20th Anniversary Trips: "I don't know" Cruise Edition (A Feb Wish Cruise Report)

[mi*vida*loca]

You guys packed so much into your one park day! Gives me ideas on any one day park days we may do.

I feel like the kids always find a way not to feel so good and miss school when the parents are away. lol. My daughter would always have something come up (cough, stomach, headache) and miss at least one day. They know we can't fight them too much on it.

We did our first cruise in November (NCL) and it was weird being on a vacation and not knowing much. I researched before going but being on the ship is so different. I felt lost for a while too. Luckily we went with seasoned cruisers so it helped out.

 

[vamassey1]

The ship is so beautiful!

I have no sense of direction so I would have really been lost.

Thanks for all the first timer tips.

 

[StarWarsMomofGirls!]

Excited to see how the cruise goes. I am afraid I would get seasick. I take medicine to help prevent motion sickness at the parks and don't think I could handle the open water.

More to come on that in my next post! But I will say I don't need medicine and can do most rides in Disney...

You guys packed so much into your one park day! Gives me ideas on any one day park days we may do.

We really did!

I researched before going but being on the ship is so different. I felt lost for a while too.

It really was hard to imagine being on the ship and prepare until we were actually on it.

I have no sense of direction so I would have really been lost.

We got our barings eventually but we were constantly asking are we in the front of the sip or the back of the ship...

 

[rdkeim]

You made it to the ship! By this time I'm sure you know the parks like the back of your hand. I can understand how the ship made you feel discombobulated. I hope you eventually get your bearings!

 

[ThreeBoyMama]

Ha ha. You are a patient woman. I would have been like I don’t know. Then I don’t KNOW. Then I DONT ****ING KNOW. Eat your damn chicken tenders. LOL

 

[eliseisawkward]

I think we must have passed each other in the air, your flight down was the same day as our flight home! Also from the Philly area!

I can’t believe how much you packed into your park day!! Very impressed. Interested in seeing what you think of the cruise. I’m not sure I would ever do one, but I’m definitely interested in following along.

 

[StarWarsMomofGirls!]

Happy Friday Everyone!!!!

It was a long work week! I am so glad it's finally Friday. My lovely teenage girls had half days and area both napping currently. Ah to be young again.... And be able to take a nap...

Embarkation Day

After the muster drill, I said we should head back up to the pool deck for the Sail Away Party. ONE of the things I knew was that the elevator can be all kinds of backed up after the Muster Drill, so I told Andy we should take the stairs.

We hoofed it from the level 4 to level 12. Yuck. The steps were faster but man the steps were killer!

We found a spot for the sail away party up on the overhead deck area.
Waiting for the Sail Away Show

We got there about 3:50 and the sail away party was to start at 4:15. So we had some time to wait.
selfie #2

Still waiting for the sail away show
We clearly passed the time by taking selfies...

Our spot turned out to be a good spot. We were able to see everything but we away from the main crowds.

I did get suckered into one of the sail away drinks.
My sail away drink by Ariella Saucier, on Flickr
It was just ok. It was half Pina Colda - half Strawberry Daiquiri. It was nonalcoholic, which is fine but it was a little too sweet for me. And the straw was strange. I couldn't figure out what the deal was with it. once we were back I was watching Adam Hattan again and he mentioned that the straws were edible. That was it! I did not like the straw, it was kind of slimy.

Notice how empty the area was when I took this pic.

Should have brought my sunglasses out.
This is right before the show started. It was nice and sunny outside, I should have brought my sunglasses.

Sail away Party right on time.
Sail Away Party

The sail away party was super cute.
Sail Away Show

Sail Away Show Mickey and Gang

Set Sail Away Show Princesses

Sail Away Party

At some point during the show we realized we were moving! There was no turning back now!

Good Bye Florida
Bye Florida! We were out of here. I felt fine while we were on the deck outside...

After the show, we decided to try some trivia! There was Parks Triva! Perfect!

We found Triton Lounge where it was going to be. It was nice and empty in there. We wanted to grab a drink. So, we walked over to Keg & Compass to get something since it was right there. We didn't love the options there, so we left and went down to the Bayou.

We ended up just getting Gin and Tonics. (which we could have done at Keg and Compass) We were just so overwhelmed I think we just went with something we knew. I was also starting to feel a little weird. While walking around I would look out the portholes and the sea moving was making my brain very confused.

Anyway, we got out drinks and headed back to Triton Lounge. We walked in like 4:59 and the room was now PACKED!!!!
Trivia

We ended up having to sit on the ground. The trivia was fun BUT super hard! I think we got 14 out of 20. They had questions about all of the parks, internationally. But it was fun to do. Andy finished his gin and tonic during the game but I hadn't really touched mine.

After that we wandered some more. I was starting to get worried I was going to feel like way the whole time. I wasn't sick but just felt off. I am honestly not 100% sure what we did, maybe went back to the room to grab something?

Anyway, we eventually made our way to see the first show of the trip! We were outside of the show area at 6:30. They let folks in right at 6:30 and we were able grab a seat right behind the sound tech. And it was a perfect seat.
Sound board

I was able to walk around with my drink, which I really wasn't sure if that was ok. And I was able to bring my drink into the theater with me which was nice. Actually you could grab drinks before you went into the theater.

Sitting in the theater worked out to be a good thing for me. The boat was super smooth, so once we were in a room with no windows, my brain kind of settled down.
Ready for the Show

Before we knew it the show was ready to start at 6:30.

Show was super cute. Captain Minnie let’s Goofy drive the ship. What could go wrong. Afterwards, Andy said it was basically Philharmagic. We enjoyed the show alot. And made me excited for the other 2 show while we were on the ship.

After the show was over, the Cruise Director came on stage and talked about things going on and when we would arrive in the Bahamas the next day. As a first time cruiser this was very helpful!

The show tonight was maybe 45 minutes. But during that time I felt better enough to finally drink my drink.

We decided to go check out Villains Game Night after. We had some time still before dinner, as we had the later seating.
Villians Game Night by Ariella Saucier, on Flickr

This was basically Hollywood Squares but with villains. It was super cute.
Villian's Game Night

They picked people from the audience before hand. So if you wanted to participate, get there early.
Villians Game Night
For the first round, they had picked a Teen Girl and an older lady. The poor teen girl had terrible strategy for the game. She could have blocked and everyone watching started to tell her to pick something else. poor thing.

The MC had a script depending on which villian was picked. It was well coordinated and fun to watch. This was the first time I realized that they gave our "medals" to the winners of basically any game or trivia.

We headed to dinner after the show.
Sailor Mickey
We saw Sailor Mickey meeting with people as we made our way to dinner.

We got in line around 8:15. It was a long line. And I tried to find the bathroom to use before we headed in, but the line was so long that it took awhile to find. We just hopped out of line and hopped back in once we were done.

Congratulations
The hallway leading in was nicely themed. I wish we had gone back to look at everything when it was dinner time.

Some guy

Arendal Pothole
A themed porthole...

Picture going into dinner
I always love this picture in the movie.

We had requested a single table but we didn't follow up on it. we were willing to do whatevery. We did end up with table mates. It was a table for 6 but it was us and another couple. So, we had some room to breathe at the table wich was nice. Our table mates were nice. They were first time cruisers as well.
Whole Dinning Room
The view as we walked in.

Dinner Show
Table wasn’t the best location for actually seeing the show. I had heard this was an issue but we were fine with it. BUT if we were on this cruise and the girls were little it might not have been as ok.

Anna
Anna swung by and said hi at some point.

This was the menu I was least looking forward to, so I was kind of glad it was the first seating.

Once we sat down, our waiter came over and introduced himself. He took our orders all at once, apps, main meal and dessert. I was a little flustered by this but I heard later that this was a change to help not intrupt the guests during the show portions of each dinner.

I did not take any photos of food, I felt weird doing it with our table mates. They were very nice but clearly not folks on the boards.

To start, Andy got Elsa’s Royal Baked Scallops Shrimp Tarragon Bisque, Rainbow Carrots, Leeks, flaky Pastry. He said it was good. When it came out it looked HUGE, but once you cut into the pastry you realized it was just puffed on the top.

I went with the Jarlsberg Cheese & Rosemary Ham Tart Gala Apple, Williams Pear Compote. This was just ok. It was basically a quiche and not as cheesey as I would have liked.

For our main meals, I went with Garlic & Thyme Roasted Beef Rib-Eye Double-baked Potato, Buttered Broccoli, Sweet Honey-Roasted Carrots, Cabernet Jus and Andy got the King Agnarr’s Dry-rubbed Roasted Pork Tenderloin Buttered Chard, Honey Butternut Squash, Yukon Gold Potato Purée, crisp Shallots, Red Currant Port Wine Reduction

Both were good. I find Rib-Eye to be the same most of the time. I asked for it medium rare and I got that. We were both hapy with the dinner but not wowed.

For desert, I went with Troll Family’s Rock Chocolate Bar Chocolate Cake, Pistachio Cookie Rocks, Elderflower Meringue. It was super decadant! I was feeling ok still but not super hungry. So I think the whole meal was just ok for that reason alone.

Andy got the Eplekake, Apple Cake Caramel Sauce, Vanilla Bean Ice Cream, Florentine Almond Crunch. He siad this was good as well.

There was a part of the show where, 3 ladies came out and played songs. One sang, one played the violin and the other a guitar. And the violinist was AMAZING!!!! They were the highlight of the dinner for us.

After dinner, Andy wanted to do Star Wars Trivia. So we hustled over to the Bayou. We got there RIGHT before they started.
Bayou Ceiling

Star Wars Trivia
We were lucky to snag the last table for the trivia and literally right before it started. Andy answered most of the questions, but I was able to help with 2 of the questions that he wasn't sure of.

There was 2 other tables with let’s say older nerdy males… (you can see one in my pic above...) As we were going over the answers, that guy in the pic was answering alot of them and was making faces while the questions were being answered like he knew all of the answeres. So, I thought Andy had some stiff competition.

BUT...... turned out we didn't.... We won!!!! And I actually helped us win, the last question, Andy wasn’t sure of and I pulled out the answer at the end.
Andy with his Win
We managed to get all but 1 question wrong! Andy was super pleased!!!

We debated going into Hyperspace lounge but I needed to sleep! So we headed back to the room.

It was a little after 10:00 once we were back in our room.
Towel Turtle
We were greated with a towel turtle! So cute.

I was ready for sleep. I was hoping that I would be ok tomorrow and that I mostly just needed some sleep.

Up next... Bahamas Day!

 

[rdkeim]

I can understand being overwhelmed by the experience! You did get a lot accomplished on day 1. Hope a good night's sleep helped you!

 

[FrozenMagic]

Looks awesome!

 

[vamassey1]

Once again you really did do a lot in one day.

Congrats on winning the Star Wars Trivia.

 

[Paulaparm]

Congrats on the trivia win! I hope you don’t start feeling weird again!

 

[Stacybaeasm]

That's a lot for day 1 and not feeling yourself. I hope it all evens out soon.

 

[footballmouse]

We won!!!!

Congratulations! Hang that medal proudly in your house!!!!

 

[StarWarsMomofGirls!]

You did get a lot accomplished on day 1. Hop

I had watched a few YouTubers, and they all got alot done on the first day. I was glad we got to do as much as we did.

Looks awesome!

Thanks. More to come hopefully today!

Once again you really did do a lot in one day.

Congrats on winning the Star Wars Trivia.

Andy was very proud of himself!

Congrats on the trivia win! I hope you don’t start feeling weird again!

Thanks. Spoiler alert, I do!

That's a lot for day 1 and not feeling yourself.

It was a lot but also didn't feel like it all at the same time somehow.

Congratulations! Hang that medal proudly in your house!!!!

Andy has them hanging in his office. He has lots of star wars figures and stuff so it is right at home.

 

[StarWarsMomofGirls!]

Good morning everyone!!! Happy Wednesday. The girls have con'd me into driving them to school this morning. They usually take the bus but if I drive them, they get an extra 40 minutes at home. So I am taking them over on this hump day.

We are just trying to get through the next couple weeks to got to spring break! Only 27 days! Although saying that sounds too far still. Spring Break for us here in New Jersey is so late! I told the girls once we come back school is going to fly by!

Anyway, i thought I would take this time to add another entry to the trip! I also kind of want to finish this before we go away again, so I can start that trip report when we get back.

Bahamas Day

Today we had an excursion at 10:00 AM. So we were able to sleep in a little, shower and get ready for the day without rushing too much. We were up early enough to watch a driver be delivered to the ship to bring the boat into dock. That was wild to watch a small boat just come right next to the ship and a guy just hop onto the ship.
Our View coming in

I did wake up feeling ok, and since were were basically docked by the time we got moving, I felt fine today. I def think it was a combination of being tired and the movement that made me feel weird yesterday. But I was still worried how it would go once we left this evening. But spoiler alert, I didn't have any issues after this.

Boats already docked.
Our boat was "parked" next to the smaller ship. Andy really enjoyed watching the ship pull in.

I think we headed out of our room around 9:30. We saw our state room attendate as we were leaving. She was really nice and asked if we needed anything. We said no but thank you. I kept thinking, what should we be asking for? She also made sure we had IDs to get off and on the ship which was nice.

We grabbed a quick breakfast at Marcaline Market. I grabbed an eggs benedict with smoked salmon and something else. (no pictures) The egg benedict was very good for being a mass produced item. Andy just had an iced coffee that he grabbed at the coffee bar before you go into Marcaline Market.

We grabbed a table that sat 4 as it was the only thinking open. A mother daughter asked if they could sit with us. They were very nice to chat with but we had to head out for our excursion.

CInderella
We saw Cinderella already out and meeting folks this morning as we made our way to the meeting location.

We checked in for our excursion a little before 10:00. We met in Luna Lounge, which was where we had seen the Villain Game yesterday, so we kind of knew where it was. Yeah! They made sure we didn't have any fresh food with us and had proper ID to get back on the ship. We headed out just a little after 10:00.

Leaving the Dock
Getting off the ship I was excited to get a feel for how big our ship was to the other ships. But they are all so big, it's hard to tell!

We were escorted to our jeep and the CM from the boat got in the car with us. It was a family of 4, a mom and dad, one of the there mom’s and then there adult son. And then a male couple with us as well. The Jeep held all 8 of us.

The Jeep was in questionable condition, One of the seat belts didn’t work and mine was only kind of working. But we didn't’ really go very fast so it was ok (ish). But I was already kind of like, What did we pay for... And I will say the male couple kind of had the same look on there faces.

We did an inital drive around and our tour guide pointed out some buildings.
State House
This was a State House. The tour guide said all of the goverment buildings were color coded. Which I found intersting and loved. Pink was for the government building. I think Yellow was for schools.

We drove by an old fort made out of limestone.
Fort
It was to protect them from pirates back in the day.

Our first official stop was the Queen’s Staircase.
Queen's Staircase

We circled past the queen’s staircase and then was let out to walk down the staircase. I did not know anything about the stairs or really history of Bahamas. So, this was intresting to see.

We were past off to a different guy who gave us some info about the stairs. He stopped us halfway down the stairs to give us some information. Which was slightly akward. It felt like he was the drivers buddy not an official tour person, that he was trying to give a few bucks to. But it was fine, we tipped him and walked around a bit.

Waterfall in Queen's Staircase

Queens Staircase
A sign with some info about the stairs. I thought the fact that a few stairs are gone over time interesting.

Selfie-ish

Bottom of Queen's Staircase
The stairs were SUPER steep! And crazy to think that this was hand carved.

Leaving Queen's Staircase

We got back in the jeep once we were all done wondering around.

We drove around some more. Saw a few buildings that I don’t remember the significance too. Saw the US Embassy, which was an ugly white building that stood out like a sour thumb. All I could think was, no wonder people think of us as ugly americans.

Junkaroo Museum. Second stop was the “museum” the Junkaroo Museum....
Entrance to Junkanoo Museum

Junkanoo Costume
This stop was intresting but also way too drawn out.
We were allowed to wander around while we waited for some random people to show up as well.

Junkanoo Costume
The costumes were beautiful and reminded me alot of the Mummers costumes here in Philly for New Years Day.

And then they brought us to a back room.
https://flic.kr/p/2qQYFqb]"Music" Room[/url]
Here they gave us a history of the Junkaroo festival and parade. Which was intresting. They were banned from having paper, so they started hiding it and made costumes out of it. And basically the parade became a big f-u to England who was supressing them. The history of Bahamas sounds very complicated with slavery and being colonized. It was intresting to hear about. I will say the folks here were very proud of there history.

But then we banged on drums and cowbells. And this akward part where the guy asked if there was birthdays or anniversaries. it was all just a little too long at this one location.
Costume
I did love seeing all of the costumes, and honestly some of them did not look like they were made with just paper.

Giant Masks

Paper Cape
This was a cape that they hung on the wall. It looked like a carpet. I can't imagine how heavy it must have been to wear!

Lion Mask
This was also impressive to see. This pic I took to show Morgan. She would have loved to see the stuff.

After we were done at Junkaroo, we loaded back into the jeep and drove around, I swear, in a big cirlce....

We did see a few more buildings
State Building
Another state building, or maybe this was the home of the govoner?

Old Church
A very old church... The guide did say they were very religious here, which was intresting as they seemed to fight anything that was introduced to them when colonized.

After our drive around the block, we parked at the John Willings Rum factory, across the street from the Junkaroo Museum. (it was just weird that we drove around the block)

We got a short tour.
Queen
The main room had lots of photos of folks that they talked about. I snapped a photo fo the Queen.

Distillery Barrels
They showed us some barrels.... And said they get the barrels from North Carolina, which I thought was weird...

The distillery
This was the "backyard" of the distillery. It had a VERY deep well with a cage on it, so folks wouldn't fall in. I swore I took a photo of it. But apparently I did not. All I could think was it looked like a well that baby jessica had fallen into.

This felt like a stop just to get us to buy stuff. They did have a bar to buy a drink and a food truck for food but we weren’t sure if we were able to get a drink or what, so we all just went back to the tour guide.

We got back in the trucks and we got driven around more. At this point, I was starting to think how much more is there?!?!

We ended up at a place call Tea something. This stop was totally not necessary. It was clearly a cash grab to get us to buy VERY $$$ tea. None in our group went for it. It also started to sprinkle a little at this point.

After that, we headed to lunch. While we were in the jeep getting to the restaurant, it started pouring rain! We made a break for the restaurant. So it was perfect timing.
Lunch

We were taken to a local restaurant, and sat at 2 tables. The family of 4 sat at one table and we sat with the male couple. They were really nice and we had a great conversation with them while we ate.

Wings, Conch Fritters and fried shrimp
We were given a sample of items, conch fritters, fried fish of some sort and wings. All 3 were pretty good.

The conch fritters tasted like clam fritter you would get in New England. More batter than conch but that is the same in new England. Fried Fish was really good.

Eventually our tour guide came back and we loaded back into the truck. The truck was open air with a soft top. So when we got back to the jeep it was coaked and the top had lots of rain puddled in it. The poor 2 guys who sat in the back got soaked as all of hte water started to fall off. they were good sports about it and joked it was just a Disney ride. Traffic was backed up, everyone had decided to leave the beaches and all. We were brought us back to the ship near all of the tourist stands and were able to do anything we wanted.

The tour was just ok. We did learn a decent amount of info from the tour but it def felt a little too drawn out. I wouldn't tell anyone you HAVE to do the tour but it did give us a taste of Bahamas.

Shops
We headed back to the ship but our new friends were in search of some Starbucks coffee.

Shops
The shops were chaotic. We weren't really intersted in anything, so we just walked through and back to the ship.

They had a check point to get back onto the docks with the ships. We just had to scan our key card to get through this check point and was super easy.

Back of Boat and other ships.
It was a rainy gloomy day!

Back of the Boat
I snapped a photo and got a good look at Rapunzel on the back of the ship before we got back on the ship.

once at the ship, they made you hand sanitize yourself, and show your key card again. they also had a small security check, with a metal dector and scanner. And a guy to check any liquor you may have purchased to get when you leave. It was interesting to see how this all worked.

We got back on the ship around 1:30. And just in time, once we were on, it started to pour again. I said the poor 2 guys who went for coffee were probably regretting it. They were either drenched or trapped.

Up next, more exploring the Wish.

 

[Stasieki]

Disney Springs was Wednesday. I did see that you were there for cheer but it was such a whirl win day and change. I didn't reach out to anyone but I thought about it. How did they do? We over heard a BUNCH of cheer moms saying they only go to EPCOT when they come. Do you find that to be true? Maybe it's just Jersey Cheer moms...


Thanks. We did have a a good afternoon!


Welcome!!! What a small world! I just told my girls. And Morgan said you just missed the 1 year the football team was good.

They did really good! Lots of competition and ended 8th in the nation. Think their division started with around 40. We for sure visit all 4 parks when there but I wonder if the Jersey moms do meet ups at Epcot. Can't go wrong with eating and drinking around the world. Hahaha.

 

[StarWarsMomofGirls!]

Pictures stat to really drop off at this point in the trip... Sorry... It was really hit of miss if I thought to take photos or not. And of course you aren't allowed to take pictures during the shows. Otherwise I would have a TON!! ha. Sorry that it gets a little wordy.

Bahamas Day

I left us off heading back to the ship. It was about 1:30 when we got back. We headed to get some more food for lunch at Marcaline market.
Flower Pots again
Marcaline Market closed at 2:00 and we didn't think we would eat there tomorrow, so we wanted to give it a try.

It was nice and quiet in there as it was a little late for lunch.
Lunch Indian Items
I got more of the butter chicken! Highly recommend!!! Some of the food wasn’t as good as it looked but still good. This was all of the Indian food options. The rest was fine.

All of our items
I will note also, Marcaline Market has real cups for drinks. The Festival of Food was paper cups, which is nice if you want to take some to go. But it was nice to drink out of a regular cup here.

We chilled here for a bit and watched the rain. We were glad we had timied things as well did. I had wanted to go hang out in the adult area this afternoon but the weather did not seem like it was going to let us to do that.

So, after lunch, we decided to wandered a bit. I wanted to check out the stuff displayed in the lobby.

We checked out inside out bakery,
Inside Out

Didn’t get anything as we had just eaten. But all the treats looked super cute. I was tempted to buy something for later, but decided if we wanted something we would just come back. But looking at all the desserts, Andy decided we should go get soft serve. So that is what we did.

Anger & Fear

Joy and Sadness

So, we headed to the pool deck to get some ice cream.
Soft Serve
Andy got Chocolate Vanilla swirl and I went with Bannana and Strawberry swirl. It was fairly hot on the deck and I was worried that the ice cream would melt immediately. But it didn’t. The banana was weird tasting, don't recommend...

We headed to the lobby to checked out art in main lobby.
Moana Inspiration

I loved looking at all of the art.

Sleeping Beauty Inspiration

Malifecent Inspiration
I mean look at that. It really gives you a sense of how they created the characters. I remember thinking, Morgan would love this stuff.

Tianna Inspiration

How they build the ship
I loved this, seeing how they design and build the ship was really interting. Back when I was getting my first job out of college. I had applied to a company that designed cruise ships and man I wish I had gotten that job!

We could have gone into 1923 to look at the art tehre, but it didn't occur to me to do that. And I wish we had. we didn't really get to look at all of the good stuff in there as well.

We headed to Luna next. they were doing name that tune but live! It was about 2:40 and I think it started at 3:00.
Luna
Luna is 2 levels, we had watched the villians show from the second floor. Which was fine to just watch. But if you wanted to particiate you needed to sit downstairs. So, we started there for this.

Since we were early, they had a waiter getting drinks for folks. So we got drinks! Andy went with his Gin and Tonic and I got the
Le Stelle
Absolut Mandarin, Absolut Raspberry, Blackberries, Raspberries, Basil, Lime

This was a nice drink, you could tell they used fresh fruit in it.

The trivia was name that tune but it was with a person playing the songs on a keyboard and man was it hard!!! they went pretty fast with it, so you didn't have a lot of time to think about it either.

We joked that the guy playing the songs, parents were disappointed that all of the lessions they paid for was goign to him playing show tunes on a cruise ship. He was VERY talented. We did terrible at this but was fun to do.

After name that tune, we went to the room to rest a bit. We even took a nap. It was a bummer that the weather wasn't great but it also let us slow down this afternoon and relax a bit.

Once we were up and ready to go again for the evening. We decided to go down and try Hyperspace lounge. But when we sat down and looked at the drink menu and just decided to bale. The drinks were not calling to us and to be honest the whole area was under whelming. Oga's is way cooler looking that it was in there.

So, we got drinks at the bayou (which was literally right outside of Hyperspace Loung) and listened to a band that was playing music. Band was giving wedding band vibes... They looked like they had said who can play guitar... You, dishwasher guy? Your in. I joke.. they were great and was nice to just sit and listen. We got Gin and Tonics and the bartender asked us what kind of Gin. She offered up an Amazonia Hendricks Gin. It was sooo good! I made Andy take a picture of the tonic they were using as well. And it turned out that it was not diet tonic which I said is also why it tasted so good. We keep with diet to keep calories down when at home...

We didn't have too long to listen, as we needed to head into the thearter to see the show for the evening. We took our drinks into the theater and were able to grab the same seats as last night. Tonight was the Little Mermaid Show. This was great! I haven't seen the live action version, so I wasn't sure what the twist would be. But it was great. I was amazed at how they do 3 different shows on one stage.

The weather had still been very rainy, so at the end of the show the cruise director got up on stage again and mentioned that they were hoping to still have fireworks tonight but the other pirate show was being moved inside.
We decided to skip that show since it was going to be in the lobby. I figured it would be crazy with kids as it was the more kid friendly show. Instead we decided to check out Nightengales.
Bubbles

We got in there fairly early before the next "show", so we had our pick of seats. Nightengales is the bubbles champage bar. this was a must do for me.

Our Drinks
Andy went with another Gin and Tonic and I went with
Dreams Come True
Empress Gin, Elderflower, White Cranberry, Moët &
Chandon Rosè

This was also good. They kept the champagne the prominate taste which I appriciated.

The same guy came out to sing and play here as at the name that tune earlier in the day. He was excellent! He was taking requests and he said if he didn't know it he would learn it and play it the next night!!! What!?! How?

This was my favorite place to be for sure. It was quiet and just so nice. I was hoping to come back the next night but we did not get to. It was so quiet infact that you couldn't hear any of the chaos that was happening right outside with the Priate show in the lobby. (we were right off the lobby) I had run out to use the rest room and was hit with the chaos!!! When I went back in, I said to Andy we made the right choice!

By the time we were done at Nightengales, they were just doing meet and greats in the lobby.
Pirate Minnie
Pirate Minnie was meeting some folks.

It was finally time for dinner, tonight was dinner at 1923. This was my favorite meal of the cruise. I think the fact that it didn't have a show we were able to just enjoy the meal. It was jus tmore items that I enjoyed. I took zero pictures while here.... sorry....

We caught up with our table mates on what they did that day. they stayed on the ship and just explored.

I know I ordered 2 appatizers this time, the

Alameda Porcini Spiced Ahi Tuna - The Alameda Porcini Spiced Ahi Tuna is made with Pickled Lotus Root, Oyster Mushroom, Black Sesame Brittle, Wasabi & Yuzu Mayonnaise​

and the

Burrata Mozzarella Cheese & Prosciutto di Parma - The Burrata Mozzarella Cheese & Prosciutto di Parma has Crisp Cranberry and Sunflower Seed Phyllo and Charred Blood Orange.​

Both were really good. I don't remember what Andy got for an appatizer, maybe we shared these?

For dinner I went with the

1923 Peppered Filet Mignon​

The 1923 Peppered Filet Mignon comes with Buttered Long Green Beans, Smoked Bacon, Crushed Fingerling Potato Hash, and Pink Pepper Café Au Lait.

And Andy went with the lamb.

Italian Flat Parsley and Rosemary-Crusted Rack of Lamb​

The Italian Flat Parsley and Rosemary-Crusted Rack of Lamb Dauphinoise comes with Potato, Roasted Petite Turnip, Carrot and Zucchini, and Zinfandel Rosemary Sauce.

This was better main meal for me, I perfer filet cut of meat.

I honestly don't remember what dessert I got. The desserts were un-memerable to me. Again, we had to order all of our food at once, but at least know I kind of knew the drill.
Dinner was great! And def my favorite meal of the cruise.

After dinner, we headed back to our room for a quick change and then headed up to the deck to find a spot for the pirate show. We got there a little late, so we didn't have the best view but were able to see everything from the adult only deck. I didn't take any pictures as we were behind some folks and I am short.

That said the show was AMAZING!!!! It was a live band playing songs and really rocking out. Andy REALLY enjoyed the show. And seeing fireworks on the ship deck is pretty fun!

I was really glad they were able to keep the show. It was def a highlight of the trip!

Monkey Towel Animal
We were greated with a towel monkey when we had gone back to our room! My favorite of the trip.

We headed to bed! It was another long day. More relaxing but still we did a lot.

Up next Castaway Cay Day!!!

 

[vamassey1]

Once again you really did a lot in one day. The shows sound really good, and you have made me very hungry.

 

[Stasieki]

We did one Disney cruise and I recall our Bahama day was very underwhelming. I always said we would do a ship day if we ended up on a cruise with a Bahama day.

 

[StarWarsMomofGirls!]

Happy Wednesday Everyone!!!

I have 2 weeks till our next trip and I can not wait!!! I do want to wrap up this trip report before we go. So I can start that one when we get back!

Castaway Cay Day!

Today was Castaway Cay Day!! I was looking forward to seeing the island but again I had no idea what to expect. But we woke up to this view!
View from Room
Just beautiful!!! I knew it was going to be a good day!

I had ordered Room Service this morning. (no pictures, sorry) But I got croissant, fresh fruit and coffee. I was feeling a little gross this morning. (I ate way too much food the night before) So the light breakfast was perfect. It also allowed us to just take our time getting ready for the morning.
Our View

Our View
Our room was obviously on the side that you could see the island and it was perfect.

We got cleaned up and decided on a plan of attack for the island. Andy wanted to ride bikes, so we decided to bring bathing suits with us and change there. (spoiler alert: this was not the best idea) I bought a bag from Target before we left that was a beach bag for trip, which we loaded up and headed out.

We found the level we needed to go to to get off the ship. I forget what level it was but it was different than the day before.

It was right at 9:00 when we got off the ship.
Wish

Wish
We walked to family area, I think there was a sign that said how far of a walk it was. We just tried to soak in the sights as we walked.

Castaway Cay Map
We snapped a picture of the map before we got to far.

Welcome

Walk to recreation areas

Hear comes Minnie
Minnie was on her way to say hello to folks as we walked over.

We made it to the family area. We checked out the shop. I was still debating if I wanted something cruise / castaway cay branded. I ended up not getting anything. Nothing was calling to me. I also knew I wanted to get merch when we go to Disneyland later this year, so I helf off.
Directions
This area was so cute. It was a tiny slice of a caribean town, but SUPER clean! Ha. it really wasn't big but very cute.

Daisy
Daisy was out meeting folks as well. I will say, if you have little kids and you want to meet characters, it seems like a criuse is a great way to do that!

We finally found where to rent bikes. We didn't book anything ahead of time, but they had PLENTY of bikes. I am sure they technically could run out but I can't image they do. We picked bikes and I figured out how to take my bag on the bike. The CM said we could park the bikes at the adult beach and ride back when we were done for the day. Which was nice, we thought we would have to ride the bikes and then walk down to the adult beach.

We rode to the adult beach and I dropped off our bag on two chairs. I had to go about a thrid of hte way down to drop my bag off at 9:00 AM. So not too bad but people are serious about Castaway Cay!

We rode bikes out to the lookout.
Plane

Water Tower View
By the time we got to the lookout tower I was HOT! It was a beautiful day and a decent temperature. So I wasn't complaining but between the ride, dropping the bag off on the beach and climbing up the stairs, I was ready to RELAX!!!! ha.

Wish from the Look out tower
It was a nice view from the lookout and intresting to see how big the island was. It was NOT big at all. Once we got our fill of the views, we headed to the adult beach.

It was a little after 11 when we found our seats again. We relaxed and bit and then went to put on our suits. There was a nice building not far from teh beach with bathrooms and then a drink stand. The bathrooms were typical beach bathrooms.
Adults Only Beach
Our view wasn't too shabby.

Adults Only Beach

I was ready to take a dip in the water. The area there was super shallow, we were able to walk out really far! Almost too far before we were really wet. The water was cool but not too bad one you were in.
Selfie
My face in this cracks me up. We have a cheap cheap cheap water camera and you can't see what you are taking photos of. So Andy took FOREVER to take this picture and I was over the photo. Ha.

We were so hot from riding bikes it felt good. We waded in the water for a while.
Sea Enome
There was some see life that we were able to see!

Sea Star

Sea Star
We just wandered around and cooled off. We talked about how my sister and brother in law would LOVE this! It really was the ultimate beach experience. We also talked about how I can see that the double dip cruises are so popular.

We spent some time, then just relaxing on the loungers for a bit.

But we had built up an appatite for lunch! We had no idea where the area was for lunch, but we could smell it, so I knew it was close by. And I did know that there was a seperate dinning area for the adult area.

We decided to take all of our stuff with us, eat and then head back to the boat. We wanted to enjoy the adult pool a bit as well.

Lunch was pretty good. It’s basic backyard bbq food. But was decent. It was set up on the beach just off to the side tucked in just a bit. It was buffet style. We waited in line and it was self serve for the pasta salads and toppings and then they had CM giving out the hot items, hamburgers, and what not. And then tehre was a dessert section with cookies and cupcakes.

And then it was picnic benches to sit at and eat. It was nice to have your feet in the sand while you ate lunch.

We had burgers, and I got a hot dog with mustard and sauerkraut. (I don't eat hot dogs often but I am a sucker for mustard and sauerkraut on a hot dog, I thank my dad for that) Also had pasta salad with fresh salsa on it. It was actually really good. It was all decent food but nothing to dream about once home, if that makes sense.

After we ate, we headed to the bikes and rode back to the family area. I REALLY wanted to just leave the bike and just take the tram. WHICH, there was a bike shop at the family area as well. So we could have gottehn the bikes there which def would have been better than me having to put my bag on my back while riding.

We checked out the family area a little bit. It was def busier than the family area. I had wanted to do snorkling but had decided to keep that for if or when we come with the girls. Morgan had said she would want to do that.

We took the tram back to the ship from the family area.
Mount Rustmore

Gas Tank

Boueys

Heading back on the ship

We were back on the boat around 4:00.

Castaway Cay did not disapoint. I think I would enjoy it more if we were more prepared with drinks and snacks maybe. Or if we didn't still feel like we wanted to enjoy the ship itself. But it was beautiful and Castaway Cay is one of the reasons that I want to do a cruise again!

Up next, we explore the ship, see the adults area and I will warn you... I have VERY little photos for the evening!!!! It will be a text heavy post!