Disney Cruise Part 2

December 31, Tuesday

I got up at 5:30 AM and by 6:30 AM all the kids came to our room and we had a family prayer and went to breakfast at Cabanas. Our meeting time was 7:15 AM at the theater where we watched the Tangled Musical. Our group was Sebastian and they had us in a row altogether. Then they split us up into different buses and our guide was Carlos and our driver was Eric. I was worried about one of us, probably Michael, having to sit with a stranger but it worked out perfectly because we went all the way to the back and there were three seats in the back and then two seats right in front of them. However, Michael and I are wondering if we somehow got less legroom than others because the kid that was sitting in front of me, every time he sits back, it bumps my knees. And Michael can't put his knees in at all. Anyway, the ride was long and bumpy. We left at 8 AM. He talked to us for quite a while and taught us about the Mayans and taught us how to do Mayan math. They do it from bottom to top instead of left to right and every level is a multiple of 20. Then he gave us about a half an hour break and woke us up again when it was about 30 minutes away to give us some instructions about Chichen Itza. He also gave us his sales pitch about what souvenirs we should buy and tried to sell everyone on a necklace with Mayan symbols on it and handed out pamphlets for us to order if we wanted which, of course, we didn't. I was not happy about being woken up for a sales pitch. I slept a little bit but I kept waking up because my neck would get scrunched and achy. It was a bumpy ride and I wasn't feeling well by the time we got there but we arrived at 10:30 AM. It took a little time to get parked, give everyone time to use the bathroom, collect our tickets from Carlos, and get in. Unfortunately, I wasn't thinking about the fact that my selfie stick is also a tripod and they wouldn't let me bring it in so I had to go check it in with the ladies at the lockers. It didn't take very long, though, so it's not like I held everyone up for a long time or anything but it was pretty embarrassing. The first place he took us was to the big pyramid called El Castillo or the Temple of Kukulcán. He taught us a lot of cool things and showed us how when you walk around it you can see the serpent coming down because his head was at the bottom. He said the reason it was declared one of the seven wonders of the world is because at the equinox, the sun hits it directly on the west side and it looks like it's lit up in gold.

He walked us around to multiple platforms and told us about the symbols and what the people did there.

It ended on a big field that was a ball field where they played a ball game that they don't even know exactly what it was. It was called Pitz but they don't know why. Once he was done, we only had a few minutes to ourselves. 

We took some pictures and got a few more family pictures. 

We needed to get back so that I could collect my selfie stick. Of course, I had to get a magnet. Emily helped me pick one out and I paid way too much for it because we were in a hurry. He quoted me nine dollars and I didn't have any change so I just gave him a $10 bill and didn't even ask for change back. Then Michael commented that he was interested in one of the circular plaques that they had. The guy wanted $35 for a big one and $20 for a small one. I said I had $20 but we wanted the big one and they gave it to us. He had to ask his boss if it was OK. Michael and the kids were impressed with my haggling skills. Then they wrapped it up for him and Emily and Jonny went with me to go get my selfie stick. Next, we went to the cenote and to lunch. Michael and the kids all locked up their valuables in my locking bag and we headed over there. They had bathrooms and changing rooms. I rented a locker for us and then later had to get a second one. It was weird because the lockers were on the ladies’ side so Emily and I had to get the things from Michael and the boys and then put them in the locker and then keep going back to get the rest of their stuff. They make you take a shower first. Then we had to get life jackets and walk down a ton of stairs to get to the cenote. It was really cold because it was in a cave and I didn't want to do it but Daniel wasn't going to let me get away with not getting in. He basically dragged me in there. It was so cold but once you got in it was a little bit better. There was a lady from our bus taking pictures so I called out to her and asked her to take our picture and she could AirDrop it to me later and she happily did it for us. Her name was Sally and she took some great pictures! 

We swam around a little bit and found a cave to go into. It was so cool! I told the kids it was kind of like that scene from tangled when Rapunzel and Flynn Rider are trapped in an underwater cave. Daniel wanted to go over to the platform and jump in and I definitely didn't want to do that so I told them I was going to go ahead and go up and start getting dressed since I knew it would take me longer than everyone else and our time was almost up. I guess they just swam to the other side of the cenote and back. We all got changed and got our stuff out of the lockers and headed over to lunch. By now it was after 1:30 PM and we had last eaten at 6:30 AM so we were all pretty hungry. They served us three tiny tacos and some lemonade. Daniel and I had to request water. I was pretty disappointed that that's all we got for lunch considering that we hadn't eaten in so long. 

Thankfully, the guide didn't talk to us on the ride back and let us rest. Michael pointed out a couple little girls that seemed to be looking at Daniel and giggling. One was probably about 10 or so and she went to the bus bathroom at least three times. Her older sister went a couple of times, as well. We're pretty sure they had a crush on Daniel. Overall, the bus ride wasn't awful. We made it to the ship by 4:30 PM. 

Emily wanted to stop by the rooms to drop off her stuff so we did that and then we went up to deck nine to get some snacks. Before we left, Michael took a few pictures of me on the veranda with my crazy hair. It dried funny after the cenote swim. 

The kids all got some chicken and fries and pizza. Michael and I got sandwiches and I got some fruit from Daisy's. Emily wanted to see the sunset so Michael and I went up to deck 10 with her. It turns out we could also see the sunset from our veranda, as well. 

Then we headed upstairs and took naps. I don't know if the boys took a nap but Michael and I did and so did Emily. Then we got up and got ready for dinner. We wore our nice dress up clothes. Michael and the boys all wore long sleeve button-down shirts and Emily and I wore the same dress in different colors. The lobby was a big mess because they had just had their New Year's celebration for the kids. 

At dinner, we were stuck sitting next to the same table of loud children, as we predicted. And just like last time, towards the end of dinner they were all up and running around and acting like they were at a party or something instead of an actual sit-down restaurant. We had seen our head waiter Guna earlier today and I mentioned how loud they had been and I asked him if we were going to be sitting next to those same people at Rapunzel's and he assured us we wouldn't so that was a relief. He apologized and I told him I knew there wasn't much he could do. We still had a nice dinner. I even brought the question cards so we could have some fun discussions. We talked about things like everybody's first concert. The kids said it was when I took them to the Josh Groban concert. I've also taken them to see Donny Osmond and I've taken Emily to see Duran Duran and Carrie Underwood twice. I told them my first concert was The Beach Boys and Whitney Houston and my first concert experience with friends was a Milli Vanilli concert, before everyone figured out they weren't the real singers. The dinner was delicious! The appetizers and soups and salads didn't look appealing to me but they let me order the filet mignon and sea bass and got two entrées and they were both delicious! Michael says it's the best sea bass he's ever had and I agree. Michael got the veal, and all the kids got filet mignon. 

After dinner, we went downstairs to get a picture. The kids were glad that I told them they could change out of their dressy clothes now that pictures were done. 

This Ginger Bread House is in the main lobby

Our Disney "gifts"

The kids all went to deck four to play shuffleboard. I met up with them but it wasn't going well because the discs weren't moving very well on the deck. We all went inside and since we were at Shutters photo studio I told Emily we should look at our pictures and see what we think so we favorited some of them. After that, we headed back to deck nine where the New Year's Eve party was and hung out there. Michael joined us. It wasn't really much of a party until it got closer to midnight. At first it was just a piano player and everyone was kind of standing around. Then all of the servers started bringing out Prosecco and non-alcoholic drinks. The non-alcoholic drinks had a straw in them and we all got one. Then they started bringing out some hors d'oeuvres that were pretty good. We loved the shrimp and chocolate truffles. When it got close to midnight, we went up to deck 10 so we could have a good view of the fireworks. We did the countdown and I took a video of the fireworks and then Michael and I had a nice New Year's kiss. 

It took us a while to head out of there and get down the stairs. I lost Michael in the process but we met back up in the staterooms. We had a family prayer and everybody got ready for bed.