Day 11 (Cruise Day 8, Disney day 1)

This morning we disembarked from the ship at about 07h30-08h00 after a very rushed breakfast, basically sat down ordered wolfed what we could down and rushed out.  We went through Customs and Immigrations to enter back into the USA, again off came the shoes, belts etc etc - oh my hat - the security issues.....  We then waited and waited and waited for Lana & Matt to get through customs....mmmm Lans sorry but gonna have to tell them - Madam did not tag one of her suitcases = d i s a s t e r.  6400 passengers on board each with a minimum of one bag......need I say more.  Eventually we see the four of them come through the customs door - Matt after trying to stay calm had his shirt untucked, his hair all over the place, his face as red as a tomatoe.....Lans with a silly grin and the kids none the wiser.  Well we then wait a little longer for our transfer to arrive - a driver arrives shouting out "Anthony - Disney Port Orleans, Anthony - Port Orleans" - since none of us are called Anthony we ignored him and wondered when his damn passengers were going to appear.  Eventually we found out his name is Anthony and he is transferring us to Disney Port Orleans in Orlando !!!!!!
The transfer to Disney was very comfortable and we stopped on Christmas Day for lunch - awesome...wait for this......McDonalds....ok ok get off the floor - we had no other damn option and besides in 30years time we wont forget where we had Xmas lunch in 2011 will you remember yours?????
We arrived at Disney's Port Orleans - French Quarter Hotel, well is was....o k ......infact it was great but coming off of that ship anything less than 7* would not have been good enough !!!!!  S p o i l e d ....or WHAT????
We checked in and unpacked and had an introduction to Orlando like never before, we took the bus to Magic Kingdom and a boat from there to (cant recall will fill this in later) but it was a cowboy saloon ho down type dinner, here we had a real SOUTHERN fried meal, serious ho-down music, dancers and our meal consisted of :  Southern Fried Chicken, beans, corn bread, mash and ribs...yeehaaa !!!!!!
We had our first group dinner photo taken here which cost us a small fortune something like US$31.00 for one photo, which Lana managed to destroy before we even got home as she folded up the stroller with our costly photo inside she says "it was a highly resistant stroller to fold up" we now know why !!!!!!!!!!
Magic Kingdom tomorrow - whoop whoop !!!! Mickey here we come.......

Day 10 (Cruise day 7)

We all woke up at our own pace this morning, the girls looked after their little cuzzies for the night to give Matt & Lan some badly needed time out!  Joshua entertained all at breakfast by balancing a tea-spoon on his nose... Which then got all the cuzzies having to give it a try...... So funny!!!!! We all met up at 10h00 in Studio B to take photos with Santa, all the kids received a small gift from Santa and Joshie whispers to Lana "Mom I asked for a toy" ......so damn cute we then tried to explain that this Santa was just here for his photo, and his toy will come later!  He then gave poor Puss in Boots such a huge hug it must have sent him to go "pottie" cause he left and did not come back!  Britt & Lana went to do the zip-line across the ship ......eek but these two are brave! Britt has not stopped talking about how awesome it was!  Next was ice-games show where skaters perform the game "monopoly" on ice - have to see it to believe it!  "Let you entertain me" was an aqua show which again showed the amazing divers at their best!!! Everything they do they do as only the BEST, the costumes are incredible, the scenes are amazing the shows are just unbelievably good.  I suppose when you have a choice of people to employ from anywhere in the world you choose only the "cream of the crop".  The staff on board are so service driven its like they all are on constant video camera watch, they are helpful, friendly, out goimg, full of fun, laughter and quick to assist wherever possible. Kids had their last rides on the carousel today!!!! They think this is exciting imagine when they get to Disney World. Had to pack, as bags must be outside our staterooms by 23h00 tonight.  We need to be off the ship early tomorrow morning for our transfer to Orlando!   Mixed feelings today, excited for Christmas and Disney World but oh so sad to leave this floating dreamland, we are all feeling like we  could easily do another week in a heartbeat!

Day 9 (Cruise Day 6)

MEXICO.........OK this day had to be mine!!!!! (STAUM) only because we where in Cozumel, Mexico... BEST DAY OF MY LIFE!!!!! Okay, well that morning we woke up pretty early.... Got off the boat, took pics, and walked through all the stalls selling Mexican goods, the adults decided to rent a car for the day to go and explore the island, we ended up with two fantastic FUN fire engine red jeeps....we started off by taking the roof tops off (of course) it was sooo hot and  then we where off!! lol.... so we drove around mom, luli, matt and fern had Margaritas in a coconut at a stall on the beach along the way ...... just saying but it was 'delicious' :D .......oops secret is out - hey Shan you me on a stunning white beach, blue seas and Margaritas.......teenage dream.....yeah man!!!!!! The beaches are amazing here the sea is so blue it looks almost unreal !!!!!  We took photos and had a great time having nachos, jerky chicken, taco's and the adults had more Margaritas - we watched Matt undress and wear only a Mexican Poncho and a Sombrero just because the sign said naked beach, we know we are not rule breakers but really uncle Matt I think it was just the name of the beach!! lol........ Fern definitely requires advanced driving lessons as poor uncle Matt had to constantly jump out of his STARTED jeep to come and start ours!!! could it maybe have something to do with the fact that it was a stick ( manual) and not automatic vehicle??   Matt and luli then got pulled over by the cops because of all us kids standing at the back of the jeep waving, laughing and just having fun!!! They just gave us a warning and let us go...... We then went to Car........something park where we had swam with dolphins, my favourite sea animal, wow what an experience it was fantastic something we will never ever forget.  We kissed a dolphin, let a dolphin kiss us on the cheek, played with them and learnt all about them, it was awesome!!!!!  I did not want to get out of the water, there was one dolphin that took a liking to me and would  not leave me alone, he kept swimming away from his trainer and coming to me.  After the dolphin experience we went to watch a sea lion show this was cute but did not have the impact on us the Dolphins did.  After that we swam in the pool at the Nature Park and then left to drive back to our ship.  Cozumel is such a small island we drove right around it  in a couple of hours, so amazingly beautiful. We then had time to do some shopping before we embarked again.  What an amazing day!!!!!

Day 8 (cruise day 5)

Today we had a day at sea....which means we cruise without a stop to our next destination which is Mexico, we had a chilled, relaxed Breakfast, took our time and just took it slow......after breakfast we decided to go to the pool to swim, tan and just chill..It was just so nice to sit in the blazing sun and to just relax! After a good swim we chose to get out the sun and to go watch a movie in the A Theater, A movie that Naid said shes been wantinsg to see for a long time "Mega Mind" in 3D it was so cute and the way the way Jamie fell asleep on Naids lap!!! hehe too sweet !!!!  We went for an amazing dinner and then went to bed early, the adults apparently only got into bed after midnight sometime, sounds like they had fun too..... 

Day 7 (Cruise day 4)

Cruise day 4 Woke up today as the ship was starting to dock at Montego Bay in JAMAICA .....yeah man !!!!!!! We had a quick breakfast and then got the all clear to disembark, the Jamaican's are so friendly and sweet.  We made our way to the tour guides as were were on a tour bus which would take us around Jamaica and show us the sights etc, our tour-guide Tehena was a real lovely lady, she sang to us, told us all about her Island and made us giggle and laugh with all the funny sayings and antics.  Yeah man is like the most said two words in Jamaica.....very cute we were all speaking like Jamaicans by the end of the day.   We went for lunch in Montego Bay - Pier One, we had the most incredible time, the guide taught us a dance and we then had to compete  "The Jamaican Dance off"  against the other tourists but HEY we from AFRICA nobody has more rhythm than we do and Matt won - whoop whoop Matt......... Back on the bus to have a stop for some shopping, whoop whoop our favourite activity, so many awesome goodies here, Britt bought a Reggae coloured Jamaican hat with dreadlocks and all.....what a laugh!!!! Soon it was time to embark again as we set sail to Mexico.....cant wait. had an awesome dinner on board watched a show and then Fern + I went for a drink or two and finally found our way back to our cabins at well after midnight. What a day it was!!!!!!!!

Day 6 (cruise day 3)

We woke up and found we were in Labadee, Haiti.   We got ready and met the Janks on the island as the kids had been up since 04h00.  We walked around the shopping area of Labadee as this whole area has been leased to Caribbean Cruise Liners.  We bought a few curious and were then ready for our excursion to a Sand Bar.   We then got onto another boat where we were welcomed with a rum punch for the adults and a virgin punch for the children (juice....boring!!!!) lol.... Our skipper then headed out to sea to find a Sand Bar, this is an island of sea sand that sticks out of the sea when the tide is low.  Can you imagine we  swam in the middle of the ocean, Erin made a sand castle on the SAND Bar along with two little Japs that spoke with a hectic American accent - so odd.  The water was so warm and we felt we could just stay in there the whole day!! We got back onto the little boat and headed back for the main island..... On our way back on the boat the skipper made the ride back very exciting by going over the waves fast and making us all bounce around in the boat - it was awesome!!!! We like flew in the air every time.. When we got back to the main island Mom + Fern decided to go walk + explore Labadee some more while  the rest of us went back on the boat to have lunch and go spend the afternoon at the pools etc..... Other wise the island was so beautiful !!!! It seemed so peaceful and quiet. Great experience!!! Naid and Britt xoxo

Day 17 (Disney day 7)

New Years eve..... We were up early this morning, to take advantage of the Magic Hour at Disney's Animal Kingdom, we zipped to Asia land and went on the very famous Mount Everest ride. The girls did the ride four times, it was hair raising, you go up about three stories high scream around a bend and low and behold if the tracks are not smashed up and broken, yip you head backwards down a roller coaster faster than lightening! Scariest ride I have ever attempted, needless to say we got off and went again....I think the exhaustion has gotten to my brain! When the park opens for everyone else but the Disney residents this ride is closed after about an hour or two as the queues get so long you can stand for 3-4 hours for one ride. We did the Animal Safari after that, where you get to see animals rescued by Disney World the animals are all in an amazing condition. They are put in barns during the evenings and are all hand fed so really just a big zoo but I guess the Americans never get to see what we can see in a heartbeat!! Shan & Britt got another fast pass for Mount Everest while I took Erin to USA land to Dino Park where her and I did two or three rides! We all met up at the Lion King Show, the costumes and props again were out of this world, was nice to sit and relax for an hour. Our feet and legs are finished and we are beyond exhausted, we are seriously tired of crowds, there are millions of people everywhere and apparently this year there are 2 million more people visiting the parks than what there were last year. I am positive we have met, bumped into, or lined up with at least half of them. Magic Kingdom was at capacity today and their gates were closed - seriously scary thought. We have reservations at Tony's Town for tonight but with the crowds we have decided to take a rain check especially because of Jamie & Josh as they are way to small to be put through that crazyness!! So far Animal Kingdom(Mount Everest) for me  has been my favourite, the rides are scary, exciting, brilliant, the park itself is beautiful and it's not as busy as the others! At least you can get to do more than four rides in two hours here!, Shopping side they had a few different items to what you find in the other parks. , what really impresses me is the fact that you can look at an item in any of the parks, 5*, 3* hotel or Downtown Disney and all the prices remain exactly the same!! Not like you can then get yourself a "bargain" ...lol.
We had the Cirque De Soleil (Circus show) this evening, breathtaking choreography and live music of Cirque du Soleil's La Nouba amazing acrobatics, beautiful dancing, incredible music and the perfect dose of humor.
Followed by a bit more shopping and good old USA pretzels