Vacation Day 3: Snobservations at Sea

The morning of our first full day on the ship there was a "character breakfast." Basically, it meant that we went to the same restaurant where we'd had dinner the night before, and ate while Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse, Chip & Dale, Pluto and Goofy all made brief appearances in the center of the restaurant.

As we were waiting to go in, I was people-watching, and I was a bit irritated by the guy I saw in front of me. I thought, "You know, here we all are on this nice ship, about to go in to a nice restaurant, and if you absolutely must wear your Camel T-shirt, your work boots, your jeans and your Busch hat, mister, the least you could do is wash the grease out of your mullet."

The theme of being conspicuously underdressed for meals on the ship was one that was carried out through the whole week. Every day, we got a little sheet in our stateroom telling us where our dinner would be and what the dress code was. Even on the two semi-formal nights, there were people in shorts and jeans strolling in. Mom wondered what the wait staff thought of these people.

I can't answer that, but I can say that I thought it was a damn shame to go to the effort and expense to come on a cruise and then treat the dining experience as if it was the local fast-food joint.

After breakfast, Dad went back to the room to read/nap/play on the computer, while the rest of us suited up and headed for the pool. Yes, I wore a swimsuit for the first time in twenty years, and although the straps were a bit too long, I still felt as if I looked pretty good for a fat chick.

The Disney Magic has three pools: the Mickey pool for small kids and families, the Goofy pool for older kids and families and Quiet Cove for adults only. The Mickey pool, where my nieces and nephews did all of their swimming, has a one-story curlicue slide and two black rubber mini-pools on top of the larger circular pool. There is a sign indicating that children who are not potty-trained are only allowed in Mickey's starboard ear. For some reason, that just gave me a chuckle every time I read it.

The kids swam, the adults mostly stood in the pool or sat at the edge, and I took fifteen minutes to visit one of the hot tubs at the adults-only pool. I had just gotten in and leaned back when I was joined by a gentleman who wanted to talk. Despite the fact that I had my head resting against the back of the pool and my eyes closed, he wanted to yak about his kids, his wife, his nieces, blah blah blah. Short of being actually rude, I couldn't think of a way to tell him to stfu. Enjoyable as the hot tub was, that time I was pleased to leave it when my time was up.

When I got back to the Mickey Pool, the kids were all munching on chicken tenders or hot dogs from the snack stand, and I got some lunch. After that, it was nap time, then reading time, then dinner time. After dinner, it was back to the room to see what towel origami our room steward had created, and then some more reading before bed. That pretty much set the tone for our days at sea, and it was a lovely way to spend the days.