Ah, you managed to capture pictures of what Heaven must look like.
Jill in CO
What I wouldn't give to be there right now! That is the only negative thing about the southern itinerary...no Castaway Cay!
SERENITY NOW!
Thank you for posting those pictures. While I am very interested in the idea of a cruise, I have to say that the crowded photos of the pools on board and the family beach at Castaway Cay made me wonder if I'd really like it.
I'd be curious to see if the adult pool is as crowded on the classic ships, or on the new ones, if it was an off season cruise while kids were in school. I would think it would be quite a bit better then. Jeff and I will hopefully find out but that's a good 18 months away.
It looks like you had Serenity Bay all to yourselves!!! Although totally agree it is WRONG to close the bar at 3 with 90 min to all aboard. A girl could do some good drinking in those 90 min.
It felt like we had it all to ourselves! There was literally maybe 10 people there and we kept wondering where the heck everyone was. Granted, it was a summer cruise so maybe less adult only passengers? Or we were one of the few willing to just ditch our kids and hope they didn't drown (just kidding!). I was actually glad we'd been able to "test" their ocean swimming at Vero to feel ok about them leaving, especially with all the lifeguards everywhere. I can't imagine that there weren't plenty of families with older kids that could have been left but who knows. I know this, no way were we getting back on the ship until we had to.
Looks like the kids had a great time with their various activities and the buffet looks pretty good - and this is from a non-buffet lover.
I am so not a buffet person, it definitely exceeded my expectations. Which, granted, weren't terribly high.
Definitely mulling over the idea of a cruise. Maybe someday.
Might be fun for a group/girls trip...
It would be very fun for a girls trip!
Ah - Castaway Cay!! Not so long anymore until I can explore there, so your update was a very welcome reminder of my upcoming vacation!
So very very lovely, it really is a slice of heaven.
The snorkel lagoon looks rather crowded, not sure I will want to try that. I don't know why, but I expected it to be more spacious...
It actually is quite large, there were just lots of people.
However Serenity Bay seems deserted!! Do you think that this was due to it being later in the day? Or was the ship just more full of families? Our cruise had a "Kids sail free" promotion going on, so I am expecting lots of families, maybe more than would be usual for non-vacation time. If that causes us to have such a wonderful nearly empty adult beach, that would be wonderful!!
It was odd that it was so empty to us. Maybe it was because they knew the bar was closed
The ship was quite full of families and perhaps those with first dinner seating were headed in already, I'm not sure.
And I will make sure to go and hunt for drinks before 3pm!!!
There were drinks available at the other locations before we headed over there, it just never occurred to us that there wouldn't be any there once we arrived. If we'd have gotten them before we hit the water I think we'd have been ok but it just didn't cross our minds.
Just got back from Mexico last night- I have lots of catching up to do around here!
I thought of you on national Margarita Day!
You guys are scaring me!!!
I finally figured out that they changed the resizing on the old version. I think you have to import at the size you want and I haven't figured out how to make a change once you have added the picture.
I think, and need to email them to confirm, that what is happening to me is that because I have pro even if I set a default size for the upload, it retains the original photo meta data. Then when I edit or crop, it goes back to the original size as it's baseline somehow.
I have also avoided switching to the new version. I have a pro account, too, and lots of pictures stored, both mine and the ones for the Yacht & Beach Club FAQ. I could be in big trouble!
I'll worry about that another day- or about 25 days!
25? Yeah milk it as long as you can BUT don't try to edit a thing or it will force you over. No editor in the old version anymore and now, once you are over, you can't go back.
Now on to happier things...
What a great Castaway Cay day, starting with the view from your verandah! WOW!!!
Great looking beaches. Love the Disney sand shovel!!! My boys (well mostly Ben) still dig digging at the beach. Nate and his friends will still dig if they have big shovels and can make big holes.
It was a great day! Evan will dig in a big group too, the can spend hours at the lake making giant holes and filling them with water.
I'm so happy to hear the boys loved the snorkeling. One of my favorite things to do.
Lunch looks super! Nothing like sand and sun and sea to make you hungry.
Love that Serenity Bay was so uncrowded. Don't love that the bar was closed!
They LOVED the snorkling, neither had ever seen anything like it and were just in awe. It was very cool. Lunch was really good, surprisingly so.
Seriously. The ADULT bar closes earliest? What are they thinking???
The food looks good.
I continue to be amazed at the size of the ship!
Glad you found that peaceful beach to just hang out and talk. What a nice memory!
The ship is huge. I've seen a picture of a classic ship next to the newer ones and wow, it's a substantial difference.
We had a lovely day