Excuse me, you'll need to see security. What has Mickeystoontown done? Update 3/25x2

[MEK]

Sounds like there is a lot of tipping going on here and you don't even get credit for the tipping you already did. hmmmmph!

That is a cool excursion, but I am not sure if I would like being those tight spaces. I'd have to be the last one in and the first one out. That's what I did when I went on a cave tour and it definitely eased the pain.

Thanks for such a great description of the excursion so far.

 

[aprilisis]

Great updates! I love all of the photos & the "iron story" was hilarious!

 

[jenseib]

Still catching up.... I just wanted to let you know, those people at breakfast were not being rude or cutting. That is how it works there. There are different pods and you are just supposed to go to any pod you want without waiting in line. It's supposed to make it go faster, and usually cast members tell you so, but not always. And lots of people are confused by it. I only knew because I read every TR I could before I had sailed...and it was still very new then.
Do they no longer seat you at Cabanas? When I saild they would seat you first, then you wnet up for food. I had heard this confused a lot of people too and I wonder if they just did away with it?
Nassau looks beautiful. I loved looking at the rich peoples houses too. I Thin kI heard that suite was Donald Trumps suite at one time many years ago...and the price was really high too.

 

[jenseib]

The excursion looks fun, but maybe a little too close quarters for me. So you have to straddle the seat to look out too? Is there plenty of room between seats to do that? I have a little extra leg compared to others.

I am looking at possible excursions right now. I can make them on Monday. I'm still undecided.

 

[francis6306]

That viewing area looks so tiny!! I would love to see the fishies, but I don't know about that viewing area!!!

We are big breakfast eaters around here! I promised myself that I would book more dinners/lunches, but I ended up with mostly breakfasts again…

 

[PittypatBR]

That excursion looked amazing! This old biology teacher would love it! The "semi-sub" looks like the Nautilus at Disneyland. Of course, that one is in a tiny lagoon instead of the ocean, but the size, the seats, and the windows look the same.

John is lucky he is married to you - I would have killed Roddey if he had left his license behind!! But you did a great sprint getting it and getting back.

I am surprised the Disney Cruise line didn't mention the rule about irons in their literature. I knew HAL didn't allow them before we went on our cruise, but I can't remember if they told me or I read about it on the Cruise Critic boards. I did SO much research about packing and read dozens of packing lists!

 

[lauren_elizabeth]

The excursion under the sea seems so cool! My son would absolutely love that!

When you were sitting down in the sub, did it seem claustrophobic at all?

 

[Tiggerrn2]

The seating in that sub looks the same as the seating in the Nemo Subs in Disneyland. It's a little scrunchy. But it did look like a neat adventure tour.

 

[mickeystoontown]

Morning! Hope you all had a great weekend! The office is pretty busy this morning....folks like to fuss and fight about custody/visitation during the Summer and then right before school starts (which is does in about a week or so here). I hope to get replies done this afternoon and possibly work on an installment.

 

[addictedtothemouse]

Your excursion looked like so much fun.

 

[wakica]

ok, I have some catching up to do. lol

WHAT is an Esterhazy cake??? We live a few hours from a town called Esterhazy so i thought it was funny when I read you had Esterhazy cake. But now I'm curious what it was like??

Funny funny about the confiscated iron! Who on earth would have thought hey??? Well, now you saved others from the same embarrasment of being a criminal at least. I'm sure people will appreciate that. haha

What was with the tipping hog??? I can't beleive he had the gall to stick out his hand to take a tip when he had already gotten one wow, some people!! Glad your DH spoke up about it.

Looks like the excursion was fun!! too bad the pics didn't turn out so well, underwater pics can be tricky, especially through glass.

 

[mickeystoontown]

ok, I have some catching up to do. lol

WHAT is an Esterhazy cake??? We live a few hours from a town called Esterhazy so i thought it was funny when I read you had Esterhazy cake. But now I'm curious what it was like??

Funny funny about the confiscated iron! Who on earth would have thought hey??? Well, now you saved others from the same embarrasment of being a criminal at least. I'm sure people will appreciate that. haha

What was with the tipping hog??? I can't beleive he had the gall to stick out his hand to take a tip when he had already gotten one wow, some people!! Glad your DH spoke up about it.

Looks like the excursion was fun!! too bad the pics didn't turn out so well, underwater pics can be tricky, especially through glass.

Hey there! I would have never thought that an iron would land me in such hot water. Like you said, maybe I saved future cruisers from making the same mistake.

I know! The guy was holding out his hand for the tip and we had already given it to him. I kinda figured that this happened a lot because they were giving each other the evil eye.

Your excursion looked like so much fun.

It was a lot of fun and I'm glad that we did it.

The seating in that sub looks the same as the seating in the Nemo Subs in Disneyland. It's a little scrunchy. But it did look like a neat adventure tour.

It was a little scrunchy but not too bad. So if the seating is like that of the Nemo Subs in Disneyland, I'm wondering if that's what it will be like at the new Little Mermaid attraction in Fantasyland.

 

[mickeystoontown]

The excursion under the sea seems so cool! My son would absolutely love that!

When you were sitting down in the sub, did it seem claustrophobic at all?

I'm glad that we chose the semi-submarine tour because we got to see so many things (despite the fact that you can't tell it from my pictures). I didn't get claustrophobic at all and neither did John or Hunter.

That excursion looked amazing! This old biology teacher would love it! The "semi-sub" looks like the Nautilus at Disneyland. Of course, that one is in a tiny lagoon instead of the ocean, but the size, the seats, and the windows look the same.

John is lucky he is married to you - I would have killed Roddey if he had left his license behind!! But you did a great sprint getting it and getting back.

I am surprised the Disney Cruise line didn't mention the rule about irons in their literature. I knew HAL didn't allow them before we went on our cruise, but I can't remember if they told me or I read about it on the Cruise Critic boards. I did SO much research about packing and read dozens of packing lists!

It was really cool seeing all of the various sea life swimming around. I gave it a big .

Note to your hubby.....if you ever go on a cruise, make sure you have your license with you at all times or you'll be kicked in the behind. I was winded when I made it back to the lounge. I was so afraid I'd get turned around.

I guess I didn't do enough research or I'd have known not to pack that iron.

 

[mickeystoontown]

That viewing area looks so tiny!! I would love to see the fishies, but I don't know about that viewing area!!!

We are big breakfast eaters around here! I promised myself that I would book more dinners/lunches, but I ended up with mostly breakfasts again…

It really wasn't as small as it looks. We were happy that we decided to do that excursion otherwise we might not have seen as many fish as we did.

We ate only one breakfast on this past trip. We usually just snack for breakfast and then have an early lunch.

The excursion looks fun, but maybe a little too close quarters for me. So you have to straddle the seat to look out too? Is there plenty of room between seats to do that? I have a little extra leg compared to others.

I am looking at possible excursions right now. I can make them on Monday. I'm still undecided.

I did straddle my seat to look out but I saw others sitting sideways. It wasn't that crowded despite the way it appears in the pictures.

Still catching up.... I just wanted to let you know, those people at breakfast were not being rude or cutting. That is how it works there. There are different pods and you are just supposed to go to any pod you want without waiting in line. It's supposed to make it go faster, and usually cast members tell you so, but not always. And lots of people are confused by it. I only knew because I read every TR I could before I had sailed...and it was still very new then.
Do they no longer seat you at Cabanas? When I saild they would seat you first, then you wnet up for food. I had heard this confused a lot of people too and I wonder if they just did away with it?
Nassau looks beautiful. I loved looking at the rich peoples houses too. I Thin kI heard that suite was Donald Trumps suite at one time many years ago...and the price was really high too.

I wish the castmembers would explain the lines to you when you enter Cabanas. As it was, they were telling you to go to the end of the line so that's what everybody did. When the "cutters" would go to just one pod, it looked like they were breaking in line.

They didn't seat us at Cabanas during either the lunch service or breakfast service. They only came around and picked up plates every once in a while.

 

[mickeystoontown]

Great updates! I love all of the photos & the "iron story" was hilarious!

I know I said it over on your trip report, but it's good to "see" you on the Dis again! Yeah, the iron situation was crazy and my men made sure they reminded me of that fact every hour or so.

Sounds like there is a lot of tipping going on here and you don't even get credit for the tipping you already did. hmmmmph!

That is a cool excursion, but I am not sure if I would like being those tight spaces. I'd have to be the last one in and the first one out. That's what I did when I went on a cave tour and it definitely eased the pain.

Thanks for such a great description of the excursion so far.

We could tell that the tip "stealing" if you want to call it that, was something that must have occurred pretty often. The two guys were definitely eyeballing each other.

The semi-submarine wasn't that bad but I can see how someone who was claustrophobic might have a problem with it. We were the last ones to exit the sub part because I wanted to take pictures.

Forgot to mention that you are not the only one intrigued by the map. When we were on the Carnival Valor, I always had that channel on in the cabin but they also had one out in the ship. Always knew where we were with that thing. I also liked to just see how fast we were going and what the weather was like.

Isn't that channel the neatest!?!

 

[mickeystoontown]

So it seems as if the semi-sub ride was a success! One question---when you folded down your seat and sat down, it looks like your knees were almost touching the persons across from you. Was that the case? Looks pretty tight down there, but still fun!

That boat captain chill-axing is too funny! I want his job!

Yeah, I think I remember my knees touching the guy next to me but it wasn't that bad. Not uncomfortable enough that I though "eew".

The boat captain was just sitting there with his arms behind his head while the little boy was crawling all over the place.

The boat looked like a lot of fun! I think that I might have felt a little trapped down there though.

Can't wait to hear about the bus portion. We really enjoyed touring Nassau when we were there, but it can be a little sketchy. You know what strikes me about the excursions on the DCL is that they aren't very "Disney". Hope you enjoyed the rest of the afternoon!

I didn't feel claustrophobic once when we were on the sub part of the trip. I think I was too busy looking out the windows.

Yeah, the bus portion was definitely not "Disney".

 

[TinksThree]

Holy smokes! Waves were coming over level 8 and 9? I'd be popping motion sickness pills like they were tic tacs.

It was something else! I will see if I can find a picture! Thankfully I had these patch things that had been on the previous 6 days and the crew people said I probably had so much motion sickness medicine in me that explained me only feeling slightly queasy! it was not a fun way to end the trip!

I'm pretty sure the Nassau mansion goes to Tom according to the pre-nup.

Probably so! Poor Katie!! I have a friend that just returned for WDW. They were waiting for Beauty and the Beast to begin at DHS when in walks Tom and Suri and sat four rows in front of her. She has some awesome pictures of them! (Pretty cool even if you aren't a huge TC fan!) Then they went to American Idol and the Top 10 were in Orlando for their tour...they saw them at AI! Some people have all the luck!

I was off a few days...glad to see I didn't fall too far behind!!!

 

[hhockman]

Wait. Hunter is FIFTEEN?! How long have I been gone?!

 

[GrammyJudy]

Your pictures on that little submarine boat so reminded me of the old 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea ride at WDW

 

[mickeystoontown]

Now I Know How the People On The Amazing Race Feel! Look Out!

We stepped off the boat and onto the dock and we got our first glimpse of Nassau. Hum, not exactly sure what I was expecting and I’m fairly certain that a picture of the drunk man lying on the dock isn’t on the Nassau postcards. Yep, that’s what we saw....the drunk on the left and a man painting on cardboard on our right. Not my idea of vacation bliss.

Our guide yelled out “follow me!” and set off at a pretty good pace. There were lots of buses lined up along the dock. I didn’t get a chance to take pictures because we were trying to keep up with the guide who led us to our bus. As soon as he opened the door, we could smell a combination of plastic and slight body odor. Why plastic? Well, the seats were covered in a thick plastic. I know that the seat covers were supposed to protect the actual seats but I also thought they were supposed to make it easier to clean ‘cause you could just wipe the plastic down. Yeah, well, the seats hadn’t been wiped down in a while, I can assure you. Hand sanitizer anyone?

Once we were all settled in, we were off! Off to explore Nassau! Unfortunately, because of the close quarters on the bus and the fact that our guide was driving like a bat outta heck, I could never get any good pictures of our driving tour through Nassau so I’m borrowing pictures from the internet. The pictures that I post are of actual things we saw though.

The streets of Nassau are pretty narrow as you can see from the following pictures:

I’m not even going to pretend that I remember in what order we saw certain things. Our bus driver was turning in front of people left and right and cars were squeezing past us. I bet I could have stuck my finger out and wiped down the side of the car next to us. Horns were honking, people were yelling, it was then that I now realized how the people on the Amazing Race feel when they travel other countries. It was crazy!

Even though he was busy weaving in and out of cars and turning in front of people, our driver would point out certain buildings and tell us about the island of Nassau. I know at one point we went down Bay Street:

We drove by the Post Office:

Our guide told us that everybody in Nassau has to have a post office box and come into town to pick up their mail. Mail is not delivered directly to homes or businesses.

Speaking of businesses, it was odd to see a bar, then a diamond store, then a thrift type shop all right beside each other. Or a designer clothing store, a locksmith and a shoe repair shop:

I can’t tell you how many bank branches we passed by. Instead of giving the exact figures that our guide gave us, I’m going to round out my numbers so I don’t get anything wrong. Nassau is 20 something square miles and there are over 200 bank branches there! Our guide asked if we had all heard of people hiding money in foreign countries to which we replied yes. He said that most think that the money is hidden in Switzerland but a lot is in Nassau. If I were going by the sheer number of banks that we passed, I believe him. There were banks everywhere...even stuck in between the bar, diamond store, locksmith and shoe repair shops.

Oh and he told us that there are no taxes in Nassau except when you buy a car and then the tax is 65%. That, he said, “is how they screw us over”.

We also drove by the Nassau police department:

Not a minute too soon, we reached our destination...Fort Fincastle. Apparently, it was also the destination of many other bus tours. He found a spot to let us out and told us that we were supposed to meet back up in 25 minutes. It started to sprinkle rain as soon as we got out of the bus. My first stop was a bathroom and then we went into a very small little store but we didn’t find anything we had to have. The vendors were trying to sell you their wares but we walked on past so that we could see the Fort.

We paid $1.00 each for our tickets and then went in:

The view from the Fort:

Inside the small rooms of the Fort:

Sorry, those are the only two pictures that came out decent enough to post. It had started to sprinkle even harder and other people were milling about so I didn’t stop to change the setting on the camera.

Looking down at the vendors set up around the Fort:

Right about then, the bottom fell out of the sky so we darted down the stairs and found the bus. We hopped on and waited for the rest to come back. Once everyone was accounted for, we headed back into town. We passed this sign along the way (again, borrowed from the internet):

We passed by the Parliament building:

It was still pouring rain when we got to our stopping point. The bus driver opened up the doors and we could tell that we were all expected to get out despite the fact that it was raining cats, dogs and moo-moo cows. We hopped out and made a dash for the Customs House.

Originally, we had every intention of going through the straw market and to the rum store to buy rum cakes. However, since it was raining like crazy, we decided to just look for the rum cakes in the Customs House and then go back to the ship. If we stayed in town, we’d get even more wet and we’d be miserable for the rest of the day.

We found the stand that sold the rum cakes and bought four of the small ones. Two original, one Bacardi and one pina colada. The Customs House was a madhouse by then so we didn’t look around any more and decided to just make a run for it. I told the guys when I said I was running, I meant I was running...not skipping, not jogging... I was running and they could keep up or meet me at the ship. One look at the rain and they decided to run too.

When we got to the Dream, there was a line of folks standing outside but the rain had let up a little. We dug out our I.D.’s and room key and made it through security. Once we gathered up our things, we turned and there were castmembers standing there with towels. Warm towels! Gotta love that Disney service!

**Up next: Sunsets, smiles & snails! Snails?