Disney Cruise Day 4: Social Butterflies and Pirates

Day four of the cruise is the day I started using the words ” port, Starboard, and ” aft ” without having to look up what those words mean. I’ll give sailors credit, the words left, right, and back have been around a long time, but they stick to their guns with these archaic words that continue to confuse me. Next cruise, I hope to finally learn how fast 18 knots is and how long a nautical mile is.

The weather still wasn’t great, but that means it’s a great day for the Kid’s Club. I think the Kid’s Club is Ella’s vision of heaven. She has nothing but fun and never wants to leave. When we picked her up from the club, Ella reminded us that she is quite the social butterfly because she handed us Post-It Notes of the room numbers of kids that she wanted to have play dates with. She was a little upset when we told her that we didn’t really have any time to set up playdates on the cruise. “Well, what about after the cruise?” she asked. I had to explain to her that play dates are next to impossible to schedule when the other kid lives in Missouri. She was not satisfied with my answer.

While Ella and Audrey were at the Kids’ Club, Michelle and I decided to do something adult-like and attended a tequila and margarita tasting class. In a one-hour class, we were going to try shots of three different tequilas as well as two margaritas. In one hour. I don’t drink that much tequila in a month. The only new thing I learned about tequila is that if I have five tequila drinks at 3:00, then I will need a nap at 4:00.

And I had to nap because this was also the night of the Pirate Party, which is a must-attend on a Disney Cruise. The crew members and most of the guests dress up in pirate costumes for dinner and the after-party. The pirate party is a dance party and a fireworks show on the pool deck. The Cruise Director informed us that Disney is the only cruise line authorized to launch fireworks at sea, which makes sense. If you want to risk a ship catching on fire and sinking in the middle of the Gulf of Mexico, you want that boat to be filled with innocent children.

But I’m sure they have all the safety precautions in place because Disney does everything right on these cruises. Well, except for one thing.

The cruise was just about perfect except for the weather, and I can’t blame Disney for that. I can blame them for starting the pirate party at 10:00. Who the heck starts a party at 10:00? This wasn’t a Carnival Cruise. I haven’t gone to a party that starts at 10:00 since George Bush was president. I’ll let you guess which George Bush.

Stefan, as usual, was on his game at dinner. At the end of the meal, he offered us coffee. He never offered us coffee before. He knew his audience. People with kids as young as ours don’t start parties at 10:00. For that matter, people my age don’t start parties at 10:00. My only entry in the cruise suggestion box would be to offer coffee in an IV drip at dinner the night of the pirate party.

The party was the highlight of last year’s cruise. Nothing beats watching your deaf child shut down a dance party as she grooves to Bon Jovi and Ke$ha. But Audrey wasn’t having it this year because she was too tired. Last year’s party ended around 10:00, which is way past this little girl’s (and daddy’s, for that matter) bedtime.

There was a part of me that would have been glad to skip the party. After five tequila drinks and a bottle of wine at dinner, I wasn’t feeling full of energy. But I powered through because if I’m lucky, I might have only about 10 pirate parties left.

And I’m glad I did because the party was a blast. And of course, we used our Audrey pass to get front row seats at the party.