costs $12, that’s a bit of a slap in the face. 

If there is a bright spot, it’s that we don’t actually get on the boat until 2:00 p.m. tomorrow. So even though we get in to Orlando in the middle of the night, we should be able to make the cruise. But I don’t want to speak too soon. Air Canada still has lots of opportunity to screw this up for us.

At least we weren't the only ones. There ware other families who were flying to Orlando that were also put out. So put out, in fact, that they jumped the line in front of us to get served first. Nobody looks good while traveling, so I'm posting their photos here for a bit of revenge. Ha! Take that!

It's actually not as bad as I'm making it out to be. Roman is being awesome (currently reading books) and we all still really looking forward to our cruise. My next post will probably be from the boat, unless I have time to post from our hotel.  

Ciao!

To blog or not to blog

Well, this is it. I figure now that I'm done my degree (a bachelor of science and a diploma in business administration), I'll finally have time to dole out the wisdom I've been selfishly keeping to myself all these years.

This blog will be mostly about my thoughts on technology, including iPhone stuff, Mac stuff, and PC stuff. I'll also be talking about parenthood (and probably asking for advice), family, the occasional grammar rant, and whatever else comes into my head.

Or possibly, this may be my first and last post. You never know.

In any case, let's get started.

First off, I'm trying to combine a few different technologies here to (hopefully) make things a little easier for everyone. This blog actually lives on blogger (http://fehrway.blogspot.com), but I'm importing it to Facebook as well. I'm also trying something out where if a facebook user comments on a post, it shows up on my blogger page. So all you Facebookers out there, feel free to leave a comment and we'll see if it works. Here's the tutorial I followed.