Meet Me @ Quiet Cove: 6-night Western from Galveston with (New) Adults (COMPLETED)

Day Six, Disney WONDER and Going Home / Jan. 9, 2020

We had set the alarm for 7 but DH had caught a cold and woke up at 5:30 a.m. sniffling. He thinks he’s being quiet, but really he yawns and sniffles loudly so eventually I have to wake up too.

We finished packing and took our showers. One last peek on the verandah revealed a less-than-lovely view





On our last two cruises, we put our luggage out the night before. That resulted in more stress than for me, so this time opted to manage our own luggage. So our stuff is not on this load:



We made our way to Animator’s Palate for breakfast.







It was a quick meal, we said goodbye to our servers and walked ourselves off. Customs was quick as we had nothing to declare and we exited the port at 8:45 a.m.



We ordered an Uber Comfort and waited about five minutes for him to arrive.

Even though this was a “Comfort” car we were still pretty cramped and leaving a Disney Cruise, so the expression is warranted.



Our driver dropped us off at Houston Hobby Airport at 9:40 a.m.

We had been warned that fog was not uncommon in Galveston and could easily delay the ship coming in to port. For that reason we took the advice of others and booked later flights out of Houston. Our son’s flight to OKC was at 2:15 p.m. and our flight to St. Louis was at 3:45 p.m. We were fortunate that there was no fog that morning. Add that to the fact that we disembarked so quickly, got an Uber right away and he sped us to the airport meant that we arrived so early we couldn’t even check our bags yet!

We basically killed time by sitting on a bench and catching up on email, texts and social media.

After we were able to check our bags, we wandered around the airport and tried to find something interesting to do. They had a stage and set up for music performers and a schedule indicated someone should be playing right about then, but we never heard any music.



We often fly Southwest and never pay for the express check-in. But this time, we thought it was worth the expense. That’s because the 24-hour check-in point would have been when we were out at sea and our service had been unpredictable. I’m glad we didn’t have to worry about checking in for flights.




Forecast: 103 degrees on Tuesday, 7 degrees on Wednesday. Seems about right… :umbrella::cold:




Our last meal together was at Chick Fil A. We walked DS to his gate area and said good bye to him as he boarded a flight for OKC.




We walked to an opposite terminal for our gate and had more time to kill. DD and I decided that those massage chairs for $2 were a great bargain and we each enjoyed 7 minutes of rumbling massage.



Our flight was uneventful and we landed in St. Louis to much cooler temps. We still had a 2-hour car ride home from the airport and we finally pulled into our driveway at 8:30 p.m. almost 12 hours after stepping off the ship.

Our dog happily greeted us as we carted all our suitcases inside. :dogdance:

The next day, we prepared for an upcoming snowstorm, and dreamed of our next Disney Cruise! :smickey:
 
Nighttime Photos / Jan. 8, 2020

On our last night onboard, our son and daughter walked around taking photos. I'm including those here because they are beautiful.
































Whimsical Disney art for sale if you'd like a pricey souvenir.




Family games and excursions meet-ups take place in the D Lounge


Photo kiosks in Shutters


 
Final Thoughts on our Cruise.

Good Things:
  1. I'm so glad we were able to take this vacation with our adult kids. I absolutely love little children but since we had none with us this time around, it was nice to retreat to the Cove Cafe or other adult areas. We truly enjoyed playing Disney Adult Games (meaning they were fun but not crude).
  2. We enjoyed quiet times reading, playing cards and just chatting over coffee. We loved our later dining time and taking our days at a slower pace.
  3. One friend points out that a cruise vacation is truly the only relaxing vacation because you don't have the daily discussion: what do you want to do? where do you want to eat, etc... I have to agree. :flower1:
  4. We carried off our own luggage for the first time, and I'd definitely do that again. It was so easy, less stressful, and maybe because we were all adults, very doable.
  5. Taking an Uber from Houston to Galveston was easy and affordable. I would do that again.
  6. We were also blessed to be able to see the Christmas decorations that were still onboard.
  7. I kept good notes for this report. As soon as we got home I typed them out verbatim so I could easily edit them later. That worked much better and quicker than my past reports.
  8. Finally, just a few weeks after our cruise the whole Coronavirus Novid-19 Pandemic concerns really exploded. I'm thankful we didn't have to worry about that.

Now for regrets:
  1. We took one photo together as a family. I really do regret that. :sad2:
  2. If I could re-do Grand Cayman day I would just pay for an excursion, or go to another spot. We had a lovely beach, but with no facilities it was hard to enjoy.
  3. Our long wait for our home-bound plane was not fun. Our original flights were around noon and I had changed them so we didn't have to worry about fog delaying our disembarking. I'm not sure what I would do next time.
  4. We overpacked, and underpacked. Meaning we brought stuff we didn't need or use, and could have used more dressy clothes for dinner.
 
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Thanks for a great trip report! I love the little tea lights on your balcony table. We were debating bus to beach vs. excursion to beach for our upcoming cruise, and I think we will take your advice. It looks like you had a fabulous time! Thanks again! :thanks:
 


Thank you for sharing this report! We are booked for a 7 night Western Caribbean next August -- I sure hope COVID allows us to resume regular cruisings by then!

The photos you took are all beautiful!
 
Great trip report. I remember you posting years ago. I’m just working on my trip report from August 2019 🤣
 


I loved reading about the late start with visiting Disney and Cruising with older kids. Being able to walk off with your stuff is so nice.

We cruised before kids and now after. No way could we manage all the stuff and the kids at the same time. We will gladly pay those porters to shlep our bags back to the car for us.
 
Thanks for this trip report. We plan to travel out of Galveston in December with our “adult” kids, ages 18 and 21.
 

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