Ahoy! Pirates, and fun on the Fantasy

We had to get Evie a new pirate costume for this cruise, since she outgrew her pirate fairy costume. We gave Kara's old  costume to Kiersten, but Kiersten's was in horrible shape, so Evie will not get to wear it, sigh. Kara also had to have a new one. Our photo package did not have a pic of Kiersten in her costume, which annoyed me because she looked so adorable. It was the first time in a while that she was in a good mood on Pirate night.

Ben's costume is about ready for retirement as well. I went with my pirate Minnie ears instead of a hat this time, since it always tries to blow away when we're up on deck.

Kara was exhausted, and ended up heading to bed early. She missed the entire pirate festivities, fireworks, and all. But she got a great night's sleep, and did not regret that decision.

Evie's favorite part of her costume, is that it was called, "Salt Water Taffy" on the package. She wore it again last week for a friend's Halloween party.

The pirate party was lively as always.

The girls always enjoy seeing their drawings come to life in Animator's Palette.

We went to a chocolate and wine tasting. My favorite was the drinkable Dutch chocolate. I could have consumed a much larger portion.

The girls had a blast dancing in the atrium while we waited for the Halloween Tree to come to life.

Ben found his favorite bartender on the ship the first day, and went out of his way to only get drinks from him. This night, he waited over an hour for Damian to come back. The other bartender seemed a little annoyed.

My favorite part of the chocolate and wine tasting was getting to sit in Ooh La La. It is the champagne room, so I didn't have much reason to be in there. I would like to copy all of this décor in my house.

We did a mixology class, and Ben actually told this bartender that he preferred Damian's drinks. He laughed it off, but it was still slightly awkward if you ask me. I thought Ali was perfectly nice and good at his job.

Evie and Kiersten had fun dancing around while we waited for the talent show to begin. Kara signed up on the first day, and was a little nervous, but determined to do it. There were only 10 spots, and Kiersten regretted not signing up herself. Maybe next time. I'd be curious which of her fabulous talents she would choose to display.

Any excuse to be on a stage is a good excuse.

Most of the kids did piano, so it was fun to watch Kara do her Tae Kwon Do. There was also a 5 year old boy that did gymnastics. He was quite impressive. There was also a sweet little ballerina that performed.

She chose "Kung Fu fighting" for her background music. It may have thrown her off a little, but I don't think it was noticeable to any of us watching.

Kiersten had a great time going to the shows with her friends.

At Halloween mixology, I learned to make a tequila sunrise. I didn't like it, and couldn't get Ben to drink it for me. But it did look pretty.

Ben was a natural. He picked up a few new techniques to try out at home. Look at those arms! I wanted him to try doing some flair, but he declined.

We had the girls up and ready early to go to St. Thomas, but while we were at breakfast, there was an announcement that we would not be able to stop there. Thanks to Hurricane Matthew, which was still a tropical storm at that point. But I guess is was still enough of a threat that the captain didn't want to risk trying to leave during that weather, so we sailed on by. I was sad, but better safe than sorry.

We took Evie to see Finding Dory since our day completely opened up. I had a hard time staying awake. It was Ben's first time seeing it, and he said he liked it.

The girls really enjoyed getting to decorate their own cupcakes.

Kiersten didn't bother too much with the toppings, and got down to the eating part. I had a delicious bread pudding you can see at the bottom of the picture.

Kara did a particularly nice job decorating hers.

All 3 of the girls really liked the detective agency game. They each had their own separate version of the 3 possible cases, so it wasn't boring for them all to participate at the same time.

Pepe the muppet shrimp had his own room near the kids club. We found lots of clues there.

They could hold up their card in front of the paintings all around the ship to activate their specific version of the mystery. Because there are so many pictures they could use, we really didn't have to wait around for other kids very much. I would have quickly detested this game if we'd been standing around waiting all the time.

They mostly ended up with different culprits, but I think there were a couple that turned out the same. It was a great activity to fill in the times when nothing they wanted to do was going on around the ship.