Adventure In The Great Wide Somewhere

Who wouldn't love an upgrade? Moving from an interior stateroom to a verandah or from a verandah to a concierge suite doesn't have to be only a Dream.  Live the dream. Upgrading is easier than you think! The question, of course, is when and how exactly to score an upgrade. Before the Sail Date There are two ways to score an upgrade in advance of packing your bags. 1.) Pixie Dust! Imagine logging in to your reservation one day and the stateroom number doesn't match your memories. You go to look up if they've moved you down the hall to an identical porthole room. No, the room is up a deck and seems to be a verandah stateroom. That can't be right. That's not what you paid for so you call up Disney Cruise Line only to find out "Surprise!" they've sprinkled pixie dust on your stateroom and you will be enjoying ocean breezes from the privacy of your very own verandah at no additional cost. More often you will shift staterooms to one withi...

Another morning, another run around the promenade decks. Lighthouse of the Castillo San Felipe del Morro as the sun rises. Which offers an excellent view as we pulled into the Old San Juan cruise terminals. Our plan for the  day? Go find our way through the hilly cobblestone roads and out the to fort overlooking the northwestern corner of the isle. But first, breakfast and sunscreen. A beautiful day for time in San Juan. Those things in order, Kylee eagerly skipped down to the gangway and up the pier.  San Juan glows and glimmers.  Too bright. Too colorful.   Yet historical and stately. We headed straight for the fort that we had seen pulling into port and it did not disappoint. See the teeny tiny people? El Morro covers almost 70 acres. Sweeping fields. Walking up to the fort and lighthouse. Be aware that it is around one and a quarter miles each way to and from the fort. Expect some grumbling unless you have ...

After hanging out on the verandah for a while, Ben headed out to retrieve Kylee from the Oceaneer Lab. (With less kids in the clubs on port days, Kylee doesn't like to hang around long. She loves dropping in, but she wants to leave after only an activity or two.) Back out of the suite. Ben picked up Kylee for some daddy daughter time and a quick Cabanas lunch. As he sat looking out over the island, he started receiving texts. (Yay for US territories and our wireless plan!) Pictures of blue water, tropical hills and beaches. The house and pool from the opening scenes of almost every episode of Charlie's Angels. Yes, we were texting Ben pictures from our port adventure. Chris and I were back onboard the ferry and heading back to St. Thomas. Hi Dumbo! The coolest part about pulling into the port on the ferry is that it drops off directly under the bow of the Disney Fantasy. Pulling alongside the ship, you realize how gigantic they are in the scheme of...