Cruising with a Toddler. Our Photo Intense Trip Recap of the 9-7-13 Carnival Dream

[Name Of The Game]

Enjoying your review! :)

[Mrs.C05]

Still reading. Looking forward to more of St. Thomas. It is one of our favorite ports as well. Such a beautiful island.

 

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[2 cruzen]

Lol...talk about "fine print" in the 4 for 10 sign.:eek::D

Edited November 6, 2013 by 2 cruzen

[firstcruiseever]

Great Review! LOTS AND LOTS of pictures. My kiddos (4 and 3) had tons of fun looking at the pictures with me. They don't know they are going on a cruise in like 11 days!! WOOT! They kept asking me "mommy can we go on a cruise ship like that little boy?"

 

By the way, you did really good pictures especially with the camera that you had. I was very impressed!

[mephistoles]

Day 8, Part 1: St. Thomas U.S.V.I. (Shopping)

 

 

 

 

It was about 8:15am when we finally left our cabin and made our way to the Gangway to exit the ship. Many people were already off so we had no problem getting an elevator and getting off on St. Thomas. As we walked along the pier the Disney Fantasy which was next to us in Port Canaveral was once again next to us here in St. Thomas.

 

 

My son was soooo over the top when the Disney ship docked next to us in Nassau on our last cruise. He really wants to sail Disney...one day... He all but lost his mind when the Disney's ship horn played their signature tune. I told DH that they just HAD to let everyone know that they were in town. :D

Loving your review.

[TeknikDC2]

Thanks for the remarks everyone. The next update should be coming today.

 

Great Review! LOTS AND LOTS of pictures. My kiddos (4 and 3) had tons of fun looking at the pictures with me. They don't know they are going on a cruise in like 11 days!! WOOT! They kept asking me "mommy can we go on a cruise ship like that little boy?"

 

By the way, you did really good pictures especially with the camera that you had. I was very impressed!

 

Yeah I'm of the idea that you can never have too many photos. So i'm constantly taking pictures of something. I honestly don't know what we did in the days before Digital. As for my camera its a Canon and I do like the photos it takes. However when I get a new camera again I think i'm gonna go back to Samsungs. The canon takes great photos with natural coloring. The samsungs photos are more bright and vibrant though which I personally like more.

 

My son was soooo over the top when the Disney ship docked next to us in Nassau on our last cruise. He really wants to sail Disney...one day... He all but lost his mind when the Disney's ship horn played their signature tune. I told DH that they just HAD to let everyone know that they were in town. :D

Loving your review.

 

I forgot that Disney ships did that. We left Port Canaveral and St. Thomas before the Disney Fantasy did so we never heard the horn go off. Daniel could recognize the Mickey logo on the ship though and loved pointing at the Disney ship as he knew what it was. Someday we may go on a Disney Cruise.

[JaniceB]

Did you need a car seat for Daniel?

[TeknikDC2]

Did you need a car seat for Daniel?

 

No he just sat on our laps and we didn't let him near the edge. The trucks don't have any seat belts or anything so they wouldn't be safe in a car seat anyways. I mention that they drive crazy but we never felt unsafe. There crazy but they are still good drivers.

[TeknikDC2]

Day 8, Part 2: St. Thomas (Island Tour)

 

We loaded back onto the truck and continued our tour of the island. As we continued our climb up the mountain to our next destination Godfrey continued to tell us about the Island and is History. The land lushness seemed to get nicer the higher up the mountain we got. It is so pretty here. We passed a few houses where all that remained were foundations and we were told these were houses distroyed by some of the Hurricanes that had hit the island. I guess many people actually don't have hurricane insurance on the island because it is rediculously expensive now.

 

[TeknikDC2]

 

At nearly the top of the highest point of the island we reached the distination we were heading to. We were at a large gift shop and look out area called Mountain Top and its famous for being the home of the original Banana Daquari. This was new for us as when we visited the island in 2009 we didn't come to Mountain top as it had burned down in a fire and we went to the Great House instead.

 

 

We would have 30 minutes to take in the views and shop around the store. After parking the tour truck we went strait to the observation deck where Godfrey once again explained what we were looking at. We now had a view of the other side of the island.

 

[TeknikDC2]

 

Directly below us was Megans Bay. A beach that National Geographic named as one of the top 5 beaches in the world. Off in the distance though you could see some of the other Virgin Islands such as St. John.

 

 

The view of the surrounding islands from here is incredible and its worth coming up here for the view alone. In the distance you could also see some storms passing by that look really cool.

 

[TeknikDC2]

 

After being told about what we could see from the view at Mountain Top we went back inside to look around the shop. But what this shop was really famous for is the original Banana Daquari. We couldn't come all this way to the birthplace of this drink and not try one. In the back of the shop they have a huge stand set up that sells the drink. We don't drink alcohol but they do offer a Virgin version of the drink which was pretty good. We just got one to share. Daniel really enjoyed it as well.

 

 

We made our way back to the truck as we finished off our drink as it was nearly time to go. Outside of the Mountain Top Shop it is very beautifuly landscapped. There are also many different pirate stautes that tell about some of the pirates that called St. Thomas home.

 

[TeknikDC2]

 

When we left Mountain Top we started to make our way back down the mountain on the opposite side of the Island from where the ships were docked. Thats because this side of the island is where most of the beaches are located. We passed the Great House where we stopped last time we visited but now seemed very empty with all the buisness back at Mountain Top.

 

[TeknikDC2]

 

Shortly after we started driving Daniel fell asleep in Kieras arms. The drive down the mountain was slow though so he slept pretty soundly. I'm sure he didn't know what he was looking at anyways so its not like the tour was exciting to him. This side of the island is just as lush and beautiful as the other side and we loved getting the peaks at the ocean and other islands in the distance as we made our way down the mountain.

 

[TeknikDC2]

 

Our next stop on our way down the mountain was a spot called Drakes Seat. This was another spot that we didn't stop at on our 2009 visit. There is a litteral seat here now but it was not so back in the 1500's. This spot was mearly a lookout spot for Drake to spy on enemy ships when they passed by the island. The view of the nearby Virgin Islands and Megans Bay is great from here and you could undersand why he would use this as his lookout as the views were great but it was still close to the waters edge.

 

[TeknikDC2]

 

I walked up to Drakes Seat but Kiera and Daniel stayed behind on the tour truck since Daniel was sound asleep. In the parking lot there was a guy with a dressed up donkey trying to get people to take pictures of it for a small cost. The view from the parking lot area though was almost as good as from the Seat itself.

 

[TeknikDC2]

The next stop we would be making was the one we looked forward to the most. It was finally time to go to the Beach. When we visited in 2009 we were on a much tighter budget so we decided to go to Coki Beach. However we vowed that if we ever came back to St. Thomas that next time we would go to Magen's Bay which has an entry fee of $4 per person. With Godfrey Tours he once again gives you a choice of what beach you want to go to. Ether Magens or Coki. Needless to say we stuck with what we originally planned to do if we ever went back. We would be going to Magen's Bay. And everyone else going to the beach in our tour group had the same idea.

 

 

We pulled up to the gate of the beach where Godfrey took our money to pay for our beach entry. Daniel was free but I don't recall at what age you would have to pay for a child. We were then dropped off in the same spot we would be picked up at. Remember we were originally told we wouldn't end up having the full 2 hours at the beach? Well we were ahead of schedule so Godrey told us we would have the full 2 hours after all. He would be back to pick us up and head back to the ship at 2pm. Which was kind of nervous considering we had to be back at the ship by 2:30pm. But we put out trust in him. Besides he was picking up another tour group to take back as well. He then left to take part of our tour group back to the Ship while the rest of us would enjoy our time at Magens Bay.

 

 

 

 

 

And thats it for today everyone. Part 3 will be coming soon which will include our time at Magens bay and the rest of St. Thomas. So stay tuned for it soon. Thanks again for the support and to all of you following along. I do really appreciate it. Thank you.

 

 

 

 

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[CruiseDiva77]

Really enjoying the review! Thanks

 

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[firstcruiseever]

We don't drink alcohol but they do offer a Virgin version of the drink which was pretty good. We just got one to share. Daniel really enjoyed it as well.

 

CTR??? Just noticed your comment and thought I would ask :)

Edited November 8, 2013 by firstcruiseever

[jenseib]

What a beautiful island. My goal is to cruise there eventually!

[TeknikDC2]

CTR??? Just noticed your comment and thought I would ask :)

 

haha you guessed right. Yes we are LDS.

 

What a beautiful island. My goal is to cruise there eventually!

 

You totally should. St. Thomas is one of few places that I could visit over and over again and not get sick of it.

[JaniceB]

No he just sat on our laps and we didn't let him near the edge. The trucks don't have any seat belts or anything so they wouldn't be safe in a car seat anyways. I mention that they drive crazy but we never felt unsafe. There crazy but they are still good drivers.

 

I was wondering if they had seatbelts. I guess the laws in St. Thomas are different than the states.

[luvcruisin80]

I love this whole thing. My husband and I have cruised many times, but are taking our 1 yr old in December on her first. Thank you for this!!!

[firstcruiseever]

haha you guessed right. Yes we are LDS.

 

 

 

You totally should. St. Thomas is one of few places that I could visit over and over again and not get sick of it.

 

HAHAHA LOL. Me and my husband were sitting there and zooming in the photos near the collar area trying to figure it out :D

I put CTR cause I didn't know if you were, so didn't want to offend or anything! Very cool :)

[TeknikDC2]

HAHAHA LOL. Me and my husband were sitting there and zooming in the photos near the collar area trying to figure it out :D

I put CTR cause I didn't know if you were, so didn't want to offend or anything! Very cool :)

 

haha no problem at all. I sometimes do the same thing lol. It seems without fail that someone will always stop us to ask if we are LDS and we are told they could tell by the "look" that most members have.

 

 

 

Sorry for the delay in the next update everyone. I've slowly been working on it but with my Mom still in town its been hard to find the time lately to put it together.