12/14 Wonder Day 2 The Nassau Demolition Derby

[DISJAZZ]

"And A Star To Steer Her By" We rose early to see the mighty Atlantic. There was a Coast Guard ship in the distance and it followed us into port. God bless the Coast Guard. Take some binoculars with you if you have room in the suitcase. There are other ships and islands to see. We saw Nassau drawing near. We're in the Caribbean! We had breakfast at the Beach Blanket Buffet. More great food with omelettes made to order. We were in a hurry to get off the ship because this was our day to swim with the dolphins. We got off the ship and headed down the docks. There was another cruise ship docked next to us and it appeared to be empty. We found out later that they were using it to film a new James Bond movie. We met some of the friendly business people from Nassau. We needed a taxi to get to the Paradise Ferry terminal. They were more than happy to oblige. I felt like a mouse at a cat party. We ended up boarding a fairly large van with two other families. They were going to the Atlantis resort. One dad was feverishly trying to buckle his seat belt which didn't work. Our driver said, "In the Bahamas, we don't worry about seat belts." He pulled straight out into some heavy traffic which caused a mom to gasp. He said, "In the Bahamas, we don't worry about what's behind us." My wife imitated him saying, "In the Bahamas, we don't know if you'll reach your destination by taxi, wrecker-truck or ambulance." Ahh, the joys of the Nassau demolition derby. We finally found our way to the Paradise Ferry terminal and caught our shuttle to the Blue Lagoon and the Dolphin Swim. They gave us a class on Dolphins and then we were in the water swimming with Dolphins! It was fantastic. I now have a new nickname of "Dances With Dolphins." That's much better than the "Dances With Skunks" nickname those Northern Cheyenne gave me after that rather unfortunate elevator-gas incident after I ate some bean salad. Back to the Wonder with another Nassau demolition derby drive. This taxi didn't have a door handle on the inside. I guess too many passengers had tried to bail out in fear of accidents. I noticed that the Wonder crewmembers were testing out the lifeboats in the harbor. That made me feel good. I like an emphasis on safety. We had dinner at the Parrot Cay and enjoyed the food and atmosphere again. Trevis and Anthony again treated us wonderfully. I did notice that Rita, our Hostess (she has a formal title that I forget) was busy taking care of passengers. I know that there's discussion on whether the folks like Rita earn their tips. From what I saw, they earn their tips. We went out on Deck 4 to look at the James Bond ship. Deck 4 is open around most of the ship. It has some comfy chaise-lounges and is a great place to watch the ocean if you don't have a verandah. I thought I saw Pierce Brosnan so I started to give him my rendition of Terry from the movie "On The Waterfront". "I could have been a contender", I yelled. It wasn't Pierce and he hollered back "You stink!" It must have been one of those Northern Cheyenne again. We skipped the juggling show and wandered around the ship. There was a lot of fun going on in the clubs. Our son was in the Oceaneer's Lab and we had to pry him out of there every night. We ordered our cheese plate again and then off to sleep in a really comfortable bed. What a great day!

 

[wdw1972]

Originally posted by DISJAZZ
[B We saw Nassau drawing near. We're in the Caribbean! [/B]

Um, no....you were never in the Caribbean. The Wonder only goes to the Bahamas (Nassau is in the Bahamas).

I'm loving your trip report - sounds like you're having a great time on the cruise!

 

[lbgraves]

ROFL! Your trip report is fun to read, especially the demolition derby references.

 

[DISJAZZ]

wdw1972 - Whoops! I shouldn't have slept through those geography classes! My high-school geography teacher would whack my desk with a yardstick. "Mr. Snoozie! Go to the map and point out the Caribbean!" I would walk to the front of the class and sheepishly point. He would yell, "No! No! No! That's Cleveland! I said Caribbean!' I think the Bahamas are closer to the Caribbean than Cleveland, so I'm improving, somewhat.

 

[wtg2000]

We went out on Deck 4 to look at the James Bond ship.

The next Bond film starts shooting in January so they were probably prepping the ship for the film. Cool. I saw (and touched) sets for Gladiator in Morocco before they started filming. It was neat seeing the movie and recognizing the spot.

 

[nickglover]

They were filming Bond in November when we were there - they had lights and "umbrellas" all over the exterior of a house. It may have been location filming, but the lights and loads of equipment indicate to me they had cameras in action.

I am enjoying your report - let me know when you plan to cruise again - I want to go along!

 

[DISJAZZ]

Nickglover; we enjoyed the four night cruise so much, that we will probably do a seven night cruise on the Magic. I would go next week, but my wife keeps telling me how we need all these frivolous extravagances like electricity and heat and groceries instead. We would look at doing the four night cruise again, but I 'm worried that Captain Henry has a long memory and won't let me back on the Wonder. Towards the end of this last cruise, he invited me up for a "Personal Bridge Tour". Well, he may have graduated first in his class at that fancy-schmancy Swedish Sailor School, but he has to learn to quit putting those "d"s and "e"s into words that don't have a "d" or an "e" in them. Turns out he invited me for a "Personal Brig Tour". True to Disney form, though, they gave me bottled-water and my choice of several lovely breads. This was all after I accidentally hit Captain Henry with one of those shuffleboards pucks. I didn't like their little shuffleboard-pusher thing so I used my hockey stick (and my wife said that I would never use my hockey stick and it would be unhandy for packing). Let me tell you, folks don't score many shuffleboard points against you after you slap-shot them with the old shuffleboard puck a few times.
I do keep working all of the angles to find a cheaper way to get on the Disney ships. I wrote Mr. Eisner a letter with a suggestion to help lower costs. I told him that we could get the government to help pay the costs for one cruise. We tell them that we're going to sail in close to Havana, Cuba and then have everybody go to one side of the ship and "moon" Fidel Castro. No dictator would stand for that kind of insult without responding, so he would have to "moon" us back. The sun is mighty bright down that way. Well, we would secretly have applied some SPF 200 sunscreen to our tushies, but we wouldn't tell him that, so he would have to outdo us and end up sunburning his behind. The old reprobate would have a hard time monkeying around with the United States while he was laying on his stomach in a hospital bed trying to cool-off his sunburned behind! The State Department would pay big money for that piece of diplomacy. I'll bet they would even sponsor a special Havana Sail-Away Party on the ship with a new cold-and-fruity drink called "The Castro Keester Cooler" and serve a demonstration pastry called "Fidel's Flaming Buns". Mr. Eisner didn't think much of my idea. He thanked me and sent me a "Magical Gatherings" video but he didn't think the State Department would go for the idea. So I sent a copy of the letter to Secretary of State Powell. His letter came back with tear stains on it. I thought at first it was because he was so impressed with the beauty and simplicity of my new foreign policy effort, but then he wrote that the thought of Castro with a sunburned heinie made him laugh so hard that he cried. I guess the State Department won't be sponsoring any cheap cruises by Havana soon.
So I guess I won't be doing any Disney cruises in the near future. I hope that you will have a Disney cruise soon. If you do, and you see Captain Henry, ask him if he's still mad about that shuffleboard puck incident. He probably wouldn't have been as mad if I hadn't cross-checked him, too. I thought everyone from Sweden played hockey. Bon voyage!

 

[CRSNDSNY]

I was on that cruise with you DISJAZZ!

Here's a picture of the "James Bond" cruise ship:

http://community.webshots.com/photo/107274980/107280877RJjOzq

Great report!

 

[wtg2000]

I posted this on another thread that mentioned the same thing about James Bond. There is and was no Bond movie being filmed. However, Pierce Brosnan's newest movie After The Sunset with Salma Hayek was filmed last winter in the Bahamas and has a cruise ship in the trailer. I assume this is what people saw. Someone says "James Bond" is here and everyone assumes it's the new Bond movie.