TR:Club Level, Disney Cruise, and Castle Fun! (Mar.23-31) UPD 7/25

MAKING OUR WAY TO ATLANTIS!​



*HAPPY WEDNESDAY DIS FRIENDS! The week is half over! I can't believe we only have 17 school days left of the year and two of those are half days! Things are going to start getting crazy!! We have been having rain off and on all week which is actually a nice change for us (probably not for vacationers!) and I've been under the weather too! I'm working this Sat at DHS for the big Star Wars event so I won't get to see any of the special events but I'll get to work it from 6pm-12am!

MARCH 25, 2013

When I left off, I was feeling much better after having taken the meds and having breakfast.

Our tour was to meet at 10:15am in the Walt Disney Theater. We were early so we decided to walk around the ship and see what was going on until our meeting time.

We pulled up to a Carnival ship which was different from the one in Port in FL



I'm sure those people were staring at us just wishing and DREAMING!

The made several announcements on our ship when you could disembark which was nice and helpful! I'm sure on Carnival, it wasn't a magical!




We walked over to the lobby and found the princess madness!!



I really didn't care about the princess pics or the line so we passed that but found another princess!! It also hit me that these characters were in prep for the night's formal night but it was a cool way to start the day even though I didn't feel like a princess at that point!




Finally after our wandering it was time to meet up for the tour! Guest Services had advised us to take towels so we got a bunch (like 8) from the adult area and stuffed our bags, filled our water bottles and off we went!



We checked in at one desk where we had to fill out a release form and then were sent into the theater

We were then grouped with stickers and given wrist bands to wear at Atlantis


We had a seat while we were briefed on everything and told what to have and finally we left for Atlantis! It was when we were sitting that we noticed that NO ONE else in our group had gotten towels like we had...

*FIRST TIME CRUISE LESSON #14

#14..Dont' always believe guest services. Apparently part of the tour at Atlantis includes beach towels. Go figure. It was too late for us to run them back to the room or to the adult area so we passed some off to the family in front of us who were unsure about the towels too and took only 4 with us.


A guide helped us down the stairs to show us how to exit the ship and stay together as a group. We tapped our key cards to the square in front of the computer station and off we went!

FINALLY WE WERE OFF AND I SET FOOT INTO A NEW COUNTRY!!




Once again chills!!!



Excited to be going back to this!



Our guide walked us to where the taxi area was!




Our first taste of the Bahamas...getting yelled at for hair braiding!



I had known I wanted braids but not before formal night and not in Nassau/Atlantis.

We were led to an area where they had taxi/shuttle/old vans whatever you may call it and we were broken down into groups and put into the vehicle for the drive over to Atlantis.


Drivers in Nassau are pretty scary and their cars are mere inches from one another! Lots of horn honking too!

We drove over the bridge to get to Atlantis and saw our ship in the distance!










The driver asked if anyone had questions about the island or Atlantis but no one really said anything. I'm not sure if it's bc we were all in awe of the surroundings (good and bad) or if we were all praying we'd make it over there!

Anyways, soon we arrived and were met but Atlantis guides to show us to our beach day!!!








UP NEXT: 15+ MIN WALK FOR THE EXCURSION..THEY WEREN'T KIDDING...

 
Finally got a chance to read your TR. Enjoying it so far! :)
 
Finally got a chance to read your TR. Enjoying it so far! :)

:welcome: Joanna!!!!!!

I'm so Jealous you are going on another cruise this Sept!!! I keep looking for our discounts (FL res too) for this summer but nothing is open and their bookings from DCL are looking pretty full too so I'm guessing it's a LONG SHOT that will never happen lol!!!
 
ATLANTIS BEACH DAY EXCURSION​



*HI DIS FRIENDS!!! I hope everyone is having a great weekend!! We had nearly a week of rain straight which was a nice change at first but it was so refreshing to wake up to blue skies and sunshine today!! I worked the Star Wars 4th Event yesterday and it was CRAZY!!! I was at the produce market on Sunset for a while and our line was pretty much to the taxi bathrooms near the Planet Hollywood store!! From there, I went to Fairfax which the line was pretty much down to almost the produce market for quite some time! We were running out of things left and right and couldn't keep up! At one point we had 6 people working in the kitchen (usually there's 2) with 5 registers open (usually there's 4 maybe 3). It was fun when the fireworks were over and Fantasmic was over! It seemed people were having a good time and I sold what seemed like endless adult beverages! After 6 hours of sleep, I'm up and ready to tackle Sunday! I have so much to do but I hate to not go out and get some sunshine..it is FL afterall!!?? We'll see what the final decision is!!! Have a great rest of the weeekend!!!

MARCH 25, 2013​

When I left off, we were arriving at Atlantis!

I did forget to note in the last update that on the ship they sell bottles of Evian water which are about the size of the ones at WDW from Dasani and they are cheaper! I expected to pay well over $2.50 for the Evian water (which IMO is better) but it was $2!!! I'm glad I brought a bottle with me as well as my water bottle with ice/water from the drink station.

It was very hard for us to choose an excursion for Nassau! (It's a good thing it was our only port of call beside CC!). We wanted to do something in a moderate price level but didn't know if we wanted water, not water, or whatever. We decided on the Beach Day at Atlantis because my fear was that we wouldn't be able to dock at CC on either day (GASP!!) and I would hate to go on my first cruise and not set foot on any beach so we decided on that and paid the $95 each for the beach day. We also could have chosen Blue Lagoon Beach Day which also got really great reviews but the return times for that were scheduled where as Atlantis was pretty much leave when you want after 1:30pm-5pm

The tour price of $95 included the beach day plus Lunch and a pass to the aquarium.

When we got off the shuttle, we were met by a guide and I think DBF and I got mixed in a a group that had already begun because we missed a lot of the beginning info but there were tons of people and it was confusing so we just tagged along and went with it. Most people wore the same stickers of Chip and Dale so we figured we were okay!

We made our way through the lobby area, passed very expensive boutique shops, through the Casino (no pics except for the ceiling and floor!) and finally outside!!





Our guide was pretty funny and told jokes along the way and facts about the resort and the island. We passed a cute little gift shop.



It was then on the right we heard people screaming services at us and I panicked for a few mins as I wouldn't believe that we paid $95 for a "semi public" beach and would have people yelling services as us for the next few hours! WRONG!!! Thank goodness!!! We kept walking...

We're almost there!




FINALLY...we stop at a secluded, private beach, and right before you enter there is a shack where you get towels and DON'T have to bring your own from the ship. They check your wrist band and you are free to choose where you want to sit. Only people on the tour from Carnival and Disney plus resort guests can use the area. It was beautiful!

The only gripe...our tour met at 10:15am we finally arrived at the beach after 11:30am!! It was a long process and a long walk but would it be worth it??!!!











The chairs with the little umbrella coverings was the perfect compromise for my DBF who wants mostly shade and me who wants mostly sun! I was so glad we didn't have to pay extra for those! There were also little tables sitting around so you better believe it that we grabbed one of those too without and additional charge! I was so glad that they weren't nickel and diming us for everything!




Once we got seated, unpacked and settled, the bar service came around!





My love in the shade and myself in the sun!





After a while it did become to get very hot! It was nice that we could leave our stuff and both venture into the freezing cold water to cool down!




Around 12:30 we were getting hungry so I ventured to find the food locations and a potty too! They were literally steps from where the beach was and the men's potty was closed!!! I used the ladies room and went to tell DBF about the restaurants. He decided to go get us food with the paper vouchers they gave us and we got a chicken sandwich and burger with fries and two soft drinks and split the sandwiches.






The burger was delicious and the chicken not so much but for the food included with the tour there was plenty and we were full!

After lunch we laid around some more and I read my magazine that I had brought. This was a view of one of the larger water park slides.




Our messy seats!



We did venture into the water for longer after lunch.



It was still freezing but refreshing!

Love the color!!!










Finally around 2 we decided to head back. I know we had till 5 but we had no intentions of staying that late and we wanted to rest before formal night. We did have plans to visit the aquarium as it was included we we packed up around 2pm and headed out! It was also getting pretty hot too!!!

UP NEXT: AQUARIUM OR SHOPPING DID WE DO BOTH OR JUST ONE?!?!?!...​



 


I was at DHS last night and it was nutty!!!! Never made it over to your side of the park. :)

The beach day looks great...thank goodness you got to the private part. :)

Jill in CO
 
Atlantis looks gorgeous. The water is so nice and clear

Those drinks looked yummy
 
I've always wanted to visit Atlantis, the water looks so pretty. Looking forward to hearing about formal night.
 


Loving your trip report. That long walk doesn't seem very magical though. We usually stay onboard the ship in the bahamas. I love how empty it can be on Nassau day!
 
Great pics from Atlantis

Good idea to choose this as an excursion just in case you couldn't dock at CC and the beach does look lovely :)
 
I bet DHS was crazy for Star Wars day! My cousin and his family are there right now and I am pretty sure they were there that day. Wonder what they thought...haha And my sister went for the fireworks that night!

Love all of the cruise updates/pictures!
 
I was at DHS last night and it was nutty!!!! Never made it over to your side of the park. :)

The beach day looks great...thank goodness you got to the private part. :)

Jill in CO

Thanks!!

Atlantis looks gorgeous. The water is so nice and clear

Those drinks looked yummy

They were STRONG!!!

I've always wanted to visit Atlantis, the water looks so pretty. Looking forward to hearing about formal night.

I miss the water :)

Loving your trip report. That long walk doesn't seem very magical though. We usually stay onboard the ship in the bahamas. I love how empty it can be on Nassau day!

We will probably do that next time but it was a great experience anyways!

Great pics from Atlantis

Good idea to choose this as an excursion just in case you couldn't dock at CC and the beach does look lovely :)

It was good planning..next time we'll probably stay on the ship!

I bet DHS was crazy for Star Wars day! My cousin and his family are there right now and I am pretty sure they were there that day. Wonder what they thought...haha And my sister went for the fireworks that night!

Love all of the cruise updates/pictures!

The fireworks were super loud but we couldn't see them since we were inside and STILL had a line!
 
Great TR! I love your pictures and descriptions! I'm headed on the Fantasy in a few weeks and I am just soaking up all the cruise pictures I can in the meantime! :thumbsup2

Atlantis is GORGEOUS! I've stayed on the boat in Nassau and so I've never seen it up close. It's beautiful! And nice that the cruise guests have their own beach, rather than jockeying for space with all the Atlantis guests.

And congratulations on your upcoming anniversary! :cheer2:
 
Great TR! I love your pictures and descriptions! I'm headed on the Fantasy in a few weeks and I am just soaking up all the cruise pictures I can in the meantime! :thumbsup2

Atlantis is GORGEOUS! I've stayed on the boat in Nassau and so I've never seen it up close. It's beautiful! And nice that the cruise guests have their own beach, rather than jockeying for space with all the Atlantis guests.

And congratulations on your upcoming anniversary! :cheer2:

Thanks!!! I'm jealous you get to go on the Fantasy!!!

I think next time we'd stay on the boat in Nassau too or if anything walk around in the town for a few mins but I'm glad we did it and had a good experience!
 
LEAVING ATLANTIS BUT NOT NASSAU!!!​



*HAPPY WEDNESDAY DIS FRIENDS!!! I hope everyone is having a great week! This week is teacher appreciation week and we have been so lucky to be showered with gifts daily! It is a very rewarding profession and I'm so glad to be a teacher! I'm escaping Orlando (gasp!) for the weekend and heading to Bradenton for Mother's Day with my aunt and uncle (mom's sister). If I can't be with my mom for Mother's Day, I might as well be with her sister who is a mom too!! We're going to go to the beach..probably Anna Maria Island and just hang out. Last year I was down there a few times a month and this year with working at WDW and the love in my life, I haven't gone at all and they head up to Ohio soon! I hope everyone has a great rest of the week and a great Mother's Day weekend!

MARCH 25, 2013

When we left off, it was nearing 2:00pm and we decided to head out. We wanted to relax before dinner so our plans were to head out of the beach, stop by the aquarium area then head back to the ship.



That was one of my more fav pics of the trip!













As we were walking what seemed like forever back. We decided to skip the aquarium and just hit the gift shops before leaving.








I got a tshirt and some other souvenirs in the gift shop totaling $57 (not cheap!) and off to the shuttle we went!

The shuttle ride back to town was uneventful and we made it back in one piece.




We went through the customs building and I bought another tshirt and some straw change purse things and then we finally went through customs. It was after that we found that that that was not the "straw market" but the guests we talked to who went there said it was nothing great and most things seemed "store" bought..sad.






Which ship to go on..hm....







A family behind us took our pic in front of the sign. They were on the carnival ship..and were jealous haha. Wouldn't you be?!




We walked down to the furthest entry and when we got there a family was literally boarding the ship for their first day. I guess bad weather cancelled their flights the day before and they ended up having to fly to Nassau and taking a shuttle to the port then a golf cart to the ship. I can't imagine paying all that money to miss day 1 and pretty much day 2 of my trip. Guest Services was meeting them just through security when we got there.

We put our things through the scanner and scanned the room keys and back on our ship of paradise!!!

We dropped our stuff off in the cabin and went straight to the pool! The line for the aqua duck was pretty long so we just hung out on the adult decks and relaxed! I was getting into the pool and literally slipped! The base of the pools and hot tubs is so slippery like you wouldn't believe! It's like water on metal I kid you not and I pretty much made a fool of myself in front of like 20 guests in the pool and I had pretty bad bruises on my ankle and other foot. It was not magical. After that I decide to take my bruised self to deck 12 and watch Carnival sail away while we hung out in Nassau till 2am.








After fun in the sun and saying adios to Carnival, we decided to get a snack and prepare for dinner!


UP NEXT: FORMAL NIGHT...ENOUGH SAID.

 
I'm so sorry that you slipped and fell, I'm sure that hurt a lot. Yes the ground can be pretty slippery around the pool area. Thankfully you didn't break anything, that would have been bad :sad2:
 
Why did the ship stay on Nassau till 2am the two i had been on left shortly aftrt allaboard
 
Aww man, I want to go on a cruise so bad. LOL.

Happy Teacher Appreciation Week to you! We had a nice luncheon today at school. It is a difficult job sometimes being a teacher but I love it. :)
 
I'm so sorry that you slipped and fell, I'm sure that hurt a lot. Yes the ground can be pretty slippery around the pool area. Thankfully you didn't break anything, that would have been bad :sad2:

Thanks! With my luck I'm surprised I didn't haha. I do wish it wasn't so slippery! That was not last time I nearly fell in the 5 days on the ship!

Why did the ship stay on Nassau till 2am the two i had been on left shortly aftrt allaboard

The CMs said that it was a "gift" to the CMs to have a night off when they were done with their duties. I guess they do that from time to time based on guest feedback and positive guest comments and what-not so the CMs got some time ashore. We too were able to be off the ship until 2am but by 2:02am if you were not on, you were left!

Aww man, I want to go on a cruise so bad. LOL.

Happy Teacher Appreciation Week to you! We had a nice luncheon today at school. It is a difficult job sometimes being a teacher but I love it. :)

I think that should be your next quest since you're done with the DVC resorts right??!!!
 
That's a really neat idea I think the night life I'm Nassau would be kinda neat to.... I hope I am fortunate enough to do this some day tha la for the info
 
FORMAL NIGHT!​



*HI DIS FRIENDS!!! I hope everyone is having a great week! I had a nice weekend in Bradenton with my aunt and uncle. We spent a wonderful day a the beach on Saturday and the pool on Sunday! It's nice having a weekend and doing nothing! My car also got washed and detailed thanks to my uncle so it made for a great weekend overall! We're busy preparing for our annual school Art Show on Friday night and our last day of school is next Friday! The days are going quickly!!!!

MARCH 25, 2013

When I left off we were waving goodbye to Carnival and stayed put in Nassau.

After catching more sun, we decided to have some snacks from the quick service and drinks too.

When we got back to the cabin we decided to watch some of Villans Tonight to see if it would be worth seeing before dinner. After 5 mins we were not impressed and decided not to go see it and just prepare for dinner!

We spent the time in the lobby taking formal pictures of back drops and characters. Before we knew it, it was time for dinner! I really wanted Royal Palace for formal night and we got it!




(Photopass also took a pic of this and we bought it lol)

I was sure, I would be getting engaged that night(I mean look at how darn cute I look!!!). It never happened haha. DBF told me it was not happening at all that trip. I thought he was lying. He wasn't lol.



I wanted to take the bread basket!



*FIRST TIME CRUISE LESSON #15

#15: Dress up for Formal Night even if it's optional!!!





Most people were dressed for Formal Night. Why wouldn't you?! They had such wonderful pictures set up everywhere including in the restaurant!



Only the couple from MI showed up for dinner with us. I have to be honest, it was kind of nice!



Escargot for me!


DBFs



Both DBF and I




Both DBF and I



Dessert Menu




Both DBF and I







Out of all 4 rotation meals, this was my favorite. I loved everything I ate and we had great company with our table mates! I'm glad they didn't make us wait for forever to see if the other two couples came. We were in and out in no time which I'm sure our servers liked because they had a fun night on the town ahead of them!

After dinner we found Mickey in the atrium and I bought this formal pic as well!







All dressed up and no place to go??!! NOT ON THE DISNEY DREAM!!!

UP NEXT: Formal Night After Dinner



 

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