Credit Man
<font color=teal>Love the shark reef<br><font colo
- Joined
- Feb 18, 2000
Wonderful report. Thanks for posting.
-
Controversial Topics
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3/18 Wonder: The Very Merry Unbirthday "Lovely Cruise" **PICS!**
- Thread starter nenner1
- Start date
Absolutely loved all of your posts but this one, for me, was outstanding! I guess because of the pictures and their meaning!! Those pictures of your children on the boat at sunrise...priceless!!!
The dolphin excursion....priceless also!! I need to stop ready your TR because it's get me so anxious for our trip
. We are planning on doing the dolphin excursion as well!! Seriously though, I love your TR posts!! Keep them coming!!!
The dolphin excursion....priceless also!! I need to stop ready your TR because it's get me so anxious for our trip
. We are planning on doing the dolphin excursion as well!! Seriously though, I love your TR posts!! Keep them coming!!!
mormadsmom
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Mar 19, 2007
Nenner,
Great trip report! I am impressed with the photos! And adorable kids. We are Jimmy Buffet fans here too. Odd for 30 something year olds? Love the new Hoot soundtrack. We live an hour and half from Islamorada and just can't get enough florida key living. JB knows what he's singing about. Awesome!
Hope to see more photos of your great adventure. We leave for our first cruise ever next Sat. aboard the Magic.
Michelle
South Florida
Great trip report! I am impressed with the photos! And adorable kids. We are Jimmy Buffet fans here too. Odd for 30 something year olds? Love the new Hoot soundtrack. We live an hour and half from Islamorada and just can't get enough florida key living. JB knows what he's singing about. Awesome!
Hope to see more photos of your great adventure. We leave for our first cruise ever next Sat. aboard the Magic.
Michelle
South Florida
nenner1
<font color=darkorchid>I must've been distracted b
- Joined
- Mar 1, 2007
Not odd at all!!!
We're 30-somethings too! My favorite from Hoot is "Wondering Where the Lions Are"...I don't think I'll be able to fit that title into my trippie.....we'll have to see!
Hope you have a wonderful cruise!!
nenner1
<font color=darkorchid>I must've been distracted b
- Joined
- Mar 1, 2007
Fruitcakes in the kitchen
Fruitcakes on the street
Struttin' naked through the crosswalk
In the middle of the week
Half-baked cookies in the oven
Half-baked people on the bus
There's a little bit of fruitcake left in everyone of us
It was about 2:00 pm when we returned to the dock in Nassau from the Dolphin Encounter. We definitely wanted to go shopping and to check out the city a little bit. Shopping is not always the easiest thing to do with 6 & 7 year olds, let alone in a foreign country. I suggested to Ron that we hop back on the boat and check the kids into the club while we do a quick run-through of the shopping district stretch of Bay street. He agreed it would be much more efficient with just the two of us. It would also give them a chance to get acclimated to the club before they HAD to be there (they would be back at 8:30 that night during our Palo dinner.) So we walked back towards the Wonder. On the way is this cute picture backdrop, right there on the dock.
That is the back of the Wonder visible right behind the kids. There was only one portal open, as we approached there was a short line to cross the gangway and enter the ship. Once back in the CM scanned our KTTW cards and barely looked at our drivers licenses. Dropped our stuff on the scanner, and walked right in. Quick & easy. We took the kids up to the room to change and use the restroom, then we took them down to the Oceaneers Club on deck 5. Actually, we walked into the Lab first, and they said nope, check the Club for the 5-7s. So we walked around and found the club. It was the first time we had been down there. I was immediately surprised by how small and DARK it was. It seemed small due to the low ceilings (in fact the ceilings on Deck 5 are the shortest of any deck on board!). We waited in a line for about 5 minutes then finally told the CM we wanted to check the kids into the club .First it took a few minutes of discussion and Navigator-checking apparently to determine just where exactly on the boat the 5-7s were. She told us to hold on for a moment while she asked the nearest CM Have they started transition yet? Transition???? Apparently that answer was affirmative because she came to us and said They have begun to transition. You may meet the group at Wavebands at 3:00 Transition is when the group moves from one area of the ship to another and there is no checking in or out of kids while that is taking place. Problem was we had 15 minutes to wait before transition would be over. UGGGGH.
We were starting to get a little nervous, watching the clock closely. We wanted to get back into Nassau and shop, but tonight was formal night, which meant getting the kids all dressed up (not to mention ourselves). That left us with a little less time than normal. Plus this evening would not go as last night , because we had Palo reservations. We headed back down to WB again. There was one other family waiting there to check their child into the club. We sat down and waited too. It was between 5-8 minutes before the OC CMs arrived at WB. The kids werent there yet, though. Guess they were still transitioning. We said we wanted to check our kids into the club and the very nice CM opened up her spiral notebook and went right about assisting us (our good luck again, being first, as a decent sized line of about 10 families gathered behind us). I found it interesting how they keep track of the kids in the club the low-tech old fashioned way, by writing them down. I had read where they used to scan the wristbands and such. That is something that DCL could improve upon. The checking in & out of the club was a tedious and time consuming process. On this occasion it only took a couple of minutes, and we were on our way
hoping that the pager worked all the way into the city!
We disembarked for the second time and took the now familiar stroll through Festival Place. It wasnt quite as deserted now. This time there was a Christmas booth open (with handcrafted Christmas ornaments and such), and a hair braider. We passed through quickly and headed out onto the street. Ron asked me if I had the map, and no, of course I did not have the map (I tend to do silly things like that). But I informed him that I paid close attention to the talk on TV last night and I knew the main shopping drag was right here a block up. As we made our way in that direction, the first thing we noticed on the island were the vehicles. Some of them were American, with regular names (Camry, Taurus, Civic, etc.) and the steering wheel on the left. Some were European- familiar models with strange names like Vista and Horizon, and had the steering wheel on the right. It was so peculiar to see them parked one right next to the other, no uniformity at all. Ron said So which side of the road DO they drive on? And the answer? Right down the middle, so look out! That was the next thing we noticed. The islanders drove a little crazy. Fast- for those little tiny roads teeming with pedestrians and tourists without maps.
And there arent sidewalks, at least not on most of the roads we traveled. Next thing we noticed was how much Bahamanians like to use their horns. I guess it might have something to do with people continuously walking out in front of them. It was different than in America though, when you only hear angrily slammed horns as people cut each other off and tailgate and such. This was more of a communicative style. As if to say Hey, mon, Im driving here Anyway, we went quickly up a side street (at home it would be an alley). I did get a beep as I crossed over ("Fruitcakes in the street") Once on Bay street we passed all kinds of nice shops. Since we didnt have the map, wed have to just roam around. We decided to take a right and soon came across Del Sol. That was perfect, as I had planned on stopping there. Del Sol, for those of you who dont know is a shop that has merchandise that changes color in the sunlight. We went in and there were several store employees who pounced and helped us find what we needed. We picked out T-shirts for the kids, and I also got color-changing hair clips, a necklace, and nail polish for Savannah. We spent over $75 which means we got a free Del Sol canvas tote bag. (I am such a sucker for freebies). We then headed back down Bay Street and before long passed another Del Sol. Whats up with that? They had two of them within a block of each other! This one was bigger, too. Oh well. As we strolled down the block, school children (teenagers) were suddenly everywhere. School must have just let out for the day. The uniforms were a riot!! The boys just wore polos and khakis, but the girls had full-on Catholic School uniforms, pleated skirts, knee socks, and fold-over ties. OMG. I guess the different schools wore different colors. We saw girls in red, light blue, and green uniforms. The honor students even had little Honor Roll pins on their collars! I cant believe I didnt get a picture of it. It was also neat to watch them catching the buses home. No yellow school buses, no county bus system. In Nassau, the buses appear to all be privately run. And they werent big air-conditioned behemoths, they were simply large minivans. And certain bus companies drove to only a couple particular stops
.none of the ones we saw went to any of the same destinations. ("Half-baked people on the bus")
It was really neat to be in the midst of all the everyday downtown Nassau action! After that we hung right and walked through a little plaza back towards the dock. We were basically making big figure 8 travel patterns through all the shops. We came next upon Frederick St, which I thought was cool, since our last name is Fredericks (spelled the same, minus the S). I told Ron to stand for a pic, and he grumbled It doesnt even have the S . No it didnt, but it made a good picture anyway. In fact it was our only one taken in the city of Nassau itself.
We stopped in the Tortuga Rum Cake factory for a sample of delicious rum cake. It was a neat little shop, you can see all the girls baking in the little kitchen through a plexiglass window in the shop. ("Down island, we've got
fruitcakes. Spread them crumbs around. That's right, we want
'em around. Keep bakin' baby. Keep bakin")
We couldnt decide which of the cakes to get so the helpful sales clerk showed us the gift pack, one of each type of rum cake. It had original, pineapple, coconut, chocolate, banana, and key lime. My favorites were original (it had walnuts in it) and key lime. I was a little surprised how expensive they were (around $35, and they were the mini ones, about 4 bites per cake), but those things were sooooooo good. It was way worth it. That goal accomplished, we bought my in-laws a shotglass from one local shop, then checked out Senor Frogs gift shop. We didnt find anything there, and our next stop was the one, the only, the infamous ..STRAW MARKET.
Now I have to say, the straw market was not quite what I expected. As you can see, it is still a tent (It burned down a few years back, Id have thought they would have learned their lesson). It was JAM PACKED with stuff.
The aisles to walk down were about two feet wide, tops. Two people could not pass at once. And the merchandise
it was almost exclusively fake designer purses. Every other stall
literally
.was more of the same. Louis Vuitton, Coach, Gucci, Prada. Then every two stalls would be the little straw bags, tiny totes, meant for little girls embroidered with Hello Kitty, Dora the Explorer, PowerPuff Girls, etc. We stopped and asked how much one was (they were about 5 by 5 inches
.small) and were told $20! TWENTY DOLLARS???? Ron said do you have any cheaper? She showed us a Hello Kitty with a horrible off center slanted eye for $10. We said no, thanks and walked off and she called after us Eight dollas! We laughed. Up the aisle a bit we saw some teen girls looking at (what else) fake Coach wallets. I heard one of them say This one doesnt look too bad I didnt have the heart to tell her that actually, it did! Every time we did find a stall with handcraft items, there was just soo much there, and nothing really caught my eye. Its funny, the merchants (or peddlers, or whatever you want to call them) watch you looking at stuff, and if you even let your gaze hesitate on an item for a second they are right there telling you the price and practically bagging it up for you. It wasnt so much high pressure as it was annoying.
Ron was just walking straight through repeating No thanks. No thanks. No thanks.
I had about enough and right as we were walking out, I spotted a cute little wooden cat carving. Savannah *adores* cats.
It said Bahamas Lucky Cat on it. We got it for $12. Still a bit pricey, but I didnt care. After escaping the stifling Fakedesignerpurse market, we went into one of the other local shops that was featured in the onboard talk. Sure enough, as we were at the register buying Brendan a cool wooden sign with a pirate on it that said This Room is a Wreck, the CM that gave the shopping talk came into the store. She walked in, said hi to the clerk, they exchanged small talk, and the CM got to go and pick out some free stuff. (I wonder if she gets to do that in the jewelry store?!) As it turns out she was training her replacement, she was going on break that Friday. I told her I enjoyed her talk and found it very educational. Time was beginning to run out on us, and we had to get back to the boat to get ready for the show and dinner. As we walked back towards Festival Place, we met a barrage of hair braiders asking to braid my hair. I politely declined and we kept walking. One girl was a bit more persistent than the rest, she actually followed us, and slipped a little beaded bracelet on my wrist. Ron was saying No, no, no thank you. 
I knew she would ask for a donation but I didnt want to take off the bracelet and get into that, besides I figured hed just give her a dollar. He gave her three! And then he said to me Why did you keep that? and I said Why did you give her THREE dollars? We joked about if that $3 would really end up with the children and laughed all the way back to the boat. We really did enjoy Nassau, rum cakes, fruitcakes and all. 
So I'll put on my Bob Marley tape
And practice what I preach
Get Jah lost in the reggae mon
As I walk along the beach
Stay in touch with my insanity really is the only way
Its a jungle out there kiddies
Have a very fruitful day
Fruitcakes on the street
Struttin' naked through the crosswalk
In the middle of the week
Half-baked cookies in the oven
Half-baked people on the bus
There's a little bit of fruitcake left in everyone of us
It was about 2:00 pm when we returned to the dock in Nassau from the Dolphin Encounter. We definitely wanted to go shopping and to check out the city a little bit. Shopping is not always the easiest thing to do with 6 & 7 year olds, let alone in a foreign country. I suggested to Ron that we hop back on the boat and check the kids into the club while we do a quick run-through of the shopping district stretch of Bay street. He agreed it would be much more efficient with just the two of us. It would also give them a chance to get acclimated to the club before they HAD to be there (they would be back at 8:30 that night during our Palo dinner.) So we walked back towards the Wonder. On the way is this cute picture backdrop, right there on the dock.
That is the back of the Wonder visible right behind the kids. There was only one portal open, as we approached there was a short line to cross the gangway and enter the ship. Once back in the CM scanned our KTTW cards and barely looked at our drivers licenses. Dropped our stuff on the scanner, and walked right in. Quick & easy. We took the kids up to the room to change and use the restroom, then we took them down to the Oceaneers Club on deck 5. Actually, we walked into the Lab first, and they said nope, check the Club for the 5-7s. So we walked around and found the club. It was the first time we had been down there. I was immediately surprised by how small and DARK it was. It seemed small due to the low ceilings (in fact the ceilings on Deck 5 are the shortest of any deck on board!). We waited in a line for about 5 minutes then finally told the CM we wanted to check the kids into the club .First it took a few minutes of discussion and Navigator-checking apparently to determine just where exactly on the boat the 5-7s were. She told us to hold on for a moment while she asked the nearest CM Have they started transition yet? Transition???? Apparently that answer was affirmative because she came to us and said They have begun to transition. You may meet the group at Wavebands at 3:00 Transition is when the group moves from one area of the ship to another and there is no checking in or out of kids while that is taking place. Problem was we had 15 minutes to wait before transition would be over. UGGGGH.
We were starting to get a little nervous, watching the clock closely. We wanted to get back into Nassau and shop, but tonight was formal night, which meant getting the kids all dressed up (not to mention ourselves). That left us with a little less time than normal. Plus this evening would not go as last night , because we had Palo reservations. We headed back down to WB again. There was one other family waiting there to check their child into the club. We sat down and waited too. It was between 5-8 minutes before the OC CMs arrived at WB. The kids werent there yet, though. Guess they were still transitioning. We said we wanted to check our kids into the club and the very nice CM opened up her spiral notebook and went right about assisting us (our good luck again, being first, as a decent sized line of about 10 families gathered behind us). I found it interesting how they keep track of the kids in the club the low-tech old fashioned way, by writing them down. I had read where they used to scan the wristbands and such. That is something that DCL could improve upon. The checking in & out of the club was a tedious and time consuming process. On this occasion it only took a couple of minutes, and we were on our way
hoping that the pager worked all the way into the city!We disembarked for the second time and took the now familiar stroll through Festival Place. It wasnt quite as deserted now. This time there was a Christmas booth open (with handcrafted Christmas ornaments and such), and a hair braider. We passed through quickly and headed out onto the street. Ron asked me if I had the map, and no, of course I did not have the map (I tend to do silly things like that). But I informed him that I paid close attention to the talk on TV last night and I knew the main shopping drag was right here a block up. As we made our way in that direction, the first thing we noticed on the island were the vehicles. Some of them were American, with regular names (Camry, Taurus, Civic, etc.) and the steering wheel on the left. Some were European- familiar models with strange names like Vista and Horizon, and had the steering wheel on the right. It was so peculiar to see them parked one right next to the other, no uniformity at all. Ron said So which side of the road DO they drive on? And the answer? Right down the middle, so look out! That was the next thing we noticed. The islanders drove a little crazy. Fast- for those little tiny roads teeming with pedestrians and tourists without maps.
And there arent sidewalks, at least not on most of the roads we traveled. Next thing we noticed was how much Bahamanians like to use their horns. I guess it might have something to do with people continuously walking out in front of them. It was different than in America though, when you only hear angrily slammed horns as people cut each other off and tailgate and such. This was more of a communicative style. As if to say Hey, mon, Im driving here Anyway, we went quickly up a side street (at home it would be an alley). I did get a beep as I crossed over ("Fruitcakes in the street") Once on Bay street we passed all kinds of nice shops. Since we didnt have the map, wed have to just roam around. We decided to take a right and soon came across Del Sol. That was perfect, as I had planned on stopping there. Del Sol, for those of you who dont know is a shop that has merchandise that changes color in the sunlight. We went in and there were several store employees who pounced and helped us find what we needed. We picked out T-shirts for the kids, and I also got color-changing hair clips, a necklace, and nail polish for Savannah. We spent over $75 which means we got a free Del Sol canvas tote bag. (I am such a sucker for freebies). We then headed back down Bay Street and before long passed another Del Sol. Whats up with that? They had two of them within a block of each other! This one was bigger, too. Oh well. As we strolled down the block, school children (teenagers) were suddenly everywhere. School must have just let out for the day. The uniforms were a riot!! The boys just wore polos and khakis, but the girls had full-on Catholic School uniforms, pleated skirts, knee socks, and fold-over ties. OMG. I guess the different schools wore different colors. We saw girls in red, light blue, and green uniforms. The honor students even had little Honor Roll pins on their collars! I cant believe I didnt get a picture of it. It was also neat to watch them catching the buses home. No yellow school buses, no county bus system. In Nassau, the buses appear to all be privately run. And they werent big air-conditioned behemoths, they were simply large minivans. And certain bus companies drove to only a couple particular stops
.none of the ones we saw went to any of the same destinations. ("Half-baked people on the bus")It was really neat to be in the midst of all the everyday downtown Nassau action! After that we hung right and walked through a little plaza back towards the dock. We were basically making big figure 8 travel patterns through all the shops. We came next upon Frederick St, which I thought was cool, since our last name is Fredericks (spelled the same, minus the S). I told Ron to stand for a pic, and he grumbled It doesnt even have the S . No it didnt, but it made a good picture anyway. In fact it was our only one taken in the city of Nassau itself.
We stopped in the Tortuga Rum Cake factory for a sample of delicious rum cake. It was a neat little shop, you can see all the girls baking in the little kitchen through a plexiglass window in the shop. ("Down island, we've got
fruitcakes. Spread them crumbs around. That's right, we want
'em around. Keep bakin' baby. Keep bakin")
We couldnt decide which of the cakes to get so the helpful sales clerk showed us the gift pack, one of each type of rum cake. It had original, pineapple, coconut, chocolate, banana, and key lime. My favorites were original (it had walnuts in it) and key lime. I was a little surprised how expensive they were (around $35, and they were the mini ones, about 4 bites per cake), but those things were sooooooo good. It was way worth it. That goal accomplished, we bought my in-laws a shotglass from one local shop, then checked out Senor Frogs gift shop. We didnt find anything there, and our next stop was the one, the only, the infamous ..STRAW MARKET.
Now I have to say, the straw market was not quite what I expected. As you can see, it is still a tent (It burned down a few years back, Id have thought they would have learned their lesson). It was JAM PACKED with stuff.
The aisles to walk down were about two feet wide, tops. Two people could not pass at once. And the merchandise
it was almost exclusively fake designer purses. Every other stall
literally
.was more of the same. Louis Vuitton, Coach, Gucci, Prada. Then every two stalls would be the little straw bags, tiny totes, meant for little girls embroidered with Hello Kitty, Dora the Explorer, PowerPuff Girls, etc. We stopped and asked how much one was (they were about 5 by 5 inches
.small) and were told $20! TWENTY DOLLARS???? Ron said do you have any cheaper? She showed us a Hello Kitty with a horrible off center slanted eye for $10. We said no, thanks and walked off and she called after us Eight dollas! We laughed. Up the aisle a bit we saw some teen girls looking at (what else) fake Coach wallets. I heard one of them say This one doesnt look too bad I didnt have the heart to tell her that actually, it did! Every time we did find a stall with handcraft items, there was just soo much there, and nothing really caught my eye. Its funny, the merchants (or peddlers, or whatever you want to call them) watch you looking at stuff, and if you even let your gaze hesitate on an item for a second they are right there telling you the price and practically bagging it up for you. It wasnt so much high pressure as it was annoying. Ron was just walking straight through repeating No thanks. No thanks. No thanks.
I had about enough and right as we were walking out, I spotted a cute little wooden cat carving. Savannah *adores* cats.
It said Bahamas Lucky Cat on it. We got it for $12. Still a bit pricey, but I didnt care. After escaping the stifling Fakedesignerpurse market, we went into one of the other local shops that was featured in the onboard talk. Sure enough, as we were at the register buying Brendan a cool wooden sign with a pirate on it that said This Room is a Wreck, the CM that gave the shopping talk came into the store. She walked in, said hi to the clerk, they exchanged small talk, and the CM got to go and pick out some free stuff. (I wonder if she gets to do that in the jewelry store?!) As it turns out she was training her replacement, she was going on break that Friday. I told her I enjoyed her talk and found it very educational. Time was beginning to run out on us, and we had to get back to the boat to get ready for the show and dinner. As we walked back towards Festival Place, we met a barrage of hair braiders asking to braid my hair. I politely declined and we kept walking. One girl was a bit more persistent than the rest, she actually followed us, and slipped a little beaded bracelet on my wrist. Ron was saying No, no, no thank you. I knew she would ask for a donation but I didnt want to take off the bracelet and get into that, besides I figured hed just give her a dollar. He gave her three! And then he said to me Why did you keep that? and I said Why did you give her THREE dollars? We joked about if that $3 would really end up with the children and laughed all the way back to the boat. We really did enjoy Nassau, rum cakes, fruitcakes and all. So I'll put on my Bob Marley tape
And practice what I preach
Get Jah lost in the reggae mon
As I walk along the beach
Stay in touch with my insanity really is the only way
Its a jungle out there kiddies
Have a very fruitful day
LITTLEKID58
Platinum Castaway
- Joined
- Sep 22, 2001
Your TR and Pics are awesome.. TFS
nenner1
<font color=darkorchid>I must've been distracted b
- Joined
- Mar 1, 2007
And the eighth deadly sin is............PIZZA!
We headed back to the boat from our enjoyable shopping adventure in Nassau. I was wondering how the kids were doing in the club, and hoping that we hadnt been paged and didnt know it. It was late afternoon, we all had to shower and get ready, and make the 6:15 show. And on top of that, it was formal night, which meant ties, tights, glitter, and princess hair. This time as we got scanned back onboard, the CM didnt even take or glance at our drivers licenses at all. That was fine with me, as we were trying to get the kids and get up to the room as quickly as possible. We headed straight for the club, and of course the kids werent there. They were up on the Wide World of Sports deck playing games. So off we went up to 10. They were just starting a game as we arrived. The kids were split into two teams, and they were racing to see which team would run to the center, retrieve their shoes from a pile, put them on & run back. We saw they were having a lot of fun so we waited patiently as the game progressed ..very slowly. And you know our luck, both kids (on opposite teams) happened to be at the end of the lines. After a little over 5 minutes, we noticed it was going to take quite a while to get to them, so we went ahead and pulled them out. They werent too happy about that, and we tried to distract them from their disappointment by telling them we got them a surprise when we went shopping. It didnt really help. We got back to the room and started the getting ready in a tiny space scramble. I know we ran later than we had the previous night, so I have no idea just exactly when we had time to pose for pics out on deck 4 ..but we did .and I have proof!
Then we headed for Shutters, but we didnt get too far. I guess everyone was lining up for Dinner at Animators. This was the first time I had seen a dinner line, as we had arrived late ourselves on Sunday and had walked right in. Quite a few others were trying to look at their pictures, too in front of, behind, and around that line. I also took notice of everyone waiting, and how they were dressed. Even though it was formal night, hardly anyone was dressed up. I saw a couple of men in suit jackets with no tie, and shirt and tie with no jacket, and certainly no tuxedos. A couple of ladies wore cocktail dresses, but not very formal ones. I felt way overdressed. We gave up attempting to break through the hungry wall of humanity blocking the pictures, and decided to go up to 9 for drinks. I dont know how we thought we had time for that, and we soon realized that we didnt. We rushed back down to the Walt Disney Theater. As we approached, we saw the red carpet and the golden flags hanging. It looked really majestic! Tonight, of course, was The Golden Mickeys! The next thing I noticed, though, was apart from us and the paparazzi (CMs on the red carpet acting as photographers), nobody was around! The show was about to start! As we walked down the red carpet towards the theater, the paparazzi began to flash their cameras at us and make comments like Joan and Melissa Rivers Look at that dress! How gorgeous! At first I thought they were really taking pictures, I was fixing my hair and hiding my drink cup behind my back! When I realized they were just flashing their flashes, I felt silly and hoped they didnt notice me primping!
We entered the theater, this time through the left doors, and immediately realized just how late we were. There were no seats, save for one or two scattered here and there. We looked at each other and noticed there were many people crowded along the back. And I noticed how nicely dressed everyone seemed. See, I told Ron, we werent the only ones who dressed up! Then Ron saw seats! He pointed to the far left a few rows from the back. I couldnt believe it! Four! Right on the outside aisle! 
I was so afraid some of the others in the standing room only along the back would get there first so I started scooting (there really wasnt enough room to run!) over there as fast as I could. As I did so, I stepped or tripped over a lady against the back wall. I turned and said Sorry! really fast and continued to make my way over to those seats! Somehow we made it. I was so sure somebody was going to beat me to them! We plopped down with a big sigh of relief, and almost as if they were waiting for us, the lights dimmed and the show began. And then
.all of the beautifully dressed standing room only crowd in the back began to dance and sing up the aisles! They were performers! And I stepped on one of them! My face got hot and I know I was blushing bright red in my horror and embarrassment.
Thankfully, no one could see it. I sunk down in my chair a little bit in case the poor dancer whose foot I impaled with one of my kitten heels was shooting me daggers across the crowd. Well, at least no damage was done. The dancing and choreography were perfect
nobody was limping, stumbling, or bleeding. I felt so bad!
The premise of the Golden Mickeys is an awards-show themed musical. It celebrated the presentation of Golden Mickey awards to several classic Disney films. It was a sentimental and stunning show with film clips, musical numbers, dancing, and stunts. The kids were awed with the acrobatics on the vines in the Hercules segment. It was very impressive. Also, if you have young kids, try to get to the show early enough to get seats in the first few rows. Young children up front have the chance to be selected to dress up and perform in the show onstage as one of the seven dwarfs. (I was kicking myself for not getting there earlier, as I knew there was one show we should sit up front for.) There are also some indoor pyrotechnic special effects. I was pretty surprised by them, and I think I jumped out of my seat a little when they went off. I was expecting the Golden Mickeys to be a grand and magnificent performance, and I was not disappointed.
After the show we immediately went out to the atrium for photographs. We dont get dressed up very often and I was going to make sure we memorialized it in print! On the way out we stopped to pose the kids for a picture on the red carpet. Apparently others passing by saw our stroke of genius and followed suit, lining up behind us to take pictures of their families on the red carpet. We are innovators!!
Once in the atrium, the lines at the backdrops were not too bad. We got photos taken with the moonlight rail and moonlight ship backdrops.
The ones of the kids came out particularly amazing, if I do say so myself:
This is my favorite of all of the pictures from the whole cruise, and arguably the best one taken ever!
After that, at my insistence we went up to deck 4 to get photos overlooking the atrium. (There is no such thing as too many pictures!)
A very nice lady offered to take one of all of us, and to whoever you are out there, thank you even though I dont look my best. (You get to see my pretty dress, though!)
Now that the picture taking was done and I was satisfied we had sufficient evidence to prove we actually did dress up, we hightailed it back to the cabin. Ron & I had Palo reservations at 8:30. We had to get the kids back to the room, get them changed back into kid clothes, take them up to Plutos and Pinocchios for dinner, then onto the Lab by 8:15 for Flubber. Of all the activities in the club, Flubber is the one in particular that was a must-do. Both kids were so excited, that was the thing they looked forward to the most for the whole cruise: making flubber. Our good luck did not fail us, it just so happened that Flubber was scheduled at the exact same time we had Palo! The kids would not miss it, the only challenge was getting there on time! We went back to the room, put them back in shorts and T-shirts, and just as quickly ran (up the stairs, I recall it clearly) to deck 9 to get them some food fast. Right away we saw Pinocchios was closed. Brendan was very disappointed; he was hungry and wanted pizza. I had to do some quick reasoning with him and told him the only way he could get to flubber on time was if he went ahead and got chicken or a hot dog now...besides he could have all the pizza he wanted tomorrow! He agreed so we went around the corner to Plutos and IT WAS CLOSED TOO! What was going on here? It wasnt even 8:00! How could they do this? There were kids in the pool, obviously many families did not eat in the main dining rooms! The sign clearly said it closed at 9:00 (Pinocchios was supposed to be open til 11!) We looked over to Goofys Galley. You got it. Closed. 
We walked into BBB. I knew it was supposed to be sit down table service at dinner time, but we were hoping against hope somehow there would be a buffet in there so we could grab something quick. Nope, it was table service. We stood in the lobby trying to figure out what to do. 
We didnt have time to go back and get room service, and there was no way I was blowing off Palo to take them to our assigned restaurant. I couldnt send them to the club not having had anything to eat practically all day. They were only concerned with getting to flubber. We walked out and looked around the pool deck again, hoping I guess that something had re-opened. Nothing had, but I spotted the little condiment station and cooler next to Plutos. It had cole slaw, salad, some fruit and chips in it. We grabbed the kids some chips and fruit and hoped that was enough to hold them over until later. They shoveled it in on the way down to the Lab. They were excited to have finally arrived for they hyped-up flubber, and ran off into the lab without a look back. We breathed a sigh of relief and hoped somehow their hunger would hold off for a while. I am happy to report that this minor food snafu was the biggest problem we encountered the whole cruise!
As we traveled back up to the top of the ship, I noticed we were moving again. Either I was getting used to it, or the seas were not as rough tonight. It didnt seem bad. We found Palo, on Deck 10 aft quite easily, and arrived at the same time as two other couples. We followed in last of the group, and when it was our turn to check in with the MaitreD, Ron asked how long would the wait be for a window seat? (That smart husband of mine!) He said one moment and asked us to please wait over to the left. He came back and said he would seat us momentarily. Woo hoo! After seating the other two couples, we were led to a table for two right along the back window, almost dead center. It was a lovely spot. The restaurant was still full, but we noticed most tables were finishing up with their dinners. Our server came to our table to greet us, and for the life of me I cant remember his name.
(I know, ME of all people
I remember everything else!) I have never been great with names. I want to say his name was Gustavo or something similar to that. He was from the Czech Republic and he was fantastic. Im sorry I cant do him justice. He brought us our drinks and we ordered our appetizers. I got the grilled Portobello mushroom with the roasted shallot sauce and Ron ordered a Pizza Margherita that I was expected to help him eat. The pizza came out first and it was to DIE FOR. 
It was thin crispy crust with rich robust tomatoes and creamy cheese. Fantastic. My mushroom came out not long after that, and it too was terrific. It tasted very much like the wild garlic mushroom appetizer from Animators only without the phyllo. After devouring the pizza and the mushroom, we were admittedly almost full. Neither of us were concerned, however. Somehow, just like the luggage in our stateroom
.wed make the food fit! 
Like last night, we had both ordered the same Entrée, and again it was steak. This time, filet mignon in a port wine reduction in gorgonzola cheese sauce. It arrived perfectly cooked (not an easy task when you like your filet medium well like I do!), and it was so tender and juicy it literally melted in my mouth. It was THE.BEST.STEAK.I.EVER.HAD. Period. And Ron agreed. I am pretty sure it came with a beautiful little stack of vegetables; I think I only ate the carrots. I ate all the steak, though.
By now the restaurant had emptied out pretty well. It was relaxing to enjoy the nice, intimate atmosphere and the view of the sea under the moonlight. We both ordered the chocolate soufflé for dessert. Our wonderful server also brought us the Panna Cotta to try; he said it was his favorite. Now, we are both pretty serious chocoholics, but the Panna Cotta, a rich vanilla custard served with berries was really tasty. It didnt really compare to the sinful soufflé, but honestly, what does?? The soufflé came out and our lovely server filled it with thick chocolate and vanilla sauces. Oh my gosh it was the most decadent thing I have ever laid taste buds on.
We got our picture snapped right as dessert was served, and I am so glad right there in the picture is my delicious obsession forever preserved for my memory. It did not last long. Please try to ignore my extremely bloated stomach. This wasnt the most flattering picture of me. Ron rather likes it though. I havent figured it out. It must be the un-Disneylike cleavage on display. Hmm. ?!?!?!
After dessert, when I felt a massive Chernobyl-sized explosion of my stomach throught my dress was imminent
, we were brought a complementary Limoncello- I likened it to a small alcoholic polar cup. I didnt know how I could possibly consume another drop of food or drink, but I did. And it was good!!! A perfect ending to the best meal ever! We werent quite sure how to handle the tip. Id read that the $10 per person service charge for Palo was in lieu of a tip, but Id also read in some trip reports that additional gratuity should be left. We decided to leave a $20 gratuity on top of the $20 service charge. I hope that was a proper tip, as we had outstanding service.
I dont know if the limoncello was affecting me, but I had a sudden desire to go hang out at the pool. All through the meal I had been worried if the kids were hungry and felt guilty and now I wanted to go off and leave them longer! Go figure?! We changed into our swimsuits and then went up to the quiet cove adult pool. I expected quiet, but not dead silence! It was completely empty! All to ourselves, this night just kept getting better! Ron jumped into the pool. I didnt even check the pool water, I went straight for the Jacuzzi. It was still cool (60s) and windy out. The hot tub felt marvelous and soon Ron joined me. Although we were relaxed and enjoying ourselves, I began to feel guilty again, so we dragged ourselves out and down to the club. It was around 11:00 pm, and after a long eventful day, I expected to find the kids conked out on a mat, but nope, they were in playing on computers. They werent hungry (or so they said) and did not want to leave. We had to drag them out with promises of room-service chocolate chip cookies and milk, and reminded them they would go back to the club tomorrow at Castaway Cay! Back in 7539, they got to meet Funky Monkey, our towel buddy hanging from a hanger by the curtain!
Dont even ask me how I managed to, but I did eat some cookies when they came. I had read the raves in other TRs about the fantastic chocolate chip cookies from room service. I have to say during our cruise they did not live up to my expectations. They were good, but not fabulous. They seemed a bit overdone and were very crunchy, not chewy. Maybe it was just because anything eaten after the soufflé is bound to not compare! They did put me right to sleep, and its a good thing, for the worlds happiest beach, Castaway Cay was only hours away!
We headed back to the boat from our enjoyable shopping adventure in Nassau. I was wondering how the kids were doing in the club, and hoping that we hadnt been paged and didnt know it. It was late afternoon, we all had to shower and get ready, and make the 6:15 show. And on top of that, it was formal night, which meant ties, tights, glitter, and princess hair. This time as we got scanned back onboard, the CM didnt even take or glance at our drivers licenses at all. That was fine with me, as we were trying to get the kids and get up to the room as quickly as possible. We headed straight for the club, and of course the kids werent there. They were up on the Wide World of Sports deck playing games. So off we went up to 10. They were just starting a game as we arrived. The kids were split into two teams, and they were racing to see which team would run to the center, retrieve their shoes from a pile, put them on & run back. We saw they were having a lot of fun so we waited patiently as the game progressed ..very slowly. And you know our luck, both kids (on opposite teams) happened to be at the end of the lines. After a little over 5 minutes, we noticed it was going to take quite a while to get to them, so we went ahead and pulled them out. They werent too happy about that, and we tried to distract them from their disappointment by telling them we got them a surprise when we went shopping. It didnt really help. We got back to the room and started the getting ready in a tiny space scramble. I know we ran later than we had the previous night, so I have no idea just exactly when we had time to pose for pics out on deck 4 ..but we did .and I have proof!
Then we headed for Shutters, but we didnt get too far. I guess everyone was lining up for Dinner at Animators. This was the first time I had seen a dinner line, as we had arrived late ourselves on Sunday and had walked right in. Quite a few others were trying to look at their pictures, too in front of, behind, and around that line. I also took notice of everyone waiting, and how they were dressed. Even though it was formal night, hardly anyone was dressed up. I saw a couple of men in suit jackets with no tie, and shirt and tie with no jacket, and certainly no tuxedos. A couple of ladies wore cocktail dresses, but not very formal ones. I felt way overdressed. We gave up attempting to break through the hungry wall of humanity blocking the pictures, and decided to go up to 9 for drinks. I dont know how we thought we had time for that, and we soon realized that we didnt. We rushed back down to the Walt Disney Theater. As we approached, we saw the red carpet and the golden flags hanging. It looked really majestic! Tonight, of course, was The Golden Mickeys! The next thing I noticed, though, was apart from us and the paparazzi (CMs on the red carpet acting as photographers), nobody was around! The show was about to start! As we walked down the red carpet towards the theater, the paparazzi began to flash their cameras at us and make comments like Joan and Melissa Rivers Look at that dress! How gorgeous! At first I thought they were really taking pictures, I was fixing my hair and hiding my drink cup behind my back! When I realized they were just flashing their flashes, I felt silly and hoped they didnt notice me primping!
We entered the theater, this time through the left doors, and immediately realized just how late we were. There were no seats, save for one or two scattered here and there. We looked at each other and noticed there were many people crowded along the back. And I noticed how nicely dressed everyone seemed. See, I told Ron, we werent the only ones who dressed up! Then Ron saw seats! He pointed to the far left a few rows from the back. I couldnt believe it! Four! Right on the outside aisle! I was so afraid some of the others in the standing room only along the back would get there first so I started scooting (there really wasnt enough room to run!) over there as fast as I could. As I did so, I stepped or tripped over a lady against the back wall. I turned and said Sorry! really fast and continued to make my way over to those seats! Somehow we made it. I was so sure somebody was going to beat me to them! We plopped down with a big sigh of relief, and almost as if they were waiting for us, the lights dimmed and the show began. And then
.all of the beautifully dressed standing room only crowd in the back began to dance and sing up the aisles! They were performers! And I stepped on one of them! My face got hot and I know I was blushing bright red in my horror and embarrassment. Thankfully, no one could see it. I sunk down in my chair a little bit in case the poor dancer whose foot I impaled with one of my kitten heels was shooting me daggers across the crowd. Well, at least no damage was done. The dancing and choreography were perfect
nobody was limping, stumbling, or bleeding. I felt so bad! The premise of the Golden Mickeys is an awards-show themed musical. It celebrated the presentation of Golden Mickey awards to several classic Disney films. It was a sentimental and stunning show with film clips, musical numbers, dancing, and stunts. The kids were awed with the acrobatics on the vines in the Hercules segment. It was very impressive. Also, if you have young kids, try to get to the show early enough to get seats in the first few rows. Young children up front have the chance to be selected to dress up and perform in the show onstage as one of the seven dwarfs. (I was kicking myself for not getting there earlier, as I knew there was one show we should sit up front for.) There are also some indoor pyrotechnic special effects. I was pretty surprised by them, and I think I jumped out of my seat a little when they went off. I was expecting the Golden Mickeys to be a grand and magnificent performance, and I was not disappointed.
After the show we immediately went out to the atrium for photographs. We dont get dressed up very often and I was going to make sure we memorialized it in print! On the way out we stopped to pose the kids for a picture on the red carpet. Apparently others passing by saw our stroke of genius and followed suit, lining up behind us to take pictures of their families on the red carpet. We are innovators!!
Once in the atrium, the lines at the backdrops were not too bad. We got photos taken with the moonlight rail and moonlight ship backdrops.
The ones of the kids came out particularly amazing, if I do say so myself:
This is my favorite of all of the pictures from the whole cruise, and arguably the best one taken ever!
After that, at my insistence we went up to deck 4 to get photos overlooking the atrium. (There is no such thing as too many pictures!)
A very nice lady offered to take one of all of us, and to whoever you are out there, thank you even though I dont look my best. (You get to see my pretty dress, though!)
Now that the picture taking was done and I was satisfied we had sufficient evidence to prove we actually did dress up, we hightailed it back to the cabin. Ron & I had Palo reservations at 8:30. We had to get the kids back to the room, get them changed back into kid clothes, take them up to Plutos and Pinocchios for dinner, then onto the Lab by 8:15 for Flubber. Of all the activities in the club, Flubber is the one in particular that was a must-do. Both kids were so excited, that was the thing they looked forward to the most for the whole cruise: making flubber. Our good luck did not fail us, it just so happened that Flubber was scheduled at the exact same time we had Palo! The kids would not miss it, the only challenge was getting there on time! We went back to the room, put them back in shorts and T-shirts, and just as quickly ran (up the stairs, I recall it clearly) to deck 9 to get them some food fast. Right away we saw Pinocchios was closed. Brendan was very disappointed; he was hungry and wanted pizza. I had to do some quick reasoning with him and told him the only way he could get to flubber on time was if he went ahead and got chicken or a hot dog now...besides he could have all the pizza he wanted tomorrow! He agreed so we went around the corner to Plutos and IT WAS CLOSED TOO!
What was going on here? It wasnt even 8:00! How could they do this? There were kids in the pool, obviously many families did not eat in the main dining rooms! The sign clearly said it closed at 9:00 (Pinocchios was supposed to be open til 11!) We looked over to Goofys Galley. You got it. Closed. We walked into BBB. I knew it was supposed to be sit down table service at dinner time, but we were hoping against hope somehow there would be a buffet in there so we could grab something quick. Nope, it was table service. We stood in the lobby trying to figure out what to do. We didnt have time to go back and get room service, and there was no way I was blowing off Palo to take them to our assigned restaurant. I couldnt send them to the club not having had anything to eat practically all day. They were only concerned with getting to flubber. We walked out and looked around the pool deck again, hoping I guess that something had re-opened. Nothing had, but I spotted the little condiment station and cooler next to Plutos. It had cole slaw, salad, some fruit and chips in it. We grabbed the kids some chips and fruit and hoped that was enough to hold them over until later. They shoveled it in on the way down to the Lab. They were excited to have finally arrived for they hyped-up flubber, and ran off into the lab without a look back. We breathed a sigh of relief and hoped somehow their hunger would hold off for a while. I am happy to report that this minor food snafu was the biggest problem we encountered the whole cruise!As we traveled back up to the top of the ship, I noticed we were moving again. Either I was getting used to it, or the seas were not as rough tonight. It didnt seem bad. We found Palo, on Deck 10 aft quite easily, and arrived at the same time as two other couples. We followed in last of the group, and when it was our turn to check in with the MaitreD, Ron asked how long would the wait be for a window seat? (That smart husband of mine!) He said one moment and asked us to please wait over to the left. He came back and said he would seat us momentarily. Woo hoo! After seating the other two couples, we were led to a table for two right along the back window, almost dead center. It was a lovely spot. The restaurant was still full, but we noticed most tables were finishing up with their dinners. Our server came to our table to greet us, and for the life of me I cant remember his name.
(I know, ME of all people
I remember everything else!) I have never been great with names. I want to say his name was Gustavo or something similar to that. He was from the Czech Republic and he was fantastic. Im sorry I cant do him justice. He brought us our drinks and we ordered our appetizers. I got the grilled Portobello mushroom with the roasted shallot sauce and Ron ordered a Pizza Margherita that I was expected to help him eat. The pizza came out first and it was to DIE FOR. It was thin crispy crust with rich robust tomatoes and creamy cheese. Fantastic. My mushroom came out not long after that, and it too was terrific. It tasted very much like the wild garlic mushroom appetizer from Animators only without the phyllo. After devouring the pizza and the mushroom, we were admittedly almost full. Neither of us were concerned, however. Somehow, just like the luggage in our stateroom
.wed make the food fit! Like last night, we had both ordered the same Entrée, and again it was steak. This time, filet mignon in a port wine reduction in gorgonzola cheese sauce. It arrived perfectly cooked (not an easy task when you like your filet medium well like I do!), and it was so tender and juicy it literally melted in my mouth. It was THE.BEST.STEAK.I.EVER.HAD. Period. And Ron agreed. I am pretty sure it came with a beautiful little stack of vegetables; I think I only ate the carrots. I ate all the steak, though. By now the restaurant had emptied out pretty well. It was relaxing to enjoy the nice, intimate atmosphere and the view of the sea under the moonlight. We both ordered the chocolate soufflé for dessert. Our wonderful server also brought us the Panna Cotta to try; he said it was his favorite. Now, we are both pretty serious chocoholics, but the Panna Cotta, a rich vanilla custard served with berries was really tasty. It didnt really compare to the sinful soufflé, but honestly, what does?? The soufflé came out and our lovely server filled it with thick chocolate and vanilla sauces. Oh my gosh it was the most decadent thing I have ever laid taste buds on.
We got our picture snapped right as dessert was served, and I am so glad right there in the picture is my delicious obsession forever preserved for my memory. It did not last long. Please try to ignore my extremely bloated stomach. This wasnt the most flattering picture of me. Ron rather likes it though. I havent figured it out. It must be the un-Disneylike cleavage on display. Hmm. ?!?!?!
After dessert, when I felt a massive Chernobyl-sized explosion of my stomach throught my dress was imminent
, we were brought a complementary Limoncello- I likened it to a small alcoholic polar cup. I didnt know how I could possibly consume another drop of food or drink, but I did. And it was good!!! A perfect ending to the best meal ever! We werent quite sure how to handle the tip. Id read that the $10 per person service charge for Palo was in lieu of a tip, but Id also read in some trip reports that additional gratuity should be left. We decided to leave a $20 gratuity on top of the $20 service charge. I hope that was a proper tip, as we had outstanding service. I dont know if the limoncello was affecting me, but I had a sudden desire to go hang out at the pool. All through the meal I had been worried if the kids were hungry and felt guilty and now I wanted to go off and leave them longer! Go figure?! We changed into our swimsuits and then went up to the quiet cove adult pool. I expected quiet, but not dead silence! It was completely empty! All to ourselves, this night just kept getting better! Ron jumped into the pool. I didnt even check the pool water, I went straight for the Jacuzzi. It was still cool (60s) and windy out. The hot tub felt marvelous and soon Ron joined me. Although we were relaxed and enjoying ourselves, I began to feel guilty again, so we dragged ourselves out and down to the club. It was around 11:00 pm, and after a long eventful day, I expected to find the kids conked out on a mat, but nope, they were in playing on computers. They werent hungry (or so they said) and did not want to leave. We had to drag them out with promises of room-service chocolate chip cookies and milk, and reminded them they would go back to the club tomorrow at Castaway Cay! Back in 7539, they got to meet Funky Monkey, our towel buddy hanging from a hanger by the curtain!
Dont even ask me how I managed to, but I did eat some cookies when they came. I had read the raves in other TRs about the fantastic chocolate chip cookies from room service. I have to say during our cruise they did not live up to my expectations. They were good, but not fabulous. They seemed a bit overdone and were very crunchy, not chewy. Maybe it was just because anything eaten after the soufflé is bound to not compare! They did put me right to sleep, and its a good thing, for the worlds happiest beach, Castaway Cay was only hours away!
Ski-and-Sea
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Mar 30, 2006
Yup.......consider yourself lucky, some of us don't have enough to put on display.
I'm glad you dressed up, we plan on dressing up on our dress up night on the Wonder this summer.
NCardella
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Mar 6, 2006
Hey, Nenner! I've been enjoying every word of your TR. (my family and I were on the same cruise) We chatted before the cruise, and I posted the "SuperShort Trip Report". I don't remember the ship being that rocky on the first day, I'm sorry you experienced that 
Had to just chime in that I have a similar picture on formal night with a very un-Disney-like display. Although my husband told me we needed to buy the picture because "your eyes look so pretty" in it. Hmmm...my eyes? Have to admit we bought the picture, too.
Had to just chime in that I have a similar picture on formal night with a very un-Disney-like display. Although my husband told me we needed to buy the picture because "your eyes look so pretty" in it. Hmmm...my eyes? Have to admit we bought the picture, too.
nenner1
<font color=darkorchid>I must've been distracted b
- Joined
- Mar 1, 2007
Hey, Nenner! I've been enjoying every word of your TR. (my family and I were on the same cruise) We chatted before the cruise, and I posted the "SuperShort Trip Report". I don't remember the ship being that rocky on the first day, I'm sorry you experienced that
Maybe it was just worse up higher. I think initially it was just needing to get used to it (this was our 1st cruise)but in the middle of the night when the closet doors were slamming, I wonder if that was enhanced by being higher up on the ship (we were on deck 7). I've read the higher your stateroom, the more pronounced the motion...? It did seem to level off after that...(until the last day) so I don't know how much of it was truly rough seas and how much of it was me!
Those Shutters folks are smart. They know how to make a buck. (or 600!)
nenner1
<font color=darkorchid>I must've been distracted b
- Joined
- Mar 1, 2007
"I never thought of life as being breezy
I never thought of time as time to play
I never thought that I could take it easy
But all those feelings changed for me today"
Tuesday -not unlike Monday- dawned cool, breezy, and overcast. Once again, I was not there. In fact as each day of this cruise progressed, another family member dropped out of the pre-dawn activities. The growing fatigue from too much excitement, fun, and early rising would be very apparent later on today. The dark silence of the cabin was too much for myself and Brendan to resist, as we were pretty much dead to the world. Ron and Savannah made the hike up to 10, not only in time to see the daybreak, but also to see the spectacular sight of Castaway Cay approaching:
The Sunrise:
The wind was only slightly below gale force this day…or so it seemed anyway:
They spent a while up on deck checking out the sights, and long enough for me to fall back into a deep sleep. When they got back, I managed to drag myself out of that way-too-comfortable (and large for a queen size) bed. Thankfully I didn’t have to bother with showering and makeup and hair and things like that since today would just be spent relaxing on the beach. Of course you will note as a result of that I am pointedly absent from all of the CC shutters pictures. I resembled Cruella DeVil far too much that morning to be standing getting my picture taken…I was afraid a bunch of kids with autograph books and cameras would line up to meet me!!
After getting ready and gathering all of our beach “supplies” in the extra large beach tote I brought along, we headed up for some quick breakfast. (Note: the supplies that we packed were books, ipods, etc. and we never even used them. I had set aside our insulated refillable mugs from the Contemporary to make room for the other stuff. Turns out the mugs would have been much more useful.)
This would be my first opportunity to check out the breakfast buffet at BBB. There are plenty (what, four?) lines to choose from (all identical), and it was not very busy when we arrived. I am not sure exactly what time it was but I would venture to guess somewhere around 8:15 AM. There was no line and we approached and entered quickly. If I remember correctly first is a spread of fruits…melons, grapes, citrus, etc. Then came the main breakfast fare, sausage, bacon, eggs and the like. I grabbed an artery clogging pile of sausage and bacon, both of which were great. Next were the mickey waffles, little ones- chocolate and vanilla. Since it is my opinion that there is something just so wrong about mixing chocolate and maple syrup, only vanilla mickeys for me. (They did have whipped cream and I think strawberry sauce too.) No pancakes, which I was hoping for. Then came the muffins, croissants, bagels, and doughnuts. I took a croissant and a doughnut, grabbed a small glass of OJ, and off we went in search of a table. I mentioned that on deck it was, well…breezy and chilly. Unfortunately we had no choice but to eat out there, as all of the inside tables were full. Spots out there were easy to come by and we sat and chowed down. Overall the food quality was average. The sausage and bacon were delicious. The pastries were still cold, as if they had been refrigerated and the waffles were a bit on the stiff side. It was decent and quick meal, though. Afterwards we stopped to snap some pictures and excitedly headed down to disembark:
The plan for CC was definitely to get out there as early as possible. I know we left the ship right around 9 AM. There was not a massive crowd disembarking yet. We grabbed a bunch of towels and started the trek up to the family beach. As we got a little ways down we noticed a tram passing and had to decide if we should go back to the tram station or just continue to walk. Ron was in favor of the tram, but I thought it looked like such a short distance we should just hike it. I’m glad we did. It only took about 7 or 8 minutes and since the tram waited to fill up, it arrived at the same time we did. Plus we got to see all the sights and take advantage of the picture opportunities along the way:
"Palm trees and views I can't believe
Why would I ever want to leave?
I think I'll take my shoes off and go walking down beside the Caribbean Sea.
I like the funny sounds of parrots squawking
I think I hear a hammock calling me.”
The beach area appeared pretty well deserted when we got there. I wasn’t really gung-ho to get a hammock since we wouldn’t be able to sit and relax for a while yet. There were still some available, though. We pretty much had our choice of where to go.
We selected a spot pretty much centered on the family beach. Ron made sure to get an umbrella. I suppose I gave him a quizzical look, because he said to me “We’re gonna want that later.” I’m sure I furrowed my eyebrows and gave him the squinty eyed glare since with the wind chill factor it felt like about 65 degrees outside. Just what I wanted. Shade. (Thick sarcasm intended). The kids headed for the water, but it was just as cold as yesterday so they didn’t dive right in like they usually do at home. Ron & I leisurely joined them. The three of them headed over to the water playground but it was just much too cold for me. I prefer to get used to the water slowly, so I inched my way deeper and watched them play. Before long, though I had to head out of the ocean to warm up. Which brings me to this, my main rant about CC: the sand. If you ask me, it is just not right. It feels “fake”, you know like sandbox sand. Not like real beach sand. Now I know I might be a bit harsh, but you have to remember I live by some of the best beaches in the country and the sand quality was not the silky soft powder like you find on Sand Key, Caladesi, Sanibel, Venice, Sombrero Beach and the likes. As you know there isn’t too much to complain about on that little slice of paradise, but leave it to me to find something. The water though….omg, the water on CC is some of the most beautiful, crystal-clear turquoise fantasy-island looking stuff I have seen in a very long time. You just don’t see water like this in Florida.
Before too long the kids headed back, and just in time. Ron & I had a Banana Boat ride scheduled for 10:30. The clouds were burning off, the air was warming up, and It was beginning to look like a beautiful day. Oh, if only I knew what was coming….
“I think I've got a touch of island fever
I do believe I feel a bit sautéed”
nenner1
<font color=darkorchid>I must've been distracted b
- Joined
- Mar 1, 2007
I live on a big round ball
I never do dream I may fall
And even one day if I do
Well I'll jump up and smile back at you
Being the thrill seekers that we are, I thought the Banana Boat ride would be fun and relatively inexpensive excursion on Castaway Cay. The jet ski eco tour was extremely pricey and the Castaway Rays stingray excursion didnt interest us too much, since we already get to touch and feed stingrays for free at Tampa Bay Devil Rays games. The only downside is the BB ride is only for those 8 years old and up, meaning the kids could not go. We headed off to check them into the club, and didnt mention to them what they were missing. They were all too happy to go anyway, because they were interested in the archaeological dig replica they have back there. This time we got unlucky checking the kids in. There were 2 CMs there, but only one had the list. Adding to our woe, the folks in front of us had removed their childrens wristbands and new ones had to be made. Fortunately, we had arrived with plenty of time to spare. (TIP: ALWAYS overestimate how long it will take you to check the kids into or out of the lab and especially the club with the younger children.) Once they got done with that group, we were apologized to for the wait and the kids were checked in quickly. I got a look at the OC area on CC and from what I saw, it seemed well .barren, and hot. Yes, I said it. HOT. The day was warming up really fast now as we reached mid-morning, and I was no longer so concerned about getting splashed and soaked with the icy water during our excursion.
We didnt really know where to go for the BB ride, and we didnt want to trek all the way to the wrong side of the island. There is a convenient information hut located on the pathway between the kids club and She Sells Sea Shells, and we walked up and were promptly directed to the Boat Beach, right by Gils. (Note: included with the Navigator that day is a fantastic island map. It is easy to read and has all the info you could possibly need while on CC. Dont forget and leave it in your stateroom!) As we arrived at the BB area, we were told the boat was currently out on a ride, and to please wait by the lifejacket area. We headed over there (in the now blasting sun) and joined a few other people waiting. A gentleman there was in one of the sand wheelchairs, they are so cool. The wheels are like heavy gauge inflatable rubber. (It did still seem hard to push on sand, however.) While waiting, Ron came over and told me Theyve been waiting quite a while for the 10:00, which I interpreted as the 10:00 ride had not gone out yet. We were pretty bummed thinking we would have to wait through a whole ride cycle, and it wasnt until the group got back that we realized they had been waiting quite a while for the 10:00 to COME BACK. Right as we could see the banana boat approaching, another boat hauling another banana boat docked on the beach. Cool. The more banana boats, the sooner we get on! The rest of our group assembled. The folks getting off offered us tips such as dont wear hats or sunglasses, and lean in! There were about 10 of us for our ride, and we loaded onto the banana boat. Now, the banana boat is exactly that- a banana. Actually it is like two big yellow rubber bananas connected with a strip of rubber down the center. You straddle the banana (!) and hold on very tightly to the strap in front of you. It is pulled by a small power boat. Ron & I went straight for the back of the banana and slid into the last two spots. We figured the back would be the bounciest! We taxied slowly down the channel past the Dutchman, and then the Wonder. Once we got past the rocks and into the open sea, they opened it up. We traveled the length of the island then turned around and headed back towards the ship. It was bouncy and fun, but not quite as vigorous as Id hoped. Nobody fell off. (One of the guys on the boat was watching in case someone did.) Still, it was fun and even though it was over quick I recommend it for the price. (TIP: Although we were told not to wear sunglasses on the ride, you absolutely need something covering and protecting your eyes from the sea spray. Goggles would be best if you have them, or maybe wear a cheap pair of sunglasses that you wouldnt be heartbroken over if you lost them. The people in front of us wore theirs and didnt lose them)
After the ride, we walked over to Gils to pick up our snorkel gear. I paid the ridiculous price of $25 each to rent gear instead of bringing our own to save space. Next time I will bring ours. We suited up in our masks, fins, and silly mandatory fluorescent green vests (you dont have to inflate them, thank goodness) and ventured into the crystal azure water. We had asked where the Mickey statue is and all they would tell is between two buoys. Grrr. (I know, I know, all of the fun is finding it, right???) We entered the water near the right hand side of the roped off snorkeling area and headed straight out. So when we went out, we traveled straight out. It was shallow for quite a while, before it branches out into the deeper waters. At first we looked around some and then met up perplexed. Like, where was everything? All we saw was some sea grass, and a couple of tiny fish.
But as we got into the deep area, we discovered all kinds of beautiful fish and sea life. They come right up to you, too. (I read some people bring dog food to feed them and that is why they are so tame). The underwater shipwreck and submarine is scattered about, along with miscellaneous pots and such that the fish congregate in. We saw just amazingly huge schools of fish; these pictures dont do it justice. They were everywhere!
You can see how clear the water is:
Ron at some of the underwater shipwreck:
We were out there for well over an hour and still had not come across the Mickey statue. I couldnt believe we had somehow missed it, the water was too clear. Towards the end as we were tiring, we headed specifically to where groups of snorkelers were congregating in hopes they were at it. No luck. Finally we gave up, and as we headed back in, Ron ran across it. Nobody else was around at all. It was way over to the right hand side, and not way out into the far depths of the snorkeling area. Here are some pics: (the last one is Ron on the banana boat!)
By this point I was pretty much wiped out. I had struggled at the end to keep up with Ron while snorkeling. We went to get the kids, and they were already under the pavilion eating lunch. We let them eat a little of what they already had, then told them we would get them more over at Cookies. Thats where we went next, and I was pretty hungry. The lines seemed a bit haphazard and there was a bit of confusion as to where to queue. We headed for one line, and then were directed to a longer one by a CM. It is buffet style, and as you move down the Z shaped line, the first stretch is the salads. I saw some cole slaw and got some of that. On the next stretch was the main entrées..there were ribs, hot dogs, cheeseburgers, and a blackened fish sandwich. I dont like cheese on my burger, so that was out, as all of the sandwiches were already assembled. I didnt see chicken of any sort, which would have been my first choice. Normally I would have taken the hot dog, but I guess I was feeling a bit adventurous and decided to go for the fish sandwich. The only issue is that I detest mayonnaise and it was slathered all over both sides of each sandwich. I probably could have asked for one without it, but there were no CMs around in my line. Oh well. I grabbed one anyway, and took a sharp right around the corner for desserts, aaah! There was apple spice cake and cookies, yum. There might have been more, but that was all that looked good to me. After filling our trays we headed to the extremely busy beverage station. They actually had a CM pouring drinks there and quite a line was forming. We finally got served and headed to find a nice picnic table. We chose a covered table out from under the pavilion. There was plenty of seating available. The food was pretty good. The fish sandwich would have been excellent without the mayo, otherwise it was still pretty decent. Ron had the ribs, which I tried, but the meat wasnt very tender. It didnt fall off the bone, but the sauce was tasty and overall they had good flavor. The cole slaw had pineapple in it, which I dont like. The apple spice cake was good, and the cookies similar to the room service ones (I guess thats why they call them island cookies). The desserts were all good, but I was in search of that infamous treat that has made me drool for months: soft serve chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream. Just thinking those words starts the salivary glands and the tune Oh yeah by Yello cranks up in my head (the Ferrari song from Ferris Buellers Day Off) Yep. This stuff was so hyped could it possibly live up to its reputation?
OHHHHH YEAHHHHH. (chick-chickchick--ah!)
As we passed through the pavilion we saw the ice cream area and headed over. To our surprise none other than our assistant server Simona was doling out the cones! I dont quite think she remembered us at first, since we were at Palo last night. We each got a cone of that pure icy heaven and headed back to the beach. By the way, they also serve strawberry for those of you who dont want CCCD which I cant imagine. The cones were gone way too quick. I should have asked for two.
When we arrived at our spot on the beach, we were SHOCKED how crazy busy it was. I am talking worse than Clearwater Beach at Spring Break (and that is really bad).Nothing at all like when we left earlier. People had moved lounges and seats up all around us to get closer to the water so I had to re-situate our chairs (the ones that werent under the umbrella). It was hard to walk around, there were chairs everywhere to dodge.
The kids had fun playing some sort of game:
After that, it wasnt long before the kids went back in the water, and I tried, also. It was still sooo cold, and I had dried off already so it just seemed colder. I decided to lounge in a chair and relax.
I guess this is when a shutters photographer got this shot of Savannah. We never even knew they did, we just happened upon it while browsing and its a good thing we did!
Ron and the kids went to pick up our floats we rented, and they gave us a free tube, too. The kids used them a bit, but I never did get back in that ice bucket. On the way they ran into this Minnie photo op:
Ron took Brendan out to snorkel, and Savannah eventually came in and passed out on the lounge next to me. It was very hot out now, or at least it seemed to be with the sun belting down relentlessly. Even with lots of sunscreen on, the kids got some sun. I actually fell asleep face down on my lounge and fried the back half of my body pretty good. Unfortunately, Savannah was sleeping and I didnt want her to get burned, so I tried to drag her up under the umbrella (we were now sharing it with some people who grabbed the lounges on the left side). That put me back out in the full sun, and I got uncomfortable, quick. I got a drink from the station, but they didnt give me a lid and it only took minutes for the ice to melt and for it to fill with sand from the wind. I was really wishing I had brought the mugs. I tried to read a bit, but ended up just laying listening to the music. The soundtrack playing was reminiscent of the Goofy pool music, with some island flavor- a bit of Bob Marley thrown in. The group next to us packed it in, and I jumped and grabbed their chairs. I felt a little bad because I saw at least two other people making their way over to get them so they could be under the umbrella, but since I was right there I got them first. There just was not enough room under the umbrella for more than two lounges, and I had to get under there too, as I was *baking*. Savannah was still snoozing peacefully and I felt better now in the shade. By the time the boys returned from snorkeling, though, I was ready to get going. It was about 2:30 and I figured by the time we got back on the ship it would pretty much be time to get ready for the show.
Reluctantly Ron agreed. He hadnt had much opportunity to just sit and relax on the beach, but he could see how sunburnt and uncomfortable I was, and the kids were ready to go, too. We packed up our stuff and left the snorkel gear and floats there for some other lucky souls to use. On our way back in we stopped at She Sells Sea Shells for some souvenirs. The place was packed, and it was difficult to maneuver around the store. It took us about a half an hour to gather T-shirts, magnets, a stuffed Goofy, and Post cards. I also grabbed the last CC pen. I wasnt prepared like some people we had not even gone to Treasure Ketch or Mickeys Mates on the boat yet, so I didnt have my post cards ready. I wrote them out with the pen I bought at the register while Ron checked out. After stopping at the bathroom (CC is such a big place, couldnt they have put more bathrooms closer to the beach and eating pavilions?? I only saw the one set of bathrooms across from SSSS) we decided to take the tram back. We stopped at the post office to mail the cards, and the line was pretty long, out the door. It moved fairly quickly, though and we got our stamps from the Bahamanian postal worker and were on our way .back to another long line. The line to get back on the ship was unbelievable! It stretched well down the pathway. And it wasnt moving like the PO line was. At least we could watch the boat getting painted while we waited. In. The. Very. Hot. Sun. What had happened to all that wind? I guess the behemoth ship was blocking it. It was stifling. As we got up closer we noticed that actually two bulkheads were open on the ship, but there was virtually no line at the far one. We broke out of line and jogged over in that direction, and it seemed like everybody saw that at once and they all ran over to the left side door. By the time we got there, a short line had formed and when we looked behind us it had managed to get just as long as the other one! Wow! Thanks to our stroke of good luck though, we were on the ship in a little more than 5 minutes (and it still looked like the other line hadnt moved.) We went back to the room to clean up a bit, and I fell face first on the bed, head and torso only with legs dangling off the end.
I'm riding this big round ball
I never do dream I may fall
And even the high must lay low
But when I do fall I will be glad to go
Yes when I do fall I will be glad to go
And right there is where I stayed, apparently for over an hour. I was in a state of semi-consciousness. I know Ron and the kids went up to get snacks and go in the pool, and I was sleeping some..but I could hear what was going on around me. Namely, the people in the hall, and our poor neighbors. I had heard nothing from either side until now, so I hadnt realized just how thin those stateroom walls were. Until, that is, I was able to clearly hear a normal-toned conversation about dinner and the show coming through from next door. Yikes, if normal voices could be heard that easily, then what about when we had to yell loudly at the kids to chill out at midnight, and early in the morning. Oooops. That is also when I heard many comments about the door sign coming through from people passing by in the hall. I felt bad about having used such loud voices (and probably un-disneylike adult language, too) and made a note to try and tone it down a bit when in the hallways in rooms. And with that, I laid my head back on the bed to continue my catnap.
I don't even know where we are
They tell me we're circlin' a star
Well I'll take their word I don't know
But I'm dizzy so it may be so
I never do dream I may fall
And even one day if I do
Well I'll jump up and smile back at you
Being the thrill seekers that we are, I thought the Banana Boat ride would be fun and relatively inexpensive excursion on Castaway Cay. The jet ski eco tour was extremely pricey and the Castaway Rays stingray excursion didnt interest us too much, since we already get to touch and feed stingrays for free at Tampa Bay Devil Rays games. The only downside is the BB ride is only for those 8 years old and up, meaning the kids could not go. We headed off to check them into the club, and didnt mention to them what they were missing. They were all too happy to go anyway, because they were interested in the archaeological dig replica they have back there. This time we got unlucky checking the kids in. There were 2 CMs there, but only one had the list. Adding to our woe, the folks in front of us had removed their childrens wristbands and new ones had to be made. Fortunately, we had arrived with plenty of time to spare. (TIP: ALWAYS overestimate how long it will take you to check the kids into or out of the lab and especially the club with the younger children.) Once they got done with that group, we were apologized to for the wait and the kids were checked in quickly. I got a look at the OC area on CC and from what I saw, it seemed well .barren, and hot. Yes, I said it. HOT. The day was warming up really fast now as we reached mid-morning, and I was no longer so concerned about getting splashed and soaked with the icy water during our excursion.
We didnt really know where to go for the BB ride, and we didnt want to trek all the way to the wrong side of the island. There is a convenient information hut located on the pathway between the kids club and She Sells Sea Shells, and we walked up and were promptly directed to the Boat Beach, right by Gils. (Note: included with the Navigator that day is a fantastic island map. It is easy to read and has all the info you could possibly need while on CC. Dont forget and leave it in your stateroom!) As we arrived at the BB area, we were told the boat was currently out on a ride, and to please wait by the lifejacket area. We headed over there (in the now blasting sun) and joined a few other people waiting. A gentleman there was in one of the sand wheelchairs, they are so cool. The wheels are like heavy gauge inflatable rubber. (It did still seem hard to push on sand, however.) While waiting, Ron came over and told me Theyve been waiting quite a while for the 10:00, which I interpreted as the 10:00 ride had not gone out yet. We were pretty bummed thinking we would have to wait through a whole ride cycle, and it wasnt until the group got back that we realized they had been waiting quite a while for the 10:00 to COME BACK. Right as we could see the banana boat approaching, another boat hauling another banana boat docked on the beach. Cool. The more banana boats, the sooner we get on! The rest of our group assembled. The folks getting off offered us tips such as dont wear hats or sunglasses, and lean in! There were about 10 of us for our ride, and we loaded onto the banana boat. Now, the banana boat is exactly that- a banana. Actually it is like two big yellow rubber bananas connected with a strip of rubber down the center. You straddle the banana (!) and hold on very tightly to the strap in front of you. It is pulled by a small power boat. Ron & I went straight for the back of the banana and slid into the last two spots. We figured the back would be the bounciest! We taxied slowly down the channel past the Dutchman, and then the Wonder. Once we got past the rocks and into the open sea, they opened it up. We traveled the length of the island then turned around and headed back towards the ship. It was bouncy and fun, but not quite as vigorous as Id hoped. Nobody fell off. (One of the guys on the boat was watching in case someone did.) Still, it was fun and even though it was over quick I recommend it for the price. (TIP: Although we were told not to wear sunglasses on the ride, you absolutely need something covering and protecting your eyes from the sea spray. Goggles would be best if you have them, or maybe wear a cheap pair of sunglasses that you wouldnt be heartbroken over if you lost them. The people in front of us wore theirs and didnt lose them)
After the ride, we walked over to Gils to pick up our snorkel gear. I paid the ridiculous price of $25 each to rent gear instead of bringing our own to save space. Next time I will bring ours. We suited up in our masks, fins, and silly mandatory fluorescent green vests (you dont have to inflate them, thank goodness) and ventured into the crystal azure water. We had asked where the Mickey statue is and all they would tell is between two buoys. Grrr. (I know, I know, all of the fun is finding it, right???) We entered the water near the right hand side of the roped off snorkeling area and headed straight out. So when we went out, we traveled straight out. It was shallow for quite a while, before it branches out into the deeper waters. At first we looked around some and then met up perplexed. Like, where was everything? All we saw was some sea grass, and a couple of tiny fish.
But as we got into the deep area, we discovered all kinds of beautiful fish and sea life. They come right up to you, too. (I read some people bring dog food to feed them and that is why they are so tame). The underwater shipwreck and submarine is scattered about, along with miscellaneous pots and such that the fish congregate in. We saw just amazingly huge schools of fish; these pictures dont do it justice. They were everywhere!
You can see how clear the water is:
Ron at some of the underwater shipwreck:
We were out there for well over an hour and still had not come across the Mickey statue. I couldnt believe we had somehow missed it, the water was too clear. Towards the end as we were tiring, we headed specifically to where groups of snorkelers were congregating in hopes they were at it. No luck. Finally we gave up, and as we headed back in, Ron ran across it. Nobody else was around at all. It was way over to the right hand side, and not way out into the far depths of the snorkeling area. Here are some pics: (the last one is Ron on the banana boat!)
By this point I was pretty much wiped out. I had struggled at the end to keep up with Ron while snorkeling. We went to get the kids, and they were already under the pavilion eating lunch. We let them eat a little of what they already had, then told them we would get them more over at Cookies. Thats where we went next, and I was pretty hungry. The lines seemed a bit haphazard and there was a bit of confusion as to where to queue. We headed for one line, and then were directed to a longer one by a CM. It is buffet style, and as you move down the Z shaped line, the first stretch is the salads. I saw some cole slaw and got some of that. On the next stretch was the main entrées..there were ribs, hot dogs, cheeseburgers, and a blackened fish sandwich. I dont like cheese on my burger, so that was out, as all of the sandwiches were already assembled. I didnt see chicken of any sort, which would have been my first choice. Normally I would have taken the hot dog, but I guess I was feeling a bit adventurous and decided to go for the fish sandwich. The only issue is that I detest mayonnaise and it was slathered all over both sides of each sandwich. I probably could have asked for one without it, but there were no CMs around in my line. Oh well. I grabbed one anyway, and took a sharp right around the corner for desserts, aaah! There was apple spice cake and cookies, yum. There might have been more, but that was all that looked good to me. After filling our trays we headed to the extremely busy beverage station. They actually had a CM pouring drinks there and quite a line was forming. We finally got served and headed to find a nice picnic table. We chose a covered table out from under the pavilion. There was plenty of seating available. The food was pretty good. The fish sandwich would have been excellent without the mayo, otherwise it was still pretty decent. Ron had the ribs, which I tried, but the meat wasnt very tender. It didnt fall off the bone, but the sauce was tasty and overall they had good flavor. The cole slaw had pineapple in it, which I dont like. The apple spice cake was good, and the cookies similar to the room service ones (I guess thats why they call them island cookies). The desserts were all good, but I was in search of that infamous treat that has made me drool for months: soft serve chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream. Just thinking those words starts the salivary glands and the tune Oh yeah by Yello cranks up in my head (the Ferrari song from Ferris Buellers Day Off) Yep. This stuff was so hyped could it possibly live up to its reputation?
OHHHHH YEAHHHHH. (chick-chickchick--ah!)
As we passed through the pavilion we saw the ice cream area and headed over. To our surprise none other than our assistant server Simona was doling out the cones! I dont quite think she remembered us at first, since we were at Palo last night. We each got a cone of that pure icy heaven and headed back to the beach. By the way, they also serve strawberry for those of you who dont want CCCD which I cant imagine. The cones were gone way too quick. I should have asked for two.
When we arrived at our spot on the beach, we were SHOCKED how crazy busy it was. I am talking worse than Clearwater Beach at Spring Break (and that is really bad).Nothing at all like when we left earlier. People had moved lounges and seats up all around us to get closer to the water so I had to re-situate our chairs (the ones that werent under the umbrella). It was hard to walk around, there were chairs everywhere to dodge.
The kids had fun playing some sort of game:
After that, it wasnt long before the kids went back in the water, and I tried, also. It was still sooo cold, and I had dried off already so it just seemed colder. I decided to lounge in a chair and relax.
I guess this is when a shutters photographer got this shot of Savannah. We never even knew they did, we just happened upon it while browsing and its a good thing we did!
Ron and the kids went to pick up our floats we rented, and they gave us a free tube, too. The kids used them a bit, but I never did get back in that ice bucket. On the way they ran into this Minnie photo op:
Ron took Brendan out to snorkel, and Savannah eventually came in and passed out on the lounge next to me. It was very hot out now, or at least it seemed to be with the sun belting down relentlessly. Even with lots of sunscreen on, the kids got some sun. I actually fell asleep face down on my lounge and fried the back half of my body pretty good. Unfortunately, Savannah was sleeping and I didnt want her to get burned, so I tried to drag her up under the umbrella (we were now sharing it with some people who grabbed the lounges on the left side). That put me back out in the full sun, and I got uncomfortable, quick. I got a drink from the station, but they didnt give me a lid and it only took minutes for the ice to melt and for it to fill with sand from the wind. I was really wishing I had brought the mugs. I tried to read a bit, but ended up just laying listening to the music. The soundtrack playing was reminiscent of the Goofy pool music, with some island flavor- a bit of Bob Marley thrown in. The group next to us packed it in, and I jumped and grabbed their chairs. I felt a little bad because I saw at least two other people making their way over to get them so they could be under the umbrella, but since I was right there I got them first. There just was not enough room under the umbrella for more than two lounges, and I had to get under there too, as I was *baking*. Savannah was still snoozing peacefully and I felt better now in the shade. By the time the boys returned from snorkeling, though, I was ready to get going. It was about 2:30 and I figured by the time we got back on the ship it would pretty much be time to get ready for the show.
Reluctantly Ron agreed. He hadnt had much opportunity to just sit and relax on the beach, but he could see how sunburnt and uncomfortable I was, and the kids were ready to go, too. We packed up our stuff and left the snorkel gear and floats there for some other lucky souls to use. On our way back in we stopped at She Sells Sea Shells for some souvenirs. The place was packed, and it was difficult to maneuver around the store. It took us about a half an hour to gather T-shirts, magnets, a stuffed Goofy, and Post cards. I also grabbed the last CC pen. I wasnt prepared like some people we had not even gone to Treasure Ketch or Mickeys Mates on the boat yet, so I didnt have my post cards ready. I wrote them out with the pen I bought at the register while Ron checked out. After stopping at the bathroom (CC is such a big place, couldnt they have put more bathrooms closer to the beach and eating pavilions?? I only saw the one set of bathrooms across from SSSS) we decided to take the tram back. We stopped at the post office to mail the cards, and the line was pretty long, out the door. It moved fairly quickly, though and we got our stamps from the Bahamanian postal worker and were on our way .back to another long line. The line to get back on the ship was unbelievable! It stretched well down the pathway. And it wasnt moving like the PO line was. At least we could watch the boat getting painted while we waited. In. The. Very. Hot. Sun. What had happened to all that wind? I guess the behemoth ship was blocking it. It was stifling. As we got up closer we noticed that actually two bulkheads were open on the ship, but there was virtually no line at the far one. We broke out of line and jogged over in that direction, and it seemed like everybody saw that at once and they all ran over to the left side door. By the time we got there, a short line had formed and when we looked behind us it had managed to get just as long as the other one! Wow! Thanks to our stroke of good luck though, we were on the ship in a little more than 5 minutes (and it still looked like the other line hadnt moved.) We went back to the room to clean up a bit, and I fell face first on the bed, head and torso only with legs dangling off the end.
I'm riding this big round ball
I never do dream I may fall
And even the high must lay low
But when I do fall I will be glad to go
Yes when I do fall I will be glad to go
And right there is where I stayed, apparently for over an hour. I was in a state of semi-consciousness. I know Ron and the kids went up to get snacks and go in the pool, and I was sleeping some..but I could hear what was going on around me. Namely, the people in the hall, and our poor neighbors. I had heard nothing from either side until now, so I hadnt realized just how thin those stateroom walls were. Until, that is, I was able to clearly hear a normal-toned conversation about dinner and the show coming through from next door. Yikes, if normal voices could be heard that easily, then what about when we had to yell loudly at the kids to chill out at midnight, and early in the morning. Oooops. That is also when I heard many comments about the door sign coming through from people passing by in the hall. I felt bad about having used such loud voices (and probably un-disneylike adult language, too) and made a note to try and tone it down a bit when in the hallways in rooms. And with that, I laid my head back on the bed to continue my catnap.
I don't even know where we are
They tell me we're circlin' a star
Well I'll take their word I don't know
But I'm dizzy so it may be so
scottishwee35
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Aug 7, 2005
Hi
What a beautiful photos Love the sunshine at the sea
Scottishwee35
What a beautiful photos
Love the sunshine at the sea Scottishwee35
Buckeye Gal
Beach Girl Deep in the Land
- Joined
- Apr 29, 2007
Jen, thanks for sharing your experience! You've informed me of some good tips, too. You're the first DIS'er I've noticed scheduled for the same cruise we're taking on 9/27/08! I'm taking my mom to celebrate her 59th, and my 38th (gulp) birthday. 
Although this won't be either of our first cruise, it will be our first DC.
With what you've written so far, it sounds like you and your family had a wonderful time, and I'm sure you're all looking forward to the double-dip cruise next year!
Kimberly
Although this won't be either of our first cruise, it will be our first DC.With what you've written so far, it sounds like you and your family had a wonderful time, and I'm sure you're all looking forward to the double-dip cruise next year!
Kimberly
nenner1
<font color=darkorchid>I must've been distracted b
- Joined
- Mar 1, 2007
Jen, thanks for sharing your experience! You've informed me of some good tips, too. You're the first DIS'er I've noticed scheduled for the same cruise we're taking on 9/27/08! I'm taking my mom to celebrate her 59th, and my 38th (gulp) birthday.
With what you've written so far, it sounds like you and your family had a wonderful time, and I'm sure you're all looking forward to the double-dip cruise next year!
Kimberly
Thanks, Kimberly!
We will have a grand 'ol time on the DD! I'm insanely excited.
I was on the boards last week and I noticed my ticker and I started yelling, my husband was wondering what I was screaming at, he thought I got hurt or something. No......it was just my ticker went down from 17 months to 16! HA! LOLLLLL!
catecrew
Earning My Ears
- Joined
- Feb 24, 2007
Jen, thanks for sharing your experience! You've informed me of some good tips, too. You're the first DIS'er I've noticed scheduled for the same cruise we're taking on 9/27/08! I'm taking my mom to celebrate her 59th, and my 38th (gulp) birthday.
With what you've written so far, it sounds like you and your family had a wonderful time, and I'm sure you're all looking forward to the double-dip cruise next year!
Kimberly
Hey, Me too. Love reading this & I am with you too on the DD. I will be celebrating my 40th birthday while on the ship (double gulp)
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