Category: vacation

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Hawaiian Cruise with NCL Pride of America – Part 2

If you missed Part 1, you can find it here.

We were finding it hard to make use of the bunk bed set-up in the room. Shark Boy found the safety railings uncomfortable, but given how he thrashes in his sleep they were completely necessary.

Luckily, every day tuckered them out so much, we came up with a solution that worked better for all concerned and made for good bonding.

Kayaking in Hilo

For our day in the port of Hilo on the Big Island, we had scheduled a Kayak to Waterfall excursion. This was one of the shortest bus rides to an excursion, and Hilo doesn’t seem like much of a town, but small and quaint can be good. Our guides were friendly, but we found out later that ours was the second-last tour they would be operating! Apparently the tour operators were closing up shop. My wife took Shark Boy in one kayak while the Lightning Kid and I were in the other. It was important to keep your strokes in sync, which made it a challenge when quick responses to “Left!” or “Right side!” were called for (I can only imagine how it would have gone to use “Port” and “Starboard”…

We paddled outward from the shore through the surf and needed to hit the mouth of the river from an angle, coming in from further out in the bay rather than heading in a straight line from the shore to it. This allowed us to avoid a nasty break in the surf that would have been hard to handle. Unfortunately that longer paddle through the surf was taxing and tiring for our family, but luckily the overall level of our group wasn’t much more fit or advanced than us.

We got into the river’s opening and found a place to rest under some trees, while everyone got caught up. We held ourselves fast on dangling vines. There was a part of the river where rapids would have prevented us from getting further but the guides were able to get out onto some rocks and pull us using a rope.

Shortly beyond that point, we reached a waterfall area where we could swim, but we were tired and it didn’t really feel safe – it would have been difficult to climb out and back into the kayak. Paddling our way back out of the river and to the shore was a somewhat tiring affair, but the weather was beautiful.

We returned to the ship and I had time to use the running track around the ship (each lap approximately 1/3 of a mile) as well as the fitness centre to do some rehab exercises for my shoulder. I found it fairly well outfitted. We also had our first meal in the Liberty Dining room which is one of the included restaurants, but not a buffet. The food and service were excellent. We wrapped up our evening with a ‘Close-up Magic Show’ – it focusses on sleight-of-hand card tricks (no sawing people in half or whatever). It was a little cheesy, but there was a trick or two that really still boggle my mind. It was actually New Year’s Eve, but jet lag was enough that we didn’t make it to the local midnight – although we did see it observed for those in Central Standard Time

CANCELLED – NO TRIP TO KONA

Kona is the only port where the Pride of America can’t dock – a ‘Tender Port’. That meant taking smaller boats to shore and with the seas being too rough that day, all shore excursions were cancelled. It was too bad as the ‘Captain Zodiac Raft & Snorkel’ trip was the first excursion we booked – the only one that had been formally planned prior to leaving for Hawaii. We had to fill our day with onboard activities like voting on a Gingerbread house contest, board games in the games room, mini-putt and oversized chess. The latter was difficult because the wind kept blowing the pieces over, and there was a lot of demand for any onboard activities – the basketball court was also closed from that day forward. The ship navigated a more scenic route past the islands of Maui, Lana’i and Moloka’i, and the view did not disappoint.

My wife and I enjoyed French Cuisine at the Jefferson Bistro for our date night, and the kids had a blast at the Splash Academy that evening.

Port of Naiwiliwili on Kaua’i

We hadn’t found an excursion that suited us for Kaua’i (the only contender was yet another waterfall/kayak expedition) so we opted for a beach day at Anchor Cove. We had some time to throw the ball around and swim in the waves, but the highlight for me was the surf lesson I booked for Shark Boy and me.

This would be another of those occasions where a GoPro would have come in handy. The lesson was great, and though it was a little nerve-wracking not have a continuous line of sight to my son (due to waves), never mind being far out of reach, we were both able to get to standing on each attempt and had some good runs. It got a little crowded, and once Shark Boy got knocked by a surfboard, while I had a near collision with another surfer and a canoe, overall we had a great time. I did feel the paddling in my shoulders and my back hurt a little when I tried to stand quickly but it was a small price to pay for a once in a lifetime experience.

Did I say we had no excursion booked for the first day in Kaua’i? I forgot the Luau! We gathered in the onboard theatre and were grouped into buses that took us to a plantation where the Luau would take place. The meal was rice, pulled pork (traditionally prepared in a pit called a Lua), Terriyaki chicken and fish. Everyone was encouraged to try some Poi (a paste of mashed taro root) – I found it a little bland, to be honest, I think you’re supposed to add something to it.

The Lightning Kid and I took a chance to volunteer for a dance performance. Then it was time for the show to begin the show. The story of a family separated but ultimately reunited in a journey from Tahiti to Hawai’i was compelling and had great songs, dances and a fire show, but I couldn’t really take it all in, because the Lightning Kid found the drums and chanting terrifying to the point of physically shaking. I took him outside to comfort him. It was really weird to see him react like that, but he had been scared by a theatre performance of ‘Where the Wild Things Are’ when he was much younger, and I wonder if there was some kind of flashback going on. The Luau was an enjoyable experience, but we were eager to bring tired kids back to bed as soon as possible.

Our second day on Kaua’i was spent on the beach (with a little shopping and ice cream mixed in). The chop of the surf seemed rougher and neither kid was interested in trying out the boogie boards I rented, so we were content to swim and play catch. We decided to re-board before lunch so that we could save money and use the buffet. The rough seas also caused the onboard pool to be closed – for a while there it looked like a fun wave pool, but I’m sure it got dangerous. Our cruise was coming to an end, and there was packing to do.

Departure Day

We got up early and enjoyed our final buffet breakfast – everyone on board had the same idea. We had arranged a shuttle to the airport, but it seemed a little foolish since our flight wasn’t till 11:30 PM, we had the day in Honolulu to spend. NCL wouldn’ let us cancel our shuttle charges unless we booked an excursion with them instead. We took our luggage to the airport and paid for storage, then made our way to the Ala Moana Shopping District. We saw the movie Frozen 2 (long overdue, since the Lightning Kid is a huge fan of the first one), we played in a local playground and we did some more shopping and ice cream.

Our last meal was a Shabu Shabu restaurant – you choose your own broth, meat, vegetable and seafood and prepare in on an element at your table. We filled up so quickly the all-you-can-eat aspect was wasted on us, but ending our big Hawai’i adventure with a culinary adventure was a nice way to go out before a long flight.

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Hawaiian Cruise With NCL Pride of America – Part 1

Since our Disney Cruise 2 years ago, we wanted another Disney experience, and the intention was to visit the Aulani resort; unfortunately, it was entirely booked up for Christmastime by September so we decided to stick with Hawaii and try our luck with cruising again.

Shark Boy is a veteran traveller…

Arrival in Honolulu – Hilton Hawaiian Village

We flew into Honolulu with a pleasant, direct flight from Toronto and checked in to the Hilton Hawaiian Village. It’s a huge resort, and our room in the Rainbow tower had a lovely ocean view. There are several swimming pools and access to the beach as well as a sheltered lagoon where stand up paddleboards can be rented. I’m going to try and hold back from complaining about how expensive everything was throughout these stories, as this seemed to apply to Hawaii in general. Let me just say that Starbucks was the most reasonable breakfast option, and it wasn’t that reasonable.

Rainbow in Waikiki
So many rainbows in Hawaii… this one had the most intense colours I’ve ever seen.

Scuba Dive

The day after arriving I went on a 2 tank dive with Aloha Scuba. This was quite possibly the best dive I have ever been on, and while I always regret not being able to get good photos of my dives, this was the day that made me vow to get a GoPro before my next dive. The first dive was the Nautilus reef off Waikiki beach. The reef is beautiful, and I seemed to have a talent for spotting Moray eels, in fact, it was the first time I saw one swimming in the open rather than poking out from a hole in a reef. We had discussed the common hand signals for wildlife found in the area, and the one for dolphins struck me as weird – you point to your ear. During the dive, I found out why; you hear dolphins squeak before you see them. They were beautiful black and blue and seemed to fly across our field of vision like a flock of birds. This dive was about 45 minutes at a depth of approximately 54 feet.

The next dive site was a wreck known as the YO 257, though we managed to look at another called San Pedro on the same dive. Our dive group managed to co-star in the cellphone videos of passengers aboard an Atlantis Submarine tour – if you were on that vessel, the dork doing an underwater floss dance was me. In addition to getting a great up-close view of the vessel, I was within 15 feet of a white tip reef shark and I saw a trio of beautiful eagle rays. Apparently a tiger shark has been seen nearby, but I’ll tell you I was fine missing out on that. We spent 24 minutes at a depth of approximately 95 feet. The divemaster was very generous with advice on controlling my buoyancy and being more efficient with my energy which leads to less air use and longer dive times, but I was still the first one low on air. We snacked on fresh pineapple between dives and on the way back, and I’d recommend Aloha Scuba to anyone who is diving the Waikiki Beach area.

Last Night In a Hotel…

Once I got back to the hotel, I took the boys swimming in one of the hotel pools. We found the water cold, but we didn’t care too much since we’re Canadians just happy to be able to swim outdoors! I took Shark Boy to one of the little tuck shops and sprung for a little ball that we could play catch with; it served us well on every subsequent beach we visited. We had a long wait for service at our dinner restaurant and the jet lag was kicking in. The Lightning Kid fell asleep at the table while I waited for dessert, and my wife and Shark Boy went back to the hotel room to watch a fireworks display. I was still waiting for dessert when the fireworks went off and nearly scared me to death – hearing fireworks without seeing them isn’t really fun in my books. I still managed to enjoy a night-time walk on the beach with Shark Boy though.

Knocked out.

That same Jet Lag had us up early and to the beach after breakfast, but not for too long because we were checking out and boarding by noon. We tried to game the ideal boarding time – the sooner we arrive, the sooner we can take advantage of food we’ve already paid for, but by coming later, I wonder if we could have avoided the longer line-ups to clear security etc.

The overall route/itinerary

The mood on board was very friendly and festive, and it wasn’t long before we were enjoying the feeling of the seas rolling beneath our feet. We managed to book almost every excursion we had wanted on board that evening in spite of being shut-out of them when trying to book online.

Port of Kahului on Maui – Day 1

Our first excursion was to board a catamaran and snorkel the famous Molokini Crater and a site known as Turtle Arches. The cruise was operated by the Pacific Whale Foundation (which is apparently non-profit) and it made considerable effort to be environmentally friendly including providing reef-safe sunscreen and controlling/reducing garbage. The guides were fun and friendly (especially with kids). They provided extra floatation gear including pool noodles or vests or whatever you were comfortable with. At Molokini, the Black Triggerfish were the most friendly fish; even though you are not permitted to feed them, they live long enough to remember when they would get fed and swim right up to snorkelers. I think we also saw Yellow Tang and Parrotfish.

Turtle Arches was the second stop on the catamaran cruise. We were enjoying the snorkelling but weren’t seeing any turtles, and we were about to return to the boat when Shark Boy said he had seen one; I was skeptical because the last near-sighting turned out to be a rock. Sure enough, not 50 feet from the boat’s exit for snorkelers was a giant sea turtle – it must have been at least 5 feet in diameter. I was able to dive down and get a side view of it (from a respectable distance, we are not to disturb them), and while I was telling another family about where to find it, I noticed it coming to the surface for air! They are really magical creatures – those black eyes seem to exude this calm wisdom.

When we got back to the ship we had some downtime and put the kids into the onboard kids’ club called Splash Academy. Shark Boy was a little underwhelmed by it at first; as the week went on he found it improved because they had more ‘active’ activities, though I suspect it was also because he started making friends. He also expects to be given free rein instead of being roped into structured activities (on the Disney cruise of 2 years ago, the kids club had video games and screens if he didn’t want to participate). My wife and I enjoyed a date night at the onboard Churrascaria, where you are served select meats (usually from a skewer) until you turn a little card over from its green to the red side to say ‘No More!’. The kids club called us just as dinner started to let us know the Lightning Kid was falling asleep (again). I had asked if he could just lie down on one of their mats but they apparently reserve that space for active play and couldn’t accommodate that. Still, I refused to leave our date just as it was getting started and asked them to manage him till we could finish – what else are we paying for except for them to keep our kids safe for a little while?

Port of Kahului, Maui – Day 2

Our second excursion was a Rainforest and Waterfall Hike. I’m very happy that our family has evolved into hikers over the last year or so – all we needed was for the Lightning Kid’s legs to get strong and long enough! A bus took us on part of the Hana highway till we reached the trailhead – apparently, the trail is on a private farm property, but the owners allow hiking tours because they are “hippies”. We hiked through the rainforest and learned about the local ecology – Hawaii seems to be dominated by invasive species (at least when you look at it from an evolutionary timeframe – a few thousand years ago even the wildest parts would have looked entirely different). We saw the Bird of Paradise flower, bananas, and other plants.

The most amazing botanical sight was the Mimosa Pudica or ‘shy’ Mimosa. This plant actually shrinks and ‘shies’ away when touched.

Of course, we are a family of action! So the best parts weren’t plantlife, they were the waterfalls where we got to cool off with a swim! We visited 3 distinct locations with waterfalls and pools to swim in. On some, you could climb the rocks and jump in.

Back on board, we took time out to find out how to navigate the ship’s internet plan. Internet access is limited by time and not usage (megabytes) and you have to formally log on and off to stay within your time limit. There didn’t seem to be very flexible options to increase or adjust the access so for the most part, we stayed offline. Our date night dinner was in the Italian Restaurant – I think this was the best food of the entire cruise but somehow I got too full to finish. I must have filled up at lunch – overall the food was excellent and varied on the Pride of America.

Stay tuned for Part 2 where we visit the Big Island of Hawaii and Kauai.

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Disney Eastern Carribean Cruise on the Fantasy (2018) – Active Family Travel Review

This trip occurred in late April 2018.  I am posting the unfinished draft, with the knowledge that I’ll never finish it, and my memory of missing details isn’t good enough to fill them in.  Stay tuned for a post about our 2019-2020 Cruise of the Hawaiian Islands.

In my head, my ideal vacation involves adventure of some kind, like trekking through a rain forest, or surfing, but in reality, what a vacation destination is something to keep the kids out of adult hair for a portion of the day, which is how we ended up in all-inclusive resorts like the ones we visited in Jamaica, Mexico and Turks & Caicos.  If we can get the kids looked after and they don’t pull faces as a result, we generally call it a win.  The evolution of this trend was to go on a Disney Cruise – especially while our kids are young enough to get more out of character experiences.  So the decision was made.

Disney as a sub-culture is something that scares me frankly.  We joined a Facebook group that was devoted not to Disney, Disney Cruises, or our specific cruise route, but our actual cruise dates, and it was one of the busiest FB groups I have ever been a member of, which means too many notifications (until you turn them off) and way too much hype.  I’m not a big fan of overscheduling or “over-researching” vacations – I feel that it leads to second-guessing yourself and your decision and creates anxiety.  I don’t want to knock those that want to squeeze every last drop out of their vacation experience, it’s just that it’s antithetical to the kick-back-and-relax vibe I want running through my own vacation experience.  So I won’t break down all the craziness that seems to be part of this cult and I’ll stick to what we did, and what we experienced and what we learned.

Getting to and on the ship was quite painless; in the Orlando airport, there are Disney signs everywhere, and as long as you know that you’re going on a cruise as opposed to Disney World amusement park, you’ll end up on the right bus.  The staff are highly organized and friendly – this would become a theme throughout the trip.  We had our essentials packed in a daypack, since we knew our luggage would not be accessible till later, and wanted to get changed into swim gear and start enjoying the facilities.  Unfortunately, we took enough time getting oriented, including a tour of the kids’ club (known as the Oceaneer Club and Oceaneer Lab) that by the time we got to the pool deck, they had temporarily closed the pools.  Cue tantrums from over-tired kids.  We knew the first day and transition would be a taxing adjustment.  I think we did get settled into the onboard routine fairly well.

We had a late dining rotation (8:15PM, when the kids’ nominal bedtime is 7:30), that concerned us, but ultimately we got through our meals well and the kids were good and ready for bed.  Speaking of bed here was my first unexpected fact of cruise life:

1.) You sleep like a baby on a cruise ship.  We had fairly rough seas but the rocking of the boat and the sound-proofing of the stateroom really enhanced the ‘getting-away-from-it-all’ isolation and peacefulness.

The assigned dining rotation kept us with the same server and same table-mates every night.  Our server Jaithip (from Thailand) was wonderful – she learned the boys’ favourite drinks and had them ready by the time we sat down every night.  One time I wanted to order a lobster pasta and she steered me away from it.  I was a little irked because I figured I know what I like, but she brought me a small sample of the pasta alongside the alternate main course I ordered.  She was right – the pasta was garbage.  Now having said that, the food varied from good (the fast food on the pool deck) to very good (in the dining rooms) to excellent (in the paid restaurants).

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The Lightning Kid with Mickey Waffles

Our table mates were a nice family that was celebrating their 10th wedding anniversary (as we will be in July) with blond boys aged 8 and 5 (to our 8 and 6), and enjoy running and triathlon.  Thus was born our theory that Disney is spying on us at a level that would make Mark Zuckerberg blush.  It can’t be a coincidence that Mickey Mouse’s sign-off is “See ya real soon!”…

On our second day, we got to access the pools.  The kids really like just hanging around in the water, and they have movies playing on the big screen all the time so even when they aren’t splashing around, they can just hang out and watch the screen.  I liked that the lifeguards would periodically  clear everyone out of the pool for about 10 minutes at a time; it gave parents a chance to apply sunscreen to the kids or take them to the washrooms, or any other needed transition and we got to blame the staff/rules rather than be the bad guys ourselves.  There were splash pads (which I confess I used to wash melted ice-cream off of faces and chests) and a small warm-water pool that was flush with a window overlooking the ocean (a surreal view), the “Mickey” slide was useable for 4 year-olds and up (but no adults), but the ‘Aquaduck’ was the biggest and boldest water slide.  It actually hangs out over the edge of the ship and has some tunnels with lights, open-air sections, ups and downs, and generally traverses the entire perimeter of the ship.  The Lightning Kid was too small to go on it, and Shark Boy needed some-one 16 or over to accompany him on one of the 2 seated dinghies – usually my wife or myself, but on at least one occasion he managed to rope the older sister of a friend he made into the job.  The problem with the Aquaduck (beyond long line-ups) was it would be closed in high winds, which we had plenty of.  Speaking of wind and weather, we did have some rough seas, and though I can’t say I got seasick really, it leads to unexpected fact #2:

2.) Seasickness is like being drunk.  I’ve been seasick only once in my life (a tall-ship cruise on Lake Ontario – think pirate ship), and that was from continuous rocking.  The rocks on this voyage came fairly unexpectedly – not a constant rhythm – and I’d sway this way or that as if I’d had too much to drink.  At first, I thought it might make me throw up, but it was more like a flashback to having had that much to drink and expecting the next most obvious result than actual nausea.  Once I realized that, I was pretty much out of the woods.  I had some landsickness for a few days after returning.

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Pool Deck with the Aquaduck water slide

The pools were a little disappointing from an adult perspective.  The kids’ pools were too packed for an adult to swim, and in fact the only pool deeper than waist height was the ‘Donald’ pool right in front of the screen, and of course, that pool was the most full at any given time, which meant getting kicked and swum over by children.  There is an adults-only area, but the pools there are also about waist height only – though there is a swim-up bar.

When we wanted to get away from the pool and not have to worry about what the kids were getting up to, we took them to the Oceaneer’s Club/Lab.  This is two halves of their kids’ club; from what I could gather the lab had more autonomous time while the club had more structured activity – Shark Boy preferred the lab.  There were various alcoves that had different kinds of activities and themes like crafts, or superheroes, and computer terminals and tablets and screens for movies.  In some way I was hesitant about all the screen time, but between the pool deck and our excursions, the kids were probably getting enough activity and fresh air.  There was even a floor of screens that could run games, straddling the line between screens and physical activity.00100009

My kids seem to prefer free unstructured play to organized, scheduled activities, and this seemed to hold up in the time they spent in the kids’ club.  Still, we tried to find special activities onboard that we could book in advance.  One of these was the Royal Knight package which is like a Princess make-over for boys (traditional gender roles – whaddyagonnado?).  While I can neither confirm nor deny the existence of a photo of the Lightning Kid in an Elsa (from Frozen) gown and wig, I will say that  I wouldn’t consider my sons to be good candidates for make-over type activities like you find in the Bibbity Bobbity Boutique.  Yet the ‘fairy godmothers’ did such a great job staying in character and selling the whole concept (the hair gel was ‘dragon snot’ that would keep dragons from being able to smell the princes), and of course, the sword and shield part of the costume was very well received by the boys.

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Live shows are something that everyone raves about – I believe the Aladdin one was specifically recommended by everyone we spoke to.  We only made it to one, and that one took place on the pool deck rather than the indoor theatres.  Still, it was a fun spectacle with song and dance, Mickey, Goofy, Captain Hook and Smee as well as one stunt involving a rappel down the ship’s chimney stack!  It was part of a whole pirate theme night that everyone dressed up for – our room was provided with bandanas, but I had packed some with eye-patches and ear-rings.

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I should mention that I did go to the theatres to watch a couple of movies: I saw Black Panther once alone, then deemed it OK for Shark Boy to watch and saw it again with him.  I also got to see Avengers Infinity War on its opening weekend without standing in line!  It was too intense for younger kids, in my opinion.

We had 3 port stops, the first on the Dutch side of St. Maarten.  We were booked into a catamaran cruise with snorkelling and a beach visit.  We disembarked in Phillipsburg and with an hour or so before the Catamaran was leaving got a chance to get in the water a little bit, which I thought was a good opportunity to test out some full face mask snorkels that we had gotten at the Cottage Life show.

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While they worked well initially, it seems like Shark Boy struggled with his when it came time to snorkel from the catamaran at a wreck site.  I was dealing with the Lightning Kid and I hadn’t gotten a proper life vest for him; the normal vests that they hand out for snorkelling provide some floatation when inflated, but aren’t rated for non-swimmers.  In the ensuing chaos, nobody could really enjoy themselves and from what I could tell there was poor visibility anyway.  Luckily, the beach visit afterwards was a lot more pleasant and relaxed.

Our second port stop was in St. Thomas, US Virgin Islands.  I went scuba diving at a wreck site that had a sordid history of drug smuggling, and the sunken ship being moved by human action and hurricanes.  I got within 5 feet of a sea turtle, and saw stingrays that were at least 5 feet in diameter.

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Our Family Trip To Grand Palladium Mayan Riviera

We’re big on travel in our family, and we want to give our kids great, diverse experiences, even from a young age, even though travelling with young ones can be very stressful.  So far, we’ve been going South in even-numbered years (it was Turks & Caicos for 2012) and ski vacations in odd years (Mt. Ste. Anne for 2011 and 2013).  I’m glad this year wasn’t a ski year, because after the Polar Vortex(es) of this winter, I couldn’t take more cold and really needed some sun and warmth.  We all did.



The Beaches resort in Turks and Caicos really spoiled us in terms of what was possible for an all inclusive with child care, but it was too expensive to repeat this year.  My wife did some great research and we booked a Sunwing holiday through Corinne at Have Baby Will Travel.  We were going to the Grand Palladium in the Mayan Riviera, Mexico.  I’d been looking forward to it for a while but as the days before the trip trickled down to single digits, I got worried.  I’d had bad experiences with charter airlines in the past, getting tripped up on baggage weight restrictions and being crammed (me=5’11.5”) into small seats.  I’ve got to say, though, combined with our using their online check-in, Sunwing made it really fast and efficient, which is very important, because I find it hardest to manage the kids when standing in line.  Having got through baggage drop-off and security quickly, we had time to kill before boarding but I find the gate area a lot better space for managing kids, the Lightning Kid’s disagreement with an escalator about direction of travel notwithstanding.

The flight went well too; the kids are too energetic to be easy on the plane, but they’re experienced enough flyers that they weather most of the challenges well.  We were warned of keeping track of our immigration papers on the flight, and briefed about the customs procedure (where you push a button to determine whether you’re going to have your luggage searched) by the flight crew.  Exiting the terminal, we bought snacks for the long bus ride to the resort – 15USD for a beer, a water and a can of Pringles.  Ouch.  The kids slept a little on the bus ride, which made things a little easier.

Grand Palladium in the Mayan Riviera is a resort with 4 different lobbies: Riviera, White Sands, Kantenah and Colonial.  We were booked in the latter, which I liked, because as far as I could tell from the map, it was closest to one of the biggest pools, the kids water park, the beach, and definitely closest to the “Mini-Club” (child care).  The Colonial lobby is next to a Flamingo lagoon, which made a strong first impression for our arrival.


 Our room was ready with a crib, and the couch had been pulled out and made with sheets, so both kids would have a place to sleep.  We’ve struggled with this in other hotels – we’ll request a crib, be assured that one will be there, and come up empty when we check in.

Once we were ready to explore, we found we had a neighbour: a rather large iguana; I asked Shark Boy to give him a name and he picked “Max”.  At first we were astounded not only by how tame he seemed, but how nobody else seemed to notice him (or us staring at him).  It turns out, these things are everywhere on the resort, and if you’re grossed out by lizards, I have to tell you that there was a startling absence of bugs, and maybe that’s a coincidence, and maybe it isn’t.  The entire resort is peppered with mangroves, which not only protect the landscape from erosion and give the local fauna a place to live (while making little visits to the inhabited sections of the resort) but also provide extra shade.  As a melanoma survivor, it’s not always easy to enjoy sunny destinations and the shade provided by the mangroves as well as some sheltered paths was really welcome.

Cooling off became our first priority.  We found the big pool (or one of them) and started in the shallow end.  Shark Boy has gotten the hang of swimming (thanks to his grandfather) and he splashed around in the water as comfortably as his namesake.  We didn’t really get to sample the rest of the pool much; in spite of an on-site daycare, we spent most of the time with the kids… more on this in a bit.  I would have liked to use it to swim a few lengths in the mornings before things got busy, or spend some time at the pool-side bar, but I was able to fetch drinks from it once or twice.

After the pool, we showed the kids the new water park.  I took the Lightning Kid with me on a water slide and was chided by the life-guard who directed me to the rules board… where we couldn’t find what rule I had broken.  Finally he pointed out “Always obey the life-guard” which would have to do.  No big slides for the Lightning Kid, and he was hesitant on the smaller ones, but fun in the water is still a favourite for both kids.

The other thing that had made me apprehensive before the trip besides the flights was that we’d all be in the same room.  The Lightning Kid was waking up 2-3 times a night still, I snore, and Shark Boy sometimes gets nightmares if he’d overtired or overstimulated (both of which were likely while on vacation), so I thought we’d all end up waking each other up and come back from vacation less rested than when we left.  That couldn’t have been further from what actually happened.  The kids were so tuckered out from walking and swimming in the sun that both nap-time and night-times were a breeze to get them down and keep them down.  It’s almost upsetting to me, because we strive to keep them active and outdoors every day, but the Canadian suburbs simply can’t compete with living by the beach in Mexico.  As for me, I think the sea air helped my sinuses or something, because snoring was lessened.

Speaking of the beach and sea, I think this was the best part of every day we spent there.  Shark Boy could really show his stuff (and make his parents’ teeth sweat) being thrown around in the surf, and the Lightning Kid loved running into the water repeatedly after a (mispronounced) “1-2-3-GO!”, not to mention running up to people on beach chairs and socializing. I’m really happy that the boys were able to get so much out of being on the ocean.

The resort had activities that I would have liked to try including kayaks, catamarans and stand-up paddle boarding at the beach, not to mention archery on their sports field. It was for this kind of thing and the potential for date dinners/lunches that the ‘Mini-Club’ (for Shark Boy, age 4) and ‘Baby-Club’ (for the Lightning Kid aged 2) were supposed to come in handy. I think the Mini-Club would have been fine (especially once Shark Boy’s initial resistance was overcome and we got into a routine) for longer stays since they would take them to the water park or beach. The Baby Club, however, gave us a walky-talky to reach us at a moment’s notice (which you want in a way, just in case), but apparently had very limited range, as they specified we couldn’t go further than the beach or pool area. This, combined with picking the kids up at lunch time made for limited opportunities. More than anything else, we used our kid free time to research what on-site restaurants to try and other logistical details. I did manage to fit in one scuba dive, though. The dive shop was right at the beach and the dive site was only 5 minutes by boat, so I managed a single tank dive in something under 90 minutes; perfect when you have kids to get back to. The weather had been kind of windy all week, so visibility was not so great and we didn’t manage to spot any big ticket items like sharks or turtles, but I did see some lionfish, pufferfish and a seahorse (not pictured).


The resort had both buffet-style and a la carte restaurants. I was surprised by how good the quality at the buffets (La Hacienda, Tikal and Grand Azul) were with plenty of healthy things like fruits and smoothies, local dishes like antojitos, international cuisine including paella and run of the mill stuff like chicken fingers for the kids. By contrast, the a la carte places didn’t seem as good, with the Italian place (Portofino) being the biggest disappointment (slow service, bland food), the Japanese being mediocre (interesting Mexican twists on the sushi, but not high quality fish, I think). The Mexican a la carte (Adelita), on the other hand, was mouth wateringly good, and we had a nice, if rushed due to Baby-Club hours, date night dinner.


While we did get around the resort mostly on foot, there was the opportunity to take little trains (on wheels, not tracks) from one lobby to another and the boys got a kick out of the ride. Shark Boy and I used this to attend a ‘Surf Party’ with animal mascots (known as Raggs and Friends – side note: Raggs has a friend who is differently abled – hooray for inclusion!) run by the Kids’ Club staff. There were plenty of evening entertainment options for the kids (if they weren’t too tired from the days activities) including a Pinata party one night too.

Surf Party

Pinata Party

I have to confess that there were times I wish we had taken a holiday without the kids; the funny thing is that now I have trouble remembering the specifics of what made it so difficult. I guess it just got frustrating trying to take the kids to places like the pool and the beach while they actively worked against making it easier to do so (e.g. resisting getting dressed), even though the destination was where they wanted to be. What I do remember, is all the smiles and fun we had. Grand Palladium not only gave us a taste of sun and sea (as a family), but a good sampling of both Mexican cuisine and the local ecology too.

An Agouti

The resort has a crocodile lagoon in addition to the flamingo lagoons

Coati and raccoons were occasionally visible around the resort.  We saw a monkey once too.


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Active Family Vacation: Skiing in Mont Sainte Anne

I’m really behind on blog post topics.  As the subject matter becomes less current (or even irrelevant), I’m left with either abandoning the topic, or going ahead with a ‘better late than never’ attitude.  This one falls into the latter camp; I know you don’t want to hear about winter, but we had a good time, and maybe the information will be useful for next season.

Winter is tough.  For everyone, but even worse for families with small children.  If you’re a family with small children and want to lead active lifestyles, EVEN TOUGHER.  We’ve done a good job of embracing the elements that a Canadian Winter gives us, but the snow in Southern Ontario is inconsistent at best, and really immersing yourself in the winter environment takes more time than than the average weekend allows (think packing, driving, herding the cats kids).  Enter the ski vacation.


Two years ago, we shopped around at the Ski and Snowboard Show for ski resorts that could accommodate a family with a child less than 18 months.  All the reps at the show acted like it would be no problem, since they simply wanted to make a sale, but the truth was, that the 18-month mark is a dividing line for daycare licensing and insurance and most resorts didn’t have that capability.  Shark Boy was going to be 17 months old (close but no cigar) for the dates we were looking at, but Mont Ste Anne takes kids into it’s daycare from 6 months on!  Staying inside Canada meant no customs/border hassles, avoiding invasive TSA screening procedures and dealing in Canadian currency.   Long story short, we loved it and booked another trip this year, which we did in the end of March.


We flew to Quebec City with Porter Airlines from the Toronto Island Airport. That made for some excitement as the kids got to enjoy a taxi ride, a ferry ride and a plane trip… I made the pre-boarding a little more exciting by forgetting one of our suitcases, necessitating a panicked taxi-ride home and back (an extra hundred bucks, ouch), but we made our flight just fine.  

The weather in Ontario had been iffy, sometimes cold, sometimes mild, but not very good with snow, but immediately before we left, Sainte Anne got a dump of fresh snow.

From what I could tell, this wasn’t powder of the very highest grade, but it was good enough for me. We were booked into the Chateau Mont Sainte Anne, and in one of their newer Studio (Nordik) rooms with a King bed. We had a crib for the Lightning Kid and Shark Boy slept on the pull-out couch.


The morning after arriving, we brought the boys to the daycare where they were welcomed with open arms. My theory on child-care givers is that experience brings an air of cool confidence that kids can read, and things tend to go smoother; the staff at Mont Sainte Anne has that air. We kept Shark Boy in for the whole day on Saturday which gave us the time to ski almost

all day.


Problem: I hadn’t downhill skied in two years at least. We took mostly Blue runs, but we found we had to take frequent breaks on the hills, and even on the Blue trails we found moguls we weren’t ready for. My theory is that downhill skiing is quite the opposite of most sports I do: rather than applying little to moderate force through a fairly large scale movement (like a running stride or cycling pedal stroke), you’re mostly pushing with a great deal of force through very little movement at all when you’re digging your edges in on turns. It’s dynamic versus static muscular strength and endurance.




We’d pick Shark Boy up after his second ski lesson, and had a few runs with us so we could see the progress he was making – it seems like he’s a natural. After that, we’d pick the Lighting Kid up (typically once he’d woken up from a nap) and take them for a ride up the gondola… and of course, back down.

He got frightened during a plane take-off but this didn’t bother him a bit.


Dead times before (and sometimes after) meals were spent in the kids room in the basement of the Chateau (there is also a video arcade, but our kids are too young for that kind of thing, and we weren’t going to encourage it – though later on, I got smoked at Dance Dance Revolution). The kids loved the toys in there and frequently played with other children – language barrier be darned.


I did have a little scare in the kids’ playroom. One morning, the Lightning Kid woke up around 5, and wouldn’t go back down. I had to dress quickly and hustle him out of the room before he could wake up his brother. I took him down to the playroom and let him go. I ended up finding a very large bug, which (to my surprise, since I was feeling sluggish as you can imagine) I was able to capture and bring to the front desk. Any parent wants their kids to be able to play in a fairly clean environment so my paranoia was going full tilt. When I followed up later, a member of the staff explained that they deemed it a grasshopper (rather than something more scary), and that these sorts of things could come in from all over the world in visitors suitcases. They take a lot of measure to prevent infestations like the kind my imagination was running wild with, and I had to admit, it didn’t really look like a cockroach or anything like that, so I was basically satisfied.

There are a good variety of restaurants within the resort grounds, so we tried a new place every night. We also ended up packing up our food before we could complete a proper meal, because the kids wouldn’t behave properly (I think they were a little overstimulated by the new environment and/or activities). Quebecers are really laid-back and don’t bat an eyelid at kids’ behaviour; unfortunately, I’m not a Quebecer, I’m an uptight Ontarian and meal-times ended up stressing me out.

The last gasp before bedtime was a swim in the pool (also in the basement of the pool). I was able to get Shark Boy to show me some of the skills he’s been learning in his swim lessons, and we’ve long since discovered that swimming is an excellent way to tucker them out so they’ll sleep.

Once they were out one of us had to stay in the room with them, so we weren’t able to enjoy our evenings as a couple. We’d do a little solo (drinks, the aforementioned arcade) but conk out early from exhaustion. There were many wake-ups to deal with, so it was good to get all the rest we could.

The next day, I felt so much stronger and more confident on my skis. We still stuck mostly to Blue hills, but it really felt like the best I’ve ever skied in terms of technique. We made sure this time to put in a stop at the Maple Syrup hut on the East side of the mountain. Here, they pour maple syrup into a trough of snow where it congeals, then you pick that up on a stick by rolling it all up (see below). Delicious!

In the trough
I got all the syrup… LIKE A BOSS!


The other thing we made time for is making sure we caught some of Shark Boy’s ski lesson. Then we took him for another run with his parents on “The Big Magic Carpet” as requested.

On our third day, I actually opted to head back to the room and sleep rather than ski. Normally there’s a voice inside that makes me seize the day, and says:”You can only ski like this so often, but you can sleep anytime!” but that isn’t actually true anymore. A chance to sleep without being woken up by the kids (or a phone call or whatever) is about as rare as good powder, which I missed out on that morning by all reports. I did manage a couple of Black Diamond runs in the afternoon, though the snow had gotten granular.

The vacation wound to an end… but they left me wanting more. There is an extensive network of cross-country skiing trails that we haven’t explored yet, and other winter activities like dog-sledding beckon too. My one gripe is that access to other services isn’t so great; two years ago I had to hail a taxi to get to a drug store for infant pain-killers because Shark Boy got an ear infection. There is also no shuttle to/from the Quebec City Airport making cab rides necessary.

Even as the kids get older and the daycare requirements get lighter, easier and more flexible I could see us returning to Mont Ste Anne. For another view on this trip, please visit the Lightning Kid blog.