Dream-y Review - July 8-15

[ItsADryHumor]

Hi there! I didn't, but there were lots of fun things. My kids loved the group games, the arts and crafts (the 8 year old made a necklace for herself and a bracelet for the Cabana Boy, which he dutifully wore every night), and things like "build a volcano" that was later used to destroy a village (did I mention they're like Mafioso??). There are pay "parties" from 10-1 if you want to go out and have a late night kid-free, but we had plenty of fun with our kids (and I think they did with us, but they may have been humoring us...)

[dsotm73]

 

I started at the gym, which was shockingly PACKED. But everyone was polite, and a gruntingly good workout was had by all. Don't be afraid to take the stairs everywhere, or run from Deck 1 up to the spa deck before your workout. It helps justify all the eating.

 

 

What time did you visit the gym? In the past I’ve gone early and never found a crowd.

 

Also I love the Lanai on deck 5 for an early morning run/walk to preemptively burn those calories.

 

 

 

 

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[hockeyluver]

Thanks for taking the time to do a review, great start so far. looking forward to more!!

[txgranny]

following....you are absolutely hilarious!!

[ItsADryHumor]

following....you are absolutely hilarious!!

 

Thanks! I had to be funny; good looking didn't turn out so well! ;p

[ItsADryHumor]

What time did you visit the gym? In the past I’ve gone early and never found a crowd.

 

Also I love the Lanai on deck 5 for an early morning run/walk to preemptively burn those calories.

 

 

 

 

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I went between 6 and 6:30 AM, so you would have thought the same. Oh, no; this ship was CLEARLY about working on dat fitness.

 

I debated that, but the decks were SUPER slippery in the AM due to humidity, and I would totally be the one to bust my buns.

[ItsADryHumor]

I'm so sorry that I've been remiss in continuing the review; I've had a CRAZY week. The Cabana Boy went to Nigeria on business, among other things; I told him that if I got an email from a Nigerian prince asking for money or info, I wasn't having it, and it was nice knowing him.

 

Okay! So we opted not to leave the boat in Jamaica; we had done Jamaica before, and we had a limited excursion budget due to some unexpected medical bills, so we chose to spend the day by the pool (well, okay, on our AMAZING semi-secret shady deck for part of that) and letting the kids OD on waterslides and pool time. We also enjoyed no lines for Guy's and no lines at the buffet. #magical

 

The kids wanted to go to Camp Ocean in the afternoon, so the Cabana Boy and I read books and took naps before we got them, and then they had a little rest time before dinner in the MDR.

 

After dinner, we took the kids to one of the PG comedy shows. It was pretty funny (and packed to the gills)! He made a few political jokes, but they were equally balanced, so no harm, no foul. (When the first one came out, though, I looked at my husband and was afraid of how the audience might react - politics are a super touchy subject for a lot of folks right now...)

 

We took the kids back to the room to get some shut-eye and get ready for Grand Cayman (where we'd be blowing ALL the moolah).

 

We woke up the next day, pulling up for the tender process. I'd never done this before, and it was pretty fascinating. For other "tender virgins" (do with that what you will), you basically go down to the usual decks to debark in port, except you walk across a little bridge to get on a two-story tender boat that takes you to the pier.

 

After about a 10 minute wait, we were on the top deck of the tender boat, and we waited about another 10 before we headed for shore. We'd booked the Stingray/ Snorkel/ Starfish with Captain Marvin's, and we quickly reached their office a little early. We checked in for our excursion, and then we headed to a few neighboring shops to kill time.

 

We were picked up by our great driver (whose name eludes me right now) and had a good chat about his family and the island on the way to get on the tour boat. We went into a small neighborhood and then walked out to get on the boat - there were only about 12 of us, and the Captain Marvin's guys. Y'all, this boat was so clean you could have eaten on it (shoes were not allowed on it; you put 'em in a crate). The gentlemen running the tour were AMAZING and so friendly, giving us a little briefing before we took off. We puttered through the neighborhood before reaching more open water, where the captain opened it up...

 

...and I nearly opened it up.

 

Some things to know about me:

1) I live in Florida.

2) I love the ocean.

3) I tend to get seasick easily.

 

I'd been taking Dramamine every night, but apparently it wasn't enough for the somewhat choppy seas and my natural tendency to urpage. While no actual urping occurred, I was pretty miserable after snorkeling while we waited for everyone else to reboard the boat and head to Stingray City. I'd taken a sip of the juice they provided (juice and water - yassss, queen!), and I was pretty sure that grape juice was about to sully the decks. I looked over at the 8 year old and that poor kid had tears running down her face from her own nausea, so I just held her close and prayed that we wouldn't have to swab the deck.

 

When we reached Stingray City, it was super busy, but our tour guides found a spot for us and gave us tons of info on the stingrays and how to approach them. The 8 year old immediately perked up, being Doctor Doolittle 2.0, and listened for all the animal details. The 10 year old wasn't sure. I was just reminding myself that if I chummed in the water, the stingrays wouldn't judge me.

 

We met "Big Mama" and some of her man harem, and feeding them commenced. I helped my son (he was pretty unsure), and one stingray decided to explore my legs for food. Ankle to bum. I yelled out, "YOU COULD AT LEAST BUY ME DINNER FIRST, DUDE!!!!" but apparently the stingray didn't care about my hang-ups. The guys from Captain Marvin's took adorable pics of everyone with the rays (my kids smooched them and the 8 year old wore one as a cape - you could buy your pics for $50, but we did not) before reboarding the Cleanest Boat to Ever Make Me Cry and heading for Starfish Point.

 

Blessedly, things were smoother, and we were able to get out and play with the living starfish. It was pretty amazing, and there was a trampoline boat in the water that you could go on and jump (we didn't, but others did, and it was hilarious). We had to deal with a little sea lice (jellyfish eggs) in the 8 year old's swimmer, but that isn't abnormal for us this time of year, so we vinegar-ed her up using some they had on the boat. We headed back to the boat and headed for shore.

 

I was still pretty green, so the boat ride back and the van ride back were, in a word, miserable. But that was me and nothing to do with the Captain Marvin's folks; it was a great excursion, and well worth what we paid for it. I tendered alone back to the ship as the kids wanted to buy their souvenir here, and it was a looooong tender wait and ride. But I had a cool drink and a Guy's burger when we got back on the ship, and after that I felt quite a bit better.

 

The fam reboarded not much later, and we let the kids slide a few times before we took them to clean up and rest a bit before dinner. After dinner in the MDR, the Cabana Boy and the 10 year old went to Dive In Movies, while the 8 year old and I had "girls' night." We went to the shops and to karaoke, where the 8 year old wanted to sing Greatest Showman ditties but, in their absence chose "Pokerface" by Lady Gaga.

 

She's 8 going on 20-something, heaven help me. I mean, all 8 year olds have a working catalogue of Lady Gaga in their repertoire, right? (rethinks parenting approach...)

 

So we sang it (well, I sang it - she chimed in a few times - she said "she's shy") in front of one of the best karaoke crowds ever. On our video, they are cheering for us and later for her as I tried to get her to sing. After that, she was pretty tired, so we went back to the room and watched cartoons per her request. The menfolk returned around midnight, and we all rested to get ready for our last port: Cozumel.

[christyran1228]

 

Some things to know about me:

1) I live in Florida.

2) I love the ocean.

3) I tend to get seasick easily.

 

My story is the exact same as yours on every snorkling/tender trip I've ever been on (even a water aerobics class!). Until I discovered seabands. They aren't very fashionable, but they seriously help. I am usually very skeptical about things like that, but after our last cruise I am a believer. The only time I got sick was swimming in Jamaica ... because I wasn't wearing them. lol

 

Thank you for the very entertaining review!

[ItsADryHumor]

My story is the exact same as yours on every snorkling/tender trip I've ever been on (even a water aerobics class!). Until I discovered seabands. They aren't very fashionable, but they seriously help. I am usually very skeptical about things like that, but after our last cruise I am a believer. The only time I got sick was swimming in Jamaica ... because I wasn't wearing them. lol

 

Thank you for the very entertaining review!

 

You're welcome! I was *this close* to begging them to just let me hang onto a rope behind the boat. It was so bad.

[j603]

Loving the review. We set sail on the Dream 3 weeks from Sunday, 3 weeks from today if your count our 2 day pre-cruise NOLA adventure.

[pascalburns]

have enjoyed this review.

[j603]

Wishing there was another installment to read during my lunch break. LOL

[pirate4me2]

Wishing there was another installment to read during my lunch break. LOL

 

 

 

Haha I’m on my lunch and came on here hoping for the same thing!

 

 

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[ahottoddie]

Loving the review! Looking forward to more to help pass the next 60 days till we are "Dreamin!":cool:

[angiem0217]

Loving the review. We will be on the Dream the week of thanksgiving

 

 

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