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1st time DREAMers - Dancing On Over to Our Happy Place 01/30-02/06 - LOTS OF PICS TR COMPLETE!

Hi! I was in the midst of enjoying your trip report and I saw your cabin door magnets. Is your name really Chaldea? Because that was my grandmother's name and I've never met anyone else named that! Her nickname was Chally.

Anyways, great report!

Yes, my name is Chaldea (pronounced: Shal-day-uh). That's awesome, I've never known anyone who's had the same name before!
 
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Day 6 - Part 2: More Castaway Cay

Continuation of the last post..

We rode our bikes back toward Serenity Bay to check it out.. On our way down, we noticed an empty Cabana and decided to take a few quick photos before getting kicked out. This was Cabana #25 at Serenity Bay.

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The proximity between Cabanas nearby..

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We then headed on over to Serenity Bay took some nice photos since the beach was still pretty empty. The water was so clear and it was absolutely breathtaking!

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Just like the commercials :)

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By this point, it was well past our 1 hour mark for the bike rental so we hurried on over to return the bikes.. Now, the person at the bike rental kiosk was different and it seemed as though they didn't document the length of time we had the bikes so I'm pretty sure we could've stretched our time a little bit longer :) Oh well.. integrity, right?

After returning our bikes, we built up quite an appetite and headed on over to the nearest food spot, Cookies Too.

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The food was just okay. I would say the best part of the meal was the Fish and the Ribs. The burgers were bland and dry, the chicken tenders were even more dry, the hot dog was pretty standard and nothing to boast about. The corn was soggy. The fruit was fresh, crunchy and delicious! The dessert options were just okay. The cookies were rock hard and the pineapple upside down cake was good for the first bite, then just got really sweet. This didn't phase us, we were having a perfect day. I couldn't express just how happy we were to be there. So after stuffing ourselves, were on our way for more adventures.

We found this picture perfect spot and of course took had to stop for a few shots.

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The family beach was quickly filling up..

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We headed on over to the shops to get a few things while we digested our food. We ran into our new CM friend, Bianca, working at the shop and we talked with her for a little while. She told us that it was a close call for docking into Castaway Cay that day and it took the Captain a few tries but we made it! Ah man, after hearing that, I was almost in tears of joy. It was such a blessing to be at Castaway Cay :)

After talking with Bianca, we headed back to the ship to drop off our new souvenirs. Here's some pictures from our walk.

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We stopped by the post office and it was closed. There was a family outside saying that it was completely closed for the day. I was a little distraught but just walked back to the room.

We changed into our swim gear, grabbed some cash then headed back out. We stopped by the post office and it was OPEN! YES! I purchased the stamps and sent off my postcards. Yay :)

We headed toward the snorkeling rentals and picked up our gear. The guys were nice and helped inform us on how to inflate the yellow vest and deflate it.. I'm not a good swimmer so this was vital to my snorkeling experience. We found a pair of loungers next to a really nice family and placed our things down. This was so exciting! I was waiting for this exact moment.. to find Mickey!

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OMG, The water was FREEZING!! I almost bailed out until Kevin told me to just dip my whole body in.. that solved it and all was well after that. On to search for Mickey and Minnie..

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It took well over 30 minutes to find Mickey but we found him! Then it took us another 30 minutes to luck out with getting this awesome capture..

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It was tough trying to get down to Mickey with the vest on.. Kevin took his off to get the picture but then got in trouble with the lifeguard shortly after for taking off the vest. Hahah, oh well. We felt accomplished.. and I was well over snorkeling after that. Swimming is EXHAUSTING!

We still had our tube and floaty rental, but we were over swimming at that point. We were cold, exhausted, sandy and just over it. So we skipped out on our last rental. We returned our gear and headed back to the ship. We caught this last picture..

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We walked back to the room and dropped everything off. Then went up to Deck 11 to ride the aqua duck one time before showering and cleaning up.. So awesome! And such a beautiful view :)

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Up next... Palo Dinner!
 
Looks like an absolutely perfect day!!! Love that picture with Mickey! Definitely frame worthy!
 


Gorgeous pictures of Castaway Cay! I didn't know that we almost didn't dock?!? I had heard about the cruise a week or so before ours then I read about one after ours that didn't make it. Thank goodness we did!:worship: My favorite day!
That's awesome you found Mickey! I kind of wish I would have gone snorkeling. My husband took my son, but I chickened out because the water was so cold. Maybe next time!
 


Gorgeous pictures of Castaway Cay! I didn't know that we almost didn't dock?!? I had heard about the cruise a week or so before ours then I read about one after ours that didn't make it. Thank goodness we did!:worship: My favorite day!
That's awesome you found Mickey! I kind of wish I would have gone snorkeling. My husband took my son, but I chickened out because the water was so cold. Maybe next time!

Thank you! And YES! I couldn't believe it either! :cheer2: I agree, it was by far the best day of the trip and the water was FREEZING! OMG, thank goodness for the sun :) I would totally recommend trying snorkeling some time. Such a cool experience
 
Day 6 - Part 3: Romantic Dinner at Palo

After the Aqua Duck, we headed back to the room to clean up and order room service.

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Kevin ordered two orders of the Chicken Tenders, I got the Salmon and we shared the All Hands on Deck cheese platter and the cake of the day which was Raspberry Cheesecake. We enjoyed our lovely meal on the Veranda. It. Was. Amazing. :) The Salmon was my favorite option on the Room service menu. The All Hands on Deck was good and the grapes were fresh and complemented the cheese very well.

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Boy, we were Stuffed! We took our refillable mugs and walked up to Deck 11 to refill.. we mainly wanted to walk off the food. Walking out of the room was pretty fun.. there were a bunch of families dressed in pirate gear. It was so cute! It was entertaining to see everyone's get ups. We got back to the room and had about 2 hours to spare before our Palo dinner so we threw on a movie and napped. We were EXHAUSTED from the sun but there was nothing stopping us at this point. We got up and got pretty for our fancy dinner.

When we arrived at Palo, we were greeted by two nice ladies and were promptly seated.

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Mircea was our server again. He seemed a little more frazzled and overwhelmed this time around since there was twice, maybe three times the amount of people in the dining room but he still provided the same quality service. He served us the antipasti first.. we weren't too familiar with this and so he just plated us a few options to try.

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For our appetizers, we ordered the Fritto di Calamari, Sicilian Pesto Marinated Grilled Shrimp and Cioppino. Mircea remembered Kevin's allergies and was strict about not having him try my Cioppino. Womp womp.. I enjoyed it all to myself :)

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Not going to lie, I was already pretty stuffed at this point and thoroughly regretting eating as much as we did earlier from Room Service. But we kept trekking along :)

After our appetizers, Mircea brought out a Lemon Sorbet palate cleanser to prepare our tastebuds for dinner.

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Alright, so now for our entrees. We had hungry eyes while ordering so I don't even understand how we finished all of this food..

I ordered the Grilled Tuna, Kevin ordered the Palo Steak, and we shared a half order of the Gnocchi di patate con Gorgonzola e Asparagi and the Chianti Braised Beef Ravioli “en bordo”.

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The Tuna was grilled to perfection. It was delicious, but after a while it was just a really big portion of tuna and I quickly got tired of the taste. I feel like it needed some vegetables or potatoes or something on the side to go with it.
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The steak was cooked to perfection as well. Kevin finished every single bite and loved it.
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This was probably my favorite entree on the table. The ravioli was PERFECT and the braised beef inside was so tasty.
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The gnocchi was our least favorite entree on the table and the toughest to eat considering how full we already were. I think the texture of the Gnocchi (just personal preference) was a little much for me, but this was probably my second time ever having gnocchi.. it was good.. I think we were just stuffed and it was very filling, even for being a half order.
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Omg, we were way past our limit at this point. We had a weird interaction in the middle of dinner with Mircea where he scolded us for not finishing our food. I thought it was a joke.. but he also seemed serious.. It was weird. But we let it slide and he came back "nice" again after that.. I don't know. It was really weird.. but we were still having the best day of our lives so we just didn't let it phase us.

When Mircea brought out our entrees, we put in an order for our Chocolate Souffle. They put in the order early because it takes about 20 minutes or so to make. And Oh. My. Goodness. It definitely lives up to the hype! We were beyond stuffed by the time our dessert came.. BUT I HAD to try this piece of work. So good. I totally recommend it. It just melts in your mouth.. The vanilla bean sauce with the ice cream, ugh, it was so good.

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Kevin ordered the Panna Cotta with Strawberry-Basil Sorbet. haha, it was good! A great contrast from the chocolate. We were just beyond stuffed at this point..
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At the end of our meal, Mircea brought out a surprise complimentary signature Palo after-dinner shot. It was mixed with prosecco and vodka. It was yummy, lemony and strong enough to taste the alcohol but not overpowering.

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Overall, I loved our experience at Palo. We loved both Dinner and Brunch for different reasons. If I had to choose between the two, I think I much prefer Brunch for the smaller portions and less pressure to finish our food. Mircea also seemed more relaxed at Brunch which made us feel more relaxed. For the extra charge for both experiences, I would totally eat there every day and night if we could. The quality of the food and service was just unmatched compared to the MDR's and we just couldn't get over it. It was simply amazing. Love love love! Totally recommend both experiences. :)
 
Day 6 - Part 4: CANCELLED pirate party and fireworks but had an even better surprise

We got out of our dinner at Palo around 9pm and man, I swear, I was waddling out of there like a penguin. Hahah I had never felt that ridiculously full, EVER! We went back to our room to make drinks from the whiskey we received from our FE's (thank you!) and this guy was waiting for us back at the room.

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So cute! We were surprised to find the ship still docked at Castaway Cay when we walked out to the veranda. It was so weird.. they announced into the rooms (which was really weird) that a crew member was needing medical attention and that's why we were still there.. they then announced that the pirate show and fireworks were cancelled, and the fireworks were rescheduled to the next night (sea day) since according to law, we had to be 12 miles out away from shore and we were still docked. I was a little sad but quickly brushed it off. It sounded like something serious was going on but they didn't tell us the exact reason.. we just shrugged, made our drinks and were on our way. We walked around the ship, did a few of the midship detective things and took more photos.. It was so cute seeing all the families in their pirate gear. pirate:

Here's Mickey near one of the enchanted paintings

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We made our way up to Deck 11 to wait for the Pirate Party and walked through Cabanas as they were setting up for the pirate buffet. Kevin and I were still stuffed and actually didn't make it to the pirate buffet.. although, I at least wanted to see what they served and all that. Oh well, more reason to come back and try it next time :yay:


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We went out to the pool deck area to wait for the pirate party and had no idea what was going to happen.. I'm going to be super honest here.. it. was. whack. They made it seem like something amazing was coming with all the prep. The dancers performed what looked like their opener of the show, but sadly Mickey and Captain Jack Sparrow never made it out.. they totally did away with the show completely and turned it into a pirate dance party. The music was lame. The DJ spinning had no idea how to transition in between songs.. I was a little upset that we even waited for it.. note to self: not worth the wait.

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We left a little disappointed. After all that, we aimlessly walked around.. Here's our expression of how we really felt about the pirate dance party..

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By this point, Kevin started acting weird.. I should've seen it coming.. We were walking around and he asked me where the forward of the ship was.. I was like, "uh, I don't know, why?" and he just said "never mind, I'll figure it out.." HAHA! We kept walking and went up to Currents, the bar in the FORWARD of the ship (smart man, he figured it out.) Right when we got there, they were closing so we couldn't order drinks. We were cool with it.. they saved us a few dollars. We walked around the bar and Kevin put the gopro down like we were going to take a picture. He hugged me and my first reaction was, "man, you're so sweaty, and we're outside.. are you okay?" hahaha then I told him, "dang, your heart is racing, what's going on?" and he let go of our hug and plopped down on one knee and proposed! WHAT?! The poor guy was so nervous.. he couldn't form sentences, but it was the sweetest thing. Of course I said YES. How could I not?

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I was in shock. My initial reaction was to get a drink or something.. we HAD to celebrate! We went down the midship elevators and the atrium was empty.. PERFECT photo opportunity!

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We went to Guest Services to see if they had any "Just engaged" pins but they were out. The lady congratulated us though hahah. Oh well, no biggie.. I was still on Cloud 9! We went to Evolution and got a few drinks. There were literally 5 people in there dancing to a weird Akon song. We tried to stay to see if better music was going to play and it didn't. So we left.. What a perfect end to a perfect day. I couldn't believe what had happened.. & to make it suspenseful, we had NO wifi and I desperately wanted to tell my mom, sister, & best friend what had just happened.. Totally couldn't. & I wasn't going to pay $20 for wifi for only 2 days.. so we waited. It was the longest wait of my life. But man, what an awesome day. Castaway Cay, romantic dinner AND our engagement. February 4, 2015 will forever be special to us :)
 
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Your report is just fantastic! I love your photos so much, your joy radiates through them and they are just so creative! CONGRATULATIONS on your engagement! How perfect!!!
 
How wonderful! I've been reading along and didn't see it coming! I thought when you said he was acting weird that he was seasick. How sweet. Congratulations:dancer:!
 
:love:Oh my goodness! Congrats!!! I gasped when I read that he proposed, talk about best cruise ever.
 
Congrats on the engagement!

OMG!!! Congratulations!!!! What a great engagement story!!!

Your report is just fantastic! I love your photos so much, your joy radiates through them and they are just so creative! CONGRATULATIONS on your engagement! How perfect!!!

How wonderful! I've been reading along and didn't see it coming! I thought when you said he was acting weird that he was seasick. How sweet. Congratulations:dancer:!

:love:Oh my goodness! Congrats!!! I gasped when I read that he proposed, talk about best cruise ever.

Best wishes!! That is so amazing!

Thank you all so much! & thanks for reading along :thanks:
I'm still in disbelief.. and of course having major cruise withdrawals.
 
Congratulations!! Perfect place to get engaged and I love how he captured a photo of it! It looks like you had a wonderful dinner at Palo.

We were a little disappointed in Pirate Night also. They did have a Pirate Show with Mickey and everything, which was in between the two dinners. However, we missed the whole thing, we were running a little late and by the time we got up there it was over!? I think it lasted only 15 minutes.
 

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