Ensenada, Mexico - La Bufadora

 

 

Day 4 - at sea

 

I can't remember this day too much.  I know the kids swam again and Brit and Ty enjoyed coming and going to the kids club.  Cam liked going from his room to play screens to the 9th deck for pizza and ice cream.  I can't believe we don't have a picture of ice cream cones - the kids had so many.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This day we were so tired.  We had watched the Frozen play, but had an hour until dinner.  Carson got to be crazy tired, so I stayed home so he could sleep.  Landon brought me home some french onion soup and a strawberry shortcake dessert. 

 

 

 

 

 Day 5 - Ensendada

 

Ah... breakfast buffets.  It was so nice to take a break from making meals and washing dishes.

 

  

 

Luckily, our ship could dock at Ensenada, so we got to skip the whole tendering process.  For this day's excursion, we split up.  Landon took the boys kayaking, and I took the two little ones for a sight seeing tour, since they were too young to kayak.  First, we stopped at museum that was once a hotel and casino.  We bought some bracelets there.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Next, we took a one hour bus ride to La Bufadora.  We had to pass lots of vendors on the walk up.  

 

 

 

 

And we got to see the blowhole! 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

See the kayakers? That's what the boys did.  That wasn't them - I'll get Landon's pictures later. 

 

 

 

 

Lexi got this painted shell (which unfortunately shattered the next day). 

 

 

 

The bus gave us some time to look around.  It was too much time ;-) The vendors wanted to sell me something and the kids, particularly Lexi, wanted to buy everything.  But we ended up getting a snack at a convenience store, and getting some tacos.   

 

 

 

Back on the ship, we went to see Pinocchio as a family.  Carson fell asleep and was out for like 2 hours.

 

 

The servers made him a bed. He eventually woke up.

 

 

 

 

We ate that night at Animator's Palate again.  But this time, they did a light show. The picture frames were tv screens. Even Mickey Mouse came. 

 

 

It was sad to say goodbye to our serve, Dhonny. Cam was especially sad about it.

 

 

Here's the rose Dhonny made.

 

 

 

Disembarking was quite the procedure.  The line was huge, since we were all getting off at the same time.  I wondered where all the people had come from.  Disney had done a good job hiding all the people away in different places during the cruise.  It took maybe 45 minutes.  I started talking to the man behind me. That cruise had been his 10th Disney cruise! Now we know what to expect, it'd be easier to do it again.  We felt like we ate all the time, and needed more exercise, but it was definitely a fun and tiring experience :-) 

Cabo San Lucas, Mexico

 

 One thing we learned about cruises: book them early.  We couldn't do certain port excursions because they were already booked. (Some also have age requirements, so it also seems easier to take a cruise when your kids are at least 3 years and older.)  That said, we still have a good experience.  First, we had to tender off the ship, since it couldn't pull up to port here.

 

 

 

We took a scenic tour of El Arco, which is The Arch in Spanish.  It was a hot day, and we were dripping sweat before getting on the scenic tour ship.  But it was 3 levels high, we didn't get sea sick, and they were good at passing out drinks right away.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After the cruise, we were waiting in line to board a tour bus, when someone approached the kids and put a lizard on their heads.  He was trying to make some money off the tourists :-)  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We went to a glass blowing factory.  It was really impressive.  It takes years to become a master. This time, the man made a sea turtle.

 

 

Luckily, no one broke anything in the shop.  Ty bought a glass dolphin.  Brit bought a heart ornament.

 

 

 

 

 

 Then, the bus took us to a hotel with a great view for drinks. That picture is on Landon's camera. 

 

That night, we ate at Tritons.  It was pirate themed.  Before dinner, Landon had taken the kids up on deck 9 for a pirate party/ trick or treating.

 

 

Disney Cruise - at sea

 I have to say, getting onto the ship and getting settled was pretty frustrating.  For some reason, my QR codes didn't get emailed to me, and the whole check-in process, from one cast member to the next (we went through several through checking in) consisted of having to explain and look it up other ways.  We brought our luggage along, and before we could drop it to the stateroom, had to lug it around to see where our emergency meeting/ life boat location was.  Then, our phones' wifi wasn't working... needless to say, next time, I'd check my luggage over to them.

That first night, we ate at Animator's Palate.  We had fanstastic servers. We were second seating, so dinner was at 8:15 pm.  That got late as the week wore on!

The next morning, the kids went to kid care for a bit.  I walked around a little and enjoyed the view for a bit.

 

Guest Services was amazing. I noticed on the app a character meet and greet that was full.  They made a note the previous evening, and by morning, they said we were scheduled to see the characters.

Up on the 9th deck, lunch was always available.  The boys especially loved the pizza.  We got the pineapple ice cream a few times.  The pool had a slide and a big screen tv that played Disney movies.

 

 

We saw some flying fish.  Landon even saw 2 dolphins.

The pumpkin tree in the lobby.

I believe this night we saw Jon Armstrong, the magician.  He was good and funny! 

The second night for eating, we ate at Tiana's.  We even joined the parade and danced around with the servers and other people.

Our server, Dhonny from Indonesia, was so fun and cheerful! He was great with the kids.  He even got came to eat some vegetables :-) He gave us challenges with crayons and papers.  For example, he drew 3 circles.  He then said we can only add one straight line and one curved line to make an animal that has four legs and a tail. We couldn't figure it out.  But then her turned the three circles into the word 'dog' by adding the line for the d, and a curved line for the g.

Our stateroom helper was great too! He got the beds all ready (dropped the bunk bed) and sometimes left chocolates and/ or towel animals.