Highlander & Slothful Trio Tour Orlando Hotels Day Seven

[highlander447]

Highlander
Main planner, grouchy at times Me : Steve (aka God "honest")
Slothful Trio
Peacemaker, maid, and chief : Jacquie (aka Wife puts up with me)
Chief spender, shopper, moody : Stephanie (15 aka Daughter & first born)
Chief pain, wind up merchant : Danny (13 aka the "boy" my heir)

Day Seven Wednesday 5th July, Weather sunny/cloudy rain shower early evening

I awoke around 6:30am, woke up the other's around 6:45am, we breakfast in room we had packed for beach last night, we had bought cool bag, beach bags and beach towels, spades etc at Wal-Mart on Sunday, then we head to lobby for our pick up to Clearwater (this was a trip we should have done last year, but we had cancelled it due to weather, I checked before coming to see if we could still use the voucher we had and it turned out we could), I report finding my charger to front desk staff and post postcards, our transport is early and we are first pick up as no one else is on coach, we make two more pick ups and then we have to wait 20 mins at another hotel as our guides says we are early, (turns out this was for the packed lunch not for guest's as we where led to believe ), by 9am we where on our way to Clearwater, the coach was pretty empty only about 4 families and 1 couple plus 1 guy going fishing, on way to Clearwater we pass the hotel we are staying at next March and I must admit I had a cold chill , (but its alright now), after about 45 mins BANG a bit of a swerve and we are parked up onside of road, driver gets out can see him phoning someone, tour guide does same this goes on for 10 mins then tour guide gets on bus and sits down and proceeds to read paper, there's been no announcement at all to the passengers by anyone, we are sitting near rear of coach, I wait 5 mins to see if anyone closer is going to ask what's happening, but no it seems we are all a little to British for our own good, so I walk down coach and ask her what's happening, at first she actually blanks me :angry: , then she says oh they are sending a rescue coach, but she cant say when it will get there, I inform her it'd be nice if she kept us informed, she apologises and then as I make my way back to my seat she uses the microphone to let everyone else know what's happening, it really makes my blood boil for as we all know come the end of the trip she'll have the begging bowl out, ok rant over, we wait an hour for the rescue coach on the way to Clearwater the guide does some commentary on the villa communities we pass, she then tells us all about her pool etc (yep and they only live on tips poor sods ), we eventually arrive at Clearwater at 11:45am.

5 hours journey wish we hadn't bothered at this point, we all have our packed lunches a cheese & ham roll, fruit cup, TGI skins, capri sun and bottle of water, once we disembark I go with guide to get our dolphin excursion tickets, the boat leaves at 1pm, as we only have an hour before the boat tour we decide to eat our lunch and explore the shops on the front, I price up deck chairs for the beach and other things so that after boat trip we can get the stuff and relax on beach,

[highlander447]

a little before 1pm we board the boat I notice that the boat seems to have different grades of passengers, basically if u book the tour direct with boat all drinks are free on boat they stamp your left hand to identify the free booze passengers, (here's a tip keep your left hand in your pocket when u ask for a beer, forgot to mention this to wife and kids so they had to pay but yours truly ), we saw the pirate ship that sails for here and it looks great, if u have a car its definitely worth a trip down here for the day, the boat casts off on time at 1pm we sit up on top deck after bathing in sun cream, as we are leaving someone on a jet ski tells the captain they saw a school of dolphin up near the Marriott so off we go in search of these dolphin, we where very lucky we saw quite a few dolphin on this trip very easily, u get the usual spiel near the end about tipping, (tell me does anyone get paid in the States? ), the tour lasted a litle over an hour, after the tour we headed for the stores DD (surprise, surprise) bought a new top after getting a pocket money advance, I bought the kids noodles and goggles for the water, I also bought myself a very nice deck chair for $10, DW passed on buying anything convinced it must be the heat, I also got some juice, water & a 6 pack of breezers for the beach, then we all trouped down to the beach, kids played in water, dug holes in sand and generally had a good time, DW lay on a beach towel and read her book I had offered to buy her a chair but she declined, I made a dent in the 6 pack and relaxed in my lovely chair, at around 4:30pm we packed up, kids had a shower to get sand off them and then we headed to Eddys for an ice cream cone, DS got a strawberry cone 1 scoop, DD got a superman cone 1 scoop, and me and DW shared a superman cone 1 scoop, they where pretty good and at $10 for the three pretty good value, we headed back for coach pick up at 5pm, after managing to convince tour guide we where part of her group, I'm serious this stupid woman actually stopped us from boarding coach:angry: , considering there where so few of us, we where first pick up and the fact I had had words with her you would really expect her to remember you or at one of your party, we took the beach chair etc all back to Orlando with us and we actually used it at the pool as it lay back like a lounger, the journey back was pretty uneventful, it rained as we returned which was good as we where on coach and had a good day with lots of sunshine, the driver put on cool running for the journey back, plus my cool bag had chilled juice, water and a few breezers left so it was a pleasant journey back, the guide gave out comment sheets for us to fill in although surprisingly never gave us one I had to ask for one, and when she was collecting them she never collected ours, we got back at our hotel at 7:35pm, gave the driver and guide $2 each as a tip normally it'd be $5 but sorry really never did a thing to make our day better, as for the comment sheet I slipped it in her folder on her chair as we left bus ,

[highlander447]

More beach pics and Ice cream

[highlander447]

Once stuff dumped in room kids headed to pool, convinced they've grown gills, DW had a shower and cleaned up, guess what I did, I had a nice glass of chilled wine while I watched DW tidy up , at around 9pm called kids out of pool and they got dressed, DD chose dinner tonight and she chose China Jade buffet, not a massive selection I thought anyway but very nice food and still plenty to choose from, also you could choose a selection of raw meats, fresh vegetables, spices and sauces, rice or noodles put all on a plate, bowls provided and chef would cook it there in front of you on a large hot plate and grill, kids liked this and both of them tried this, both myself and DW just tried a selection from the buffet and I have to say the food was excellent, drinks where refilled okay, I had a Carafe of Gallo white grand total was $81 without tip and our kids paid adult prices as well, we left the restaurant a little after 10:45pm and had a short walk back to our room where the kids watch some TV, asleep by midnight.

[highlander447]

More dinner pics

The Highlander Hotel Summer Tour Index

[Guest]

Sounds like it was a good day apart from the journey there. We are planning on going to clearwater to do the seascreamer. Might take us longer because DH will be driving
The food looks good.

[ali-s]

Maybe the guide didn't want to let you on the coach because she DID remember you pleased you got to see dolphins - makes the trip worthwhile.

[wee-haggis]

Really enjoying your trip reports and photos.
Thanks

[Guest]

An enjoyable day after all, pics are lovely and you all look really relaxed.

[Guest]

Can't wait for our day in Clearwater - hope we are lucky with seeing the dolphins too

Great pics

Love Suexx