Are You Ever Coming Home?...No! I am playing with Wizards, Farkles and Sparkling Friends completed 10/21/2017 About This Page:

[jenseib]

We now were heading back to the port area, but still had some beautiful views.

aruba164 by Jenseib, on Flickr

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Back by the ostrich farm again.

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I believe this is the Divi tree. The single lady that was with us was pointing them out to us.

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She was cruising with her husband, but he doesn’t like to do excursions, so she does them herself. This was her first Disney cruise, but she cruises other lines several times a year. She grew up in the Caribbean (I forget which island now), and she was familiar with all the islands. She told us that Curacao was mainly sand and looked like a dessert and its best to go to a beach there. I thought that was funny as I thought Aruba looked like a dessert too.

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I was impressed with the houses here so I took quite a few pictures along the way.

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We went by the boulder house again and I got a better picture this time around.

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Our new lady friend also pointed out mango trees. Claire perked right up. She is obsessed with mangos.

Soon we were rolling back to port and dropped off a little ways from the ship.

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We wanted to go shop around a bit but Nick wanted to go back to the ship. Our lady friend said she would walk with him and be sure he got back onboard. We all loaded him with our towels so we didn’t have to carry them anymore.

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Emily and Kelsey went behind then and watched from afar just to be sure he got back on.

We then looked around at some of the street shops and also headed towards the mall area for Starbucks.

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It was really hot in this area. It wasn’t as open and the breezes were not flowing like they had been out in the park area.

We found the mall and got in line for Starbucks.

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Claire and I got strawberry Frappuccinos and they were the best we ever had. They had extra strawberry flavor to them which made them fantastic. They didn’t have the capability to pay using my app, so they gave me a discount instead, which was nice.

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We sat at a table and used the free wifi we were getting there and some of them made some phone calls.

Now here is where we were all stupid! Jeanne was the only one who had brought a charger with her and a cord. I had a charger, but not a cord. Claire had nothing (all her stuff was in her other bag) and Jeanne’s girls had nothing. I am always prepared…and I could kick myself for not double checking to see if I had a cord in the bag. We all had our phones down to about 10% and we would pass the charger and cord around to top up. I went to a nearby gift shop looking store and they had cords so I asked how much. I would be willing to pay $5-10 for one….$30….. Nope. I will let my phone die if I have to. LOL.

After we drank our drinks we decided to move on and shop our way back. I picked up a magnet for me and Claire found a shirt she likes. There is particular style of shirt she got last cruise in a couple of the ports and she loves them This Aruba shirt was in that style.

We then made our way back to the ship.

aruba188 by Jenseib, on Flickr

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Back on the ship, we showered and just kind of chilled. Claire and I headed to Flo’s for some lunch. I think we got chicken strips, fries and pizza to share. As we were eating I saw another co-worker of mine walk by. I said hello to her and we chatted for a few minutes. We are personally not close and I knew she was sailing with her family and her best friend. At this point in time, I think Patty was the only other person to have seen her and talked with her, but I could be wrong. I noticed she was really sunburnt and later I saw they sold lanacane in the gift shop and I messaged her to let her know in case she wanted to get some.

Claire and I had talked about seeing Pirates of the Caribbean, Dead Men Tell No Tales, but honestly I was tired. We have seen it already and really liked it. Claire really wanted to see it, so we headed off to the theatre to watch. The seats were awful. Mine tilted WAY back and they are just not roomy or comfortable. The theatre was pretty empty so I scrunched down on my spine and flopped my legs over the chair in front of me.

After the show started Claire thought she saw Emily come in….then later Nick and Jeanne. They sat in a different spot.

The movie was great once again, but I was tired and sitting in one place and I kept nodding off and catching myself before I fell over. When the show ended we knew to stay till after the credits to see the very last scene…..only one other family did that as well.

Jeanne, Emily and Nick. Hahahaha

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At some point we ran into Cass and family. It was Canada Day and they were all dressed in cute Canadian shirts. They had played the Canadian trivia and won….but she said the questions were impossible, even for a Canadian and Deano was reading the questions and he had no clue about any of it.

Tonights “show” was the prem”ear” of Cars 3. We didn’t have an interest in seeing it. I think it started at 5:30 while Pirates started around 5:15. After pirates we just kind of chilled a bit and at one point I went outside to see Aruba at dusk.

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It was really pretty and the lights in the port area would change colors.

It was time for dinner then and we headed off to Royal Court. Tonight’s menu was international.

There were a lot of things I wanted to try and I ended up with like 4 or 5 appetizers and a couple of entrees but I did not take pictures of them all. Some of it was good and some not so much. Jeanne was an adventurous eater tonight as well.

This was a Vietnamese spring roll. In the past when I have had a spring roll it has been deep fried…like an egg roll. This had some disgusting plastic like crap on it and the inside was cold. Several of us ordered it, took one or 2 bites and pushed it aside.

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I believe these were Argentinian empanadas and I liked them.

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Canadian Cheddar cheese soup. It wasn’t the best I ever had, but I liked it.

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I think I also may have gotten a Caesar salad.

I think this was the USA Prime rib. The meat was good, the corn sucked…but all corn on the cob is gross unless you get it freshly picked….and I wasn’t a fan of the potato.

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For dessert I got the USA cheesecake.

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Some people got the crème Brulee which came with macaroons. Jeanne’s girls asked for extra macaroons and gave me one to try. I can say I am still not a fan.

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I think this was a night where Kira wasn’t feeling too well. Rob ended up taking her out while we sat and chatted and Cass told me that Kira just doesn’t like the long 2 hour (plus in some cases) meals. I felt bad for her and hoped she would feel better later. I was kind of upset that Claire wasn’t being friendlier to her either and we did have a talk that night. I think there was just a big difference in age with that 2 year gap between them. Jeanne made a comment to me a couple of times that Claire was very mature for 12 and she was even more mature than her 2 14 year kids. I guess I never saw that before as Claire is my baby. And compared to my niece who is just 10 months older than Claire, there is a big difference …though over the last 2 years they have been getting closer and liking more of the same things.
I also saw that perhaps Kira looked up to Claire as an older kid, while Claire was having sparkly eyes for Jeanne’s daughters who were older. And sadly it didn’t seem like they all had the same interests.

I can’t remember exactly what we did tonight and I have seem to have lost 2 days worth of Navigators and this is one of those days. At some point Jeanne and I were walking by the shops…probably window shopping…and we came upon Tiana.

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Back in the room I think we watched some movie again….I know at one point I started watching the Founder, but didn’t get far and restarted it a few days later.

Towel animal for the evening.

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I went to get some drinks for our room and passed the pool, which had a ton of kids all around it. I guess they had some special kids club activity going on.

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We then settled in for the night. We had a big day again tomorrow and needed our rest.

It was a great day. I know I told the good and bad about our excursion, but we loved it. It had some hard elements to it, but it was still so much fun for us. It just might not work for everyone and I wanted to be sure everyone is aware of it.

We didn’t pull out till 1 AM. I had wondered if the horns would go off when we did, but I never heard them. I asked other people and some said they waited up and never heard them while others said they did go off. So I guess I’ll never know. LOL.

We had another busy day coming up tomorrow…..another port day….a first for the Fantasy!

[pamcarey]

Sounds like a nice afternoon and evening after your excursion. It's too bad that the seats in the theater aren't more comfortable!


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[chezp]

What a great end to the day! I loved your description about how you came so close to falling asleep in the theatre - I could just picture that.

[SuperDave]

Sounds like a great day. Too bad you weren't all prepared to charge your phones! Dinner looked good for the most part. Sounds like you enjoyed the shows and can be quite easy to doze off especially after a long and tiring day.

[patclairesmom]

Sounds like a great day!

[rhinohunter]

Your choice of the excursion at Aruba shows how adventurous you and Claire are. I have heard of desert islands, now I can say I have seen one. That does look like a very tiring tour. I can understand your nodding off during the movies.

[momtolexi]

I loved all of your Aruba pictures and I would LOVE to do that adventure. Okay...need to book that itinerary now!

[crythomas]

Another great update. I don't like many excursions but they are the best way to see the island and not just stay in the shops area. I was shocked when you wrote that the woman's husband did not do any.

[jenseib]

Originally Posted by pamcarey

Sounds like a nice afternoon and evening after your excursion. It's too bad that the seats in the theater aren't more comfortable!


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I was talking to someone else about those seats and they were saying how many are breaking basically and that they are so worn out and some are better than others, but they really need to replace them all.

Originally Posted by chezp

What a great end to the day! I loved your description about how you came so close to falling asleep in the theatre - I could just picture that.

I like to be able to do so much stuff, but my body and eyes don't always agree. lol.

Originally Posted by SuperDave

Sounds like a great day. Too bad you weren't all prepared to charge your phones! Dinner looked good for the most part. Sounds like you enjoyed the shows and can be quite easy to doze off especially after a long and tiring day.

I couldn't believe I forgot my cord. I am usually one who carries extras.

Originally Posted by patclairesmom

Sounds like a great day!

It really was!

Originally Posted by rhinohunter

Your choice of the excursion at Aruba shows how adventurous you and Claire are. I have heard of desert islands, now I can say I have seen one. That does look like a very tiring tour. I can understand your nodding off during the movies.

I think if it had been just the 2 of us I probably would have gotten complaints from Claire, but with the other kids she found it really fun.

Originally Posted by momtolexi

I loved all of your Aruba pictures and I would LOVE to do that adventure. Okay...need to book that itinerary now!

I would do the Southern again in a heartbeat!

Originally Posted by crythomas

Another great update. I don't like many excursions but they are the best way to see the island and not just stay in the shops area. I was shocked when you wrote that the woman's husband did not do any.

I guess it works for them. She does what she likes and he does what he likes and they can still vacation together. I used to think it was a bit strange when I would go without Skip on vacation....but since he seems to never want to go anymore I decided this is the norm and it's special when he comes. LOL.

[jenseib]

Day 8, July 2, 2017, Curacao

Today was a first! We were arriving in Curacao!

Now they kept announcing that this was the first time the Disney Fantasy was ever in Curacao, but sometimes they would say it was the first time Disney was in Curacao. Our taxi driver told us it was the first time that ANY Disney ship had ever visited, but when I got home I looked it up and the Magic has been here before.

Still it was a first for this ship and a first for me. This island would never have been on my radar if we hadn’t been stopping here.

This morning was similar to yesterdays. I got up and got ready and looked out our window to see if we were pulling in.

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Claire and I went up top to watch some more. Just as we got up there the horns started going. I only got one on video as we walked out.

https://youtu.be/epl2nIt3eMk

We looked at the view for a little bit.

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I believe we had a little rain this morning or last night too.

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It was another beautiful island. I found it similar to Aruba.

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Whoa! Look at the bridge! It looks so scary.

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I love those colorful buildings…and that bridge that leads to it…I think it is a walking bridge. I believe Cass walked over it. I think our taxi driver told us it is nicknamed the swinging old lady, (he was very hard to understand) because if boats came through it would swing out of the way. I guess it was really old and they recently re-did the whole thing.

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Hello Curacao!!!

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We got a quick breakfast and then met up with Jeanne and her family. Today we were going to Sunscape on day passes. Sunscape is an all-inclusive resort. It normally cost $89 per person for a day pass, with kids being cheaper. We found out that we had access to a class they offer and if we took it and passed, then we could go for free with our credentials and up to 3 other family members at $25 a person. That was a great bargain and included food and drinks. Jeanne and I decided early on we wanted to do this as it would be a cheap port day and we sent in our request very early on. The other gal we work with also sent in a request for her and her friend’s family…then Patty did as well. At first they gave Patty a little run around, but eventually approved her. Brook sent in a request kind of last minute and was denied. I then emailed and asked if I could add 2 more to my family (since it was just 2 of us) so we could at least get 2 of Brook’s family in for cheaper and she could pay for the 3rd, but I was told no. They typically only allow 4 per day with family members and they were already at 6 for the day and were not allowing anyone to add extra people. Brook found something else to do then.

We headed off the ship and walked out and found several people offering taxi’s. We asked what it would be for 6 and he said $10 a per person. We had researched and knew it should only be about $5-6 per person one way and we said no. The next guy we came to said the same price and we told him no as well. We were looking for $5 and would go out the gate. Several drivers kept telling us we would never find one for that price and we said we would take our chances. We kept walking and just about out the gate and taxi driver #2 came after us and said he would do it for $7 each. That worked for us and he did come after us a ways, so we followed him to his vehicle.

We all hopped in his vehicle and we gave him the name and address and he seemed a bit confused about why we would want to go there. I got a little scared….maybe this place was crappy? We had done a little research and the place got some mixed reviews, but all seemed to be happy with the pool and beach and that is really what we wanted.

I was in the front seat and our driver talked a bit, but he had a really thick accent so he was hard to understand. I asked him what the language of the island was and he said there were 5 spoken here. One was more native to the area, Papiamentu (and they spoke it in Aruba too) which I believe is kind of a mix of several languages, and then Spanish, English, Dutch and I think French.
He pointed out some things and I would occasionally take a picture, half the time not knowing why.

I think this was an all-inclusive resort.

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We then headed over that big bridge we had seen from the ship.

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He told us about the “Swinging Old Lady”, but again, he was hard to understand.

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A look back at the big bridge.

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He told us today is Flag Day and that the town would be quiet as they celebrated the holiday. He said he suspected many things in town to be closed today in honor of the holiday. We then came to a stop as there were young people running with a torch. I tried to get pictures, but the windshield reflected his dash.

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It was really neat to see though.

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And this is the truck that would pick up the kids after they ran their leg.

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And then we were off again.

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And soon pulling into Sunscape.

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Well it doesn’t look bad from the outside, so that’s a good sign.

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We paid our driver, giving him a few dollars for a tip as well and then headed into the lobby. I believe we had to wait just a minute or 2 till the people in front of us were done.

The lobby was very nice and modern looking.

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Jeanne was the one who made the original reservation for us, so she pulled out her email confirmation and we talked to the lady at the desk, who was sort of confused. We had to fill out paper work and we told her Claire and I were together and Jeanne would be paying for her kids.

It took a little time and Patty and her gang walked in then too. The lady then says that the adults are $89 and we quickly let her know that is wrong. We tell her the person we had communicated with and that she said to talk to her if there was any trouble. The desk clerk said she had to go check something so we waited.

Look how excited she is……

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Patty said their driver (who was cheaper by the way) said that today was going to be a busy day in town with the holiday and that there will be more stands open and a parade, etc. We totally laughed as our driver told us the opposite.

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The gal came back and everything was now cleared up for her and we only had to pay $25 for our kids (and for Fred in Patty’s case). They did have to take our license for the day and they would get those back when we checked out. Jeanne asked what to do if they carded Emily or Kelsey, who both still look young for their 20’s and the lady said they could just show their ID. Um…you just took our ID’s. LOL. OH, she said just to go to the bar right now and let them know that the ID’s were at the desk.

So it was a little disorganized at the desk, but we were doing something that is not the normal everyday thing there, so I am sure the desk clerk just probably had never dealt with it before.

We headed out the back side then and towards the beach.

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The resort itself didn’t look too bad. This is one of the AM Resorts Value properties.

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I thought the pool was beautiful for a Value.

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[chezp]

Nice property!

I remember reading about that bridge - I just went and looked it up, as I thought we might walk over it. It's the Queen Emma Bridge. I don't see any other name for it, but the locals may have one, it wouldn't surprise me.

[rhinohunter]

This island looks a lot better than Aruba. I love how excited Claire is about all of this. (ha--ha)

[SuperDave]

Curcao looks like a nice island and love the color of the buildings. Nice modern look to your hotel with the whites and reminds me a bit of the B Resort I stayed at last October in DS.

[patclairesmom]

Curacao looks beautiful. I love all the different colors. Hopefully, the rest of the resort is as nice as it's pool.

[jenseib]

Originally Posted by chezp

Nice property!

I remember reading about that bridge - I just went and looked it up, as I thought we might walk over it. It's the Queen Emma Bridge. I don't see any other name for it, but the locals may have one, it wouldn't surprise me.

Yes that's it! That is the local nickname. I had googled swinging old lady and several things come up.

https://1000awesomethingsaboutcuraca...dy-queen-emma/

Originally Posted by rhinohunter

This island looks a lot better than Aruba. I love how excited Claire is about all of this. (ha--ha)

I really thought both islands were great and I would not hesitate to go to either again. They were pretty clean and jut beautiful.

Originally Posted by SuperDave

Curcao looks like a nice island and love the color of the buildings. Nice modern look to your hotel with the whites and reminds me a bit of the B Resort I stayed at last October in DS.

I loved the colors too.

Originally Posted by patclairesmom

Curacao looks beautiful. I love all the different colors. Hopefully, the rest of the resort is as nice as it's pool.

It was very nice in the public areas. We would go back again if ever in Curacao