Boo to the Halloween on the Highs Seas Crew Oct. 2016, Fantasy Trip Report

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Time for dinner! Tonight we were in Animators Palette again.

 

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And for the first time for most of us….we would get to do the drawing for the Animation show.

 

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My guy!

 

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Claire’s.

 

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I think this is Rob’s.

 

 

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Claire tried a new drink tonight. I can’t remember what it was called but it was good.

 

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A little video of a sneak peak of Mickey!

 

 

Our appetizer tonight was a set dish for everyone.

 

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I wasn’t a fan of it at all. I have heard that if you ask the server the night before he may be able to get you something else. I may try this next time.

 

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I got the lobster tonight. It’s not the best, but typical cruise ship lobster.

 

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Our head server came over and helped us get them out of the shells.

 

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I also got the chicken to try.

 

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That was just ok too.

 

Amanda took a few selfies with us.

 

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I can’t remember if dessert came out first or the show…I’ll pretend dessert was first. This was Amanda’s allergy free dessert.

 

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It smelled really good and she said it tasted great.

 

Here is my dessert. One picture has ice-cream with it…. I am not sure if I asked for some on the side then plopped it on top? Or maybe Claire got ice-cream and I stole some of hers. LOL.

 

 

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Our drawings were returned with a little seal of approval on them.

 

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And the show. Of course I started taping it and the battery died so I had to switch to my phone then.

 

 

 

We realized while watching it that it was just our area on our screens. I hadn’t realized that before.

 

As the credits rolled we saw 3 Paula’s on the list. My mom’s name is Paula and it’s kind of rare,so it was really strange to see her name up there 3 times.

 

We really enjoyed the show. It was fun and I can’t wait to see it again….and hopefully have a full charged battery.

 

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Back to the room where we had a frog waiting for us.

 

 

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And something else!

 

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The card basically says they hoped they fixed the issue and have a great cruise.

 

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I told everyone we got some treats and Gail told me she had been getting them almost every day. REALLY? She said one day they had an issue with the bathroom door not closing right and they mentioned it to the stateroom host. After that they were getting all sorts of treats daily….even rice crispy treats! Man!!!!! I should have mentioned the AC problem earlier in the cruise. LOL!

 

Claire went off with Alexis again for a bit and I just went up on deck and accessed facebook for a bit and sat and talked to some people nearby. One gal was not feeling good and could not wait to get off the ship. She said her MIL paid for the cruise for the family to go and she did not want to come in the first place. She finally gave in and was regretting it now.

 

I found so many people were sick and that night in the dining room half the staff was out sick and it was not full either. Many people chose to skip dinner, including Aunt Mary. She was feeling better, but she just was fine hanging in the room for the rest of the night. I think Alexis and Claire joined her after dinner and played cards.

Gail also mentioned to me that her stateroom host was not feeling good either and Gail gave her some ginger gum and she said she later told her it helped a lot. Many of the CM’s on the ship even commented that this was one of the roughest sailings they had ever been on.

At guest services they had a bowl of seasickness meds sitting out. And when it wasn’t out, you could ask for it and they would pull it back out.

I was very fortunate to not be feeling sick but the motion was taking its toll on me. It was just becoming so annoying. I was ready to be able to walk in a straight line again.

 

We finally settled into bed. Claire was starting to not feel well. She was getting a sore throat and running warm...but she was so sunburnt it was hard to tell if she was getting a temperature or just warm from the burn. Katie is a pediatrician and said to let her know tomorrow if Claire got any worse and she would give her some meds.

 

 

We watched a little tv and hoped that by the time we woke up tomorrow the seas will have calmed down.

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Oct. 28, 2016, Friday, Day 10

Castaway Cay

 

Another beautiful day in store! Sadly the cruise was coming to an end and this was our last full day. Gosh it had seemed like we had been on this ship for years and only boarded yesterday…all at the same time.

 

Again, I was up early.

 

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No site of Castaway Cay yet. I walked around a bit.

 

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I talked to some people who thought that the island was off to the side of us as we could see faint line of land in the distance.

 

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I don’t believe it was because we passed on by.

 

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I had realized there was a lot I never took pictures of, so I started clicking frantically.

 

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Claire was feeling a little down yet this morning so Katie took a look at her throat and brought over an antibiotic for Claire to take. There is a lot of drama when it comes to pills with Claire. She can’t swallow….well she has before but then after she got braces she had an issue and ever since then she refuses to try. She will only do liquid and she is picky on flavors. She will do chewable….but again, picky on flavor. These were chewable but Katie said they would taste awful…and they did and she choked and gagged and made a huge deal about it.

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So after that ordeal, I gathered up Claire and we got some breakfast.

 

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And we started backing into Castaway Cay.

 

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I wish I was sticking my toes in that beautiful blue water right now.

 

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Claire and I had an early excursion planned with Gail and her girls….The Stingrays! Now Claire and I and Gail, Rob and Alexis all did this on the last family cruise, but Abby was just a little shrimp at the time, so she couldn’t do it. For me, it was kind of a one and done type thing, but since Gail was taking her girls, I knew Claire would want to join again as well.

 

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We got off the ship and headed towards the stingray hut.

 

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I ran ahead a bit so I could get a picture of them following me.

 

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Now the last time we had all been here as a family (4 years ago) we had come just a few weeks after Hurricane Sandy had been through and a lot of the foliage was brown. I was hoping this time the family could see it in all its glory…but then about 3 weeks before we sailed….Matthew came through….and he hit Castaway Cay. The island still looked great and had very little damage. There were some browning to some of the leaves, but honestly it looked better than that last time.

 

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We were happy to take some brown leaves just to be here and not home.

 

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We kept moving along.

 

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Look at our beautiful ship.

 

 

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And we finally have arrived!

 

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A look back over at the ship again.

 

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We got checked in and got our gear and had a seat on the benches.

 

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When doing this excursion, you have to take a little class first to learn about stingrays. I noticed this time we really got less information than last time. Last time the lady was very passionate about stingrays. Don’t get me wrong, this guy was good, but I think the lady last time went above and beyond.

 

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Another peek back at the ship.

 

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And then the class was over and we headed over to the feeding stations.

 

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I think we had the first class of the morning and the rays were ready for some chow!

 

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I dipped my camera under the water and took a shot.

 

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Ready to go!

 

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I had a tasty treat in my fingers…..gross! I think it was squid or octopus.

 

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Claire grabbed a shrimp and Alexis has stingray jello.

 

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The stingrays are to come up one side and you place your hand flat on the Mickey heads. They come along and basically vacuum it up out of your fingers. If your fingers are too bent you will feel a little bite…It doesn’t hurt….it just feels like you are being gummed….but totally freaky.

 

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If the stingray comes up the exit side, you are supposed to pull your hands out. You are not too reward them for going the wrong way.

 

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Abby was not a fan of this either.

 

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A little video of the experience.

 

 

After we were done feeding them we ran back up to get our snorkel gear. I spotted another hermit crab.

 

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We all got our masks on.

 

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Some looking cuter than others. LOL.

 

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We headed back out to snorkel for a bit in the stingray lagoon. The CM’s were pushing the feeding stations back to shore.

 

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They also told us if we wanted to pet a stingray to just get a CM’s attention and they would get one. Gail tried this for Abby and the CM’s either ignored or disappeared.Gail was a little mad about that.

 

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Snorkeling here is not really good. There is nothing really to see except stingrays, so you really don’t need a lot of time here.

 

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When you walk, you are supposed to shuffle your feet so that you don’t step on a stingray. When you shuffle it makes them move with the stirred up ground. So many people were bouncing around instead.

 

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Gail, Abby and Alexis off in the distance.

 

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Claire.

 

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Abby

 

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This picture totally cracks me up…Look at Claire in the background!

 

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We decided to head out early. The snorkeling isn’t great like I said and after looking at a few stingrays they all start to look the same. It would be different if there was an area with more, but there isn’t. We each received these pins when we were done.

 

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A little bit of snorkeling video.

 

 

We then headed to the beach to fine Rob and the rest of the family. We stopped in one area first and then Rob found us and we headed off to where they all made camp.

 

 

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I had brought along our own snorkeling equipment this trip…and realized I left it on the ship! Shoot! I don’t want to walk all the way back and get it. I had brought it mainly for Castaway Cay. Oh well. We never did use it the whole trip, so it was a wasted space in the suitcase. I will bring it again and I WILL use it!

 

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Abby and Gail were making their way to where the rest of the family was camped out.

 

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I went off to get a drink.

 

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And look who was walking by!

 

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They had a couple of cute cups and I am a sucker and had to get drinks in the ones that look like bamboo.

 

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I know I took a picture of them…it must be later…..anyways I got Claire and I mango smoothies.

 

 

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And back to the beach!

 

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Claire and I and Rob and Alexis had an excursion this afternoon yet too. We planned to do the jet skis! We did this last time and Claire has been begging to do them again since then.

We decided to get some lunch beforehand.

 

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After we filled up we headed over to check in…and then I realized I left my tickets in the bag and had to go all the way back to get them. And then when I got back they told me I really didn’t need them. UGH! I guess I got some extra exercise in then.

 

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We had to sign waivers and then were directed to the jet skis and soon were taking off.

 

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Last time we did this we went around to the other side of the ship and made stops while the CM told us some info about the area, nearby islands etc. We went very very slow most of the time and were told to stay so far behind those in front of us and no wild play or anything. I used to ride jet skis a lot and it was too slow for my taste, but still nice.

 

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This time we went fast….really really fast. The guy in front was even faster and pretty wild. Actually a couple of guys passed everyone up and were going full out. I was surprised this was allowed but actually the CM’s kind of seemed annoyed with the slower people. I was probably in the middle. Not slow for sure, but I was afraid if I went too fast I would lose Claire.

 

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It was pretty wavy and I was jumping a lot of waves and I had salt water in my eyes and I was really holding on tight to control the thing. It was much more vigorous of a ride this time.

 

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This time we went all the way around to the other side of the island.

 

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We only stopped a few times mainly to have others catch up. The CM’s had the personality of as nail really and never really talked much at all. On the way back around there were guys doing tricks and the one CM stayed right alongside me which made me self-conscious. I felt like I was holding people up behind me or something, but really I wasn’t. I was spaced out a bit from the person in front of me, but mainly because his wake was so big that I didn’t want to jump wave after wave and lose Claire off the back….and her to take me with her. LOL.

We did stop once and they saw a shark in the water but Inever saw it.

 

We then headed back and I was exhausted after that ride. My arms had been so tense holding on and they ached when I got off. This was a total opposite of the last time. Claire still had fun and I agree it was fun, but I don’t think we will be doing it again. It is a lot of money and this time was more stressful for me. And with it not being consistent each time, I can’t be sure what I will get next time.

 

We headed back and joined our group and I got a drink.

 

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The kids just had a blast!

 

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Claire and I then did some shopping and I think we bought some stuff, but I don’t remember what. I do remember not being thrilled with the selection again. Back in February the selection wasn’t all that great either.

 

And then we started making our way back to the ship. I think Geoff had been shopping too and he walked back with us.

 

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