jenseib
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Back to our lovely ship.
It was a really fabulous day. We enjoyed this port so much and I would go back to Sunscape on a Day pass in the future for sure. It was a wonderful beach and the water was fun for swimming and snorkeling….and hanging with friends made it all the better.
Back on the ship, Claire went to the room to get a shower and I went up top for a bit and took some pictures.
Just look at that water! Isn’t it beautiful?
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Our beautiful ship from the scary big bridge.
We did a little shopping at the huts along the way to the port and then took some pictures. Claire found a shirt she liked and I got a magnet.
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Jeanne took a picture of Claire and I, then I took a picture of her family.
The resort also has snorkeling gear included ( I didn’t realized that), and Kelsey and Emily went and got some and went out to snorkel. I asked Claire again if she wanted to go out and join them, but she didn’t.
The weather was great! It was hot, but we were in a shady area and there was a breeze blowing as well. Of course if we got too hot we could just go in the water too. We also had some nice refreshing drinks.
I loved all the plant life.
All too soon it was time leave. We didn’t want to be late for the ship and we wanted to look around the port area a bit too.
Patty’s family left a little earlier as they wanted to do some shopping. She messaged us and said they were stuck in traffic because of a parade, so to plan to leave accordingly.
We gathered our stuff and I took the resort towels back. Jeanne collected our towels up and gave me mine and then she ended up with extra towels still. Hmmm? How did that happen? We knew there was at least one other party that we didn’t know who were also from the Disney ship…I did talk to them at one point….and we wondered if they had dumped their towels on our chairs when they left. Patty had all of hers, I had all of mine, yet we still had like 4 extra towels. Oh well, we’ll take them back. Disney loses a crazy amount of towels each and every sailing…..so always be sure to bring yours back.
We headed to the lobby and sent the older girls out to get a taxi coming and we collected our license. It wasn’t long and we were heading back to port.
Once again Nick had the majority of the towels. LOL.
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I got out of the water, but obviously didn’t clean off my lens as I now have water spots on my pictures.
There is our beautiful ship.
I joined my friends and we just relaxed and had another drink. After a bit we were getting hungry. Patty had gone over to the Blue Water Grill, which was right next to us, and she made an order for food. We decided we would all go over and order and found a spot to sit as well.
Hello birdie!
I think I got a chicken sandwich, thinking it would be a deep fried patty, but it was actually grilled. I also ordered an amaretto sour. This came out.
That does not look like any amaretto sour I have ever have and I doubled checked that it was that. He said yes. It was and WOW!!! That sucker was strong. Too strong for me and I only drank half.
They had a BBQ going too, so Nick and I got in line for some ribs and chicken. Emily and Kelsey had also gotten pasta that looked good and I thought they got it from here, but after waiting in a long line, we found out there wasn’t any pasta. They had gotten it from the indoor buffet. At this point I was too full to go get any.
The food was good. I wouldn’t say over the top great, but decent for a beach side place…and it was included with our stay, so you can’t beat that.
After lunch, we relaxed and possibly dozed off a bit and just enjoyed the afternoon. I then took a walk to get some pictures.
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These fish looked like they glowed in the dark water.
I kept following this parrot fish to try and get a good shot of him too. Fish don’t understand they are supposed to stop and pose for me.
At this point the fish were really getting in my face and also my camera. I don’t like to touch fish, I only want to look at them. When one thought my finger was something to suck on I totally jumped and got the heck out of there. Too close for comfort for me. LOL!!!!
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I made my way over to the far side of the beach (towards where the ship was) and there was a rock wall and it had a lot of great things to look at. This is one of the times my camera turned off so I didn’t get as many pictures as I thought.
These fish were not shy either and they kept coming up to my face.
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It was really really shallow here.
I chased this fish all over trying to get a decent picture of him. I took like 15. LOL.
Look at the eyes popping out of the sand. I assume they are crabs.
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Ummmmm…..there is a sea urchin here and the kids had walked right on these rocks. EEEK!
I actually saw several but they were always under the rocks….but I told Claire not to walk on them again.
A look back at the beach.
After a bit Claire asked if she could go back and sit down. I guess watching me snorkel wasn’t much fun. I told her she could use my stuff, but she said no.
I kept up with my explorations.
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I just couldn’t get over how blue the water was. I swear I have never seen water this blue before. I am not sure if summer makes a difference or not, but all the ports seemed to be bluer than I have ever seen them before.
I then snorkeled a bit. It was hard for me to tell what I was taking, so a lot are just literally pointing and shooting and hoping for the best. I found out that at times I hit the settings and it would change from underwater settings to something else and also at times I accidently turned it off and I thought I was taking pictures, but I really wasn’t.
At first I moved over towards the rocky area where we were sitting by.
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Claire and I walked up and down the beach a bit. I wanted to snorkel and had brought my mask and snorkel. She just was coming along. I think some of the other kids went to play volleyball, which isn’t really Claire’s thing.
We found a better spot to get in the water.
The water was shallow for a ways out, but then the drop down to the deep was fast once you got there.
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They also had a towel hut over here and I stopped to get us some extra towels so we could keep our cruise ship ones clean for our return trip. They asked for our room number and I told him we were just here on a day pass as we were on the Disney ship. The one guy was all excited and asked all sorts of questions about the ship. He said his dream is to sail on Disney someday.
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She approved.
Another co-worker of ours had now shown up with her family and her friend’s family. We said hi and talked a bit and they went to find a spot to sit.
I took some pictures of this beautiful place.
I had been walking around a bit. I never saw the inside of a room, but it looked like some might be better than others from what they looked like outside. Over on the further beach area, away from us, they had balcony type rooms, and the building just looked nicer. On this side, the rooms had small slit windows and just a little less as nice. I did look on Trip Advisor when I got home and I couldn’t find pictures of the rooms that had the slit windows, but the ones with balconies did look pretty nice for a Value resort.
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Kelsey was so determined to get to the top and it was hilarious.
And that splash in the back is her falling off.
Emily is happy with the side, but Nick made it.
Emily made it for a short time and then slid down.
We then headed back to our seats for a bit and they played out there for a bit and then they came back and we all just relaxed and talked. I knew that Nick was getting more comfortable around us as he actually said my name and asked me a question.Jeanne had brought a game of Nick’s and encouraged Nick and Caleb to play together. So they both seemed to be opening up a bit.
The bar opening time now had come and we headed off to get some drinks. Claire and I got Strawberry/Mango daiquiris, her’s being a virgin one.
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Patty’s family…before they ended up moving up closer tous.
We got the kids together for a group shot. At this point, Caleb hasn’t done a whole lot with us other than one dinner. Notice him on the end. (right side next to Claire). Just a little stand offish. A few days later you will see him with his arms wrapped around the girls. Hahahaha! The kids kind of bonded today.
Since it was early, they decided to go out to the float thing you climb on before other kids started taking it over. They all walked out, unbeknownst to us at that time that this was the rocky part. Later I walked down and found the better way to enter the water.
They swam over and we walked to get a better view of them playing on it. Claire was not about to climb it but had fun watching out there. Some were determined to make it to the top and we laughed so hard as they kept falling.
Our view from where we were standing, which was on the other side of the beach area.
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We headed back and I made Claire stop for a picture.
I found that everyone had moved….I guess there was a bunch of ants near our first spot, so we moved a row back and had plenty of room to have Patty’s family join us as well.
The bar wasn’t open yet, but there was a place that was making iced coffee and hot chocolate, so we went to get some. As we approached a guy stopped everyone but me and let them know that beyond this spot, shoes had to be worn. I was the only one with shoes on. LOL. So I went and made the orders and they all stood at the edge and I would hand them off as they were made.
We came back then and settled down a bit. We took in the views and enjoyed the area. It was still early and pretty quiet.
Look what I see!
It’s a beautiful beach, but we found that to walk out in the water where we sat it was really rocky. You had to go to one end or another to get in the water without killing your feet.
Just Chillaxxing in my chair!
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We worked our way over to the bar and Jeanne introduced the girls to the bar tender to let her know they were old enough to drink.
And I took pictures along the way.
We made our way over to the beach to find a spot. One of the reasons we wanted to get here early was so that we could hopefully find a good spot to set up camp.
We found a spot under a palapa and set our stuff down. Patty’s family was nearby. I had to go to the bathroom, so Claire and I went in search of one.
We passed the gym
And soon found the bathroom, which wasn’t too far. There was a big iguana sitting out there but I never got a picture.
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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……
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.
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.
The resort itself didn’t look too bad. This is one of the AM Resorts Value properties.
I thought the pool was beautiful for a Value.
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It was really neat to see though.
And this is the truck that would pick up the kids after they ran their leg.
And then we were off again.
And soon pulling into Sunscape.
Well it doesn’t look bad from the outside, so that’s a good sign.
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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A look back at the big bridge.
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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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.
Hello Curacao!!!
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 gota 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.
We then headed over that big bridge we had seen from the ship.
He told us about the “Swinging Old Lady”, but again, he was hard to understand.
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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.
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.
We looked at the view for a little bit.
I believe we had a little rain this morning or last night too.
It was another beautiful island. I found it similar to Aruba.
Whoa! Look at the bridge! It looks so scary.
Are You Ever Coming Home?...No! I am playing with Wizards,Farkles & Sparkling Friends
in Disney Cruise Line
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I stayed up top for a bit and talked to some people and took some more pictures.
Here are some of the little shops we browsed coming back to the ship.
I then ran back down to the room to take a shower myself. Claire was perched in the window seat giving me a play by play of what was going on as the ship was getting ready to leave. Jeanne messaged me that the horns were going off, but I couldn’t hear them in our room. We had to lean against the window to really hear them.
The pilot boat approached.