Nassau
(Cast Recap: me, DH, DGM, DD-17, DD-7, DD-5...all first time cruisers)
A phone is ringing. It wakes me from a dream in which as the ship pulls into Nassau the captain reports that we are sailing slowly past Brad Pitts summer home I run to deck 10 to have a look and I look down and there he is!!!! He is so sad and lonely from his split with Jennifer that he waves for me to come see him!!!! Then . The phone rings.
Oh my gosh. I am waking up on the Wonder! The girls are still asleep so I throw on some clothes and run up to see where we are. I could see Atlantis in the near distance (if that makes any sense!) I ran back down to get everyone moving so they could experience this as well. The only way I could pry the girls up was to whisper in their little ears we are swimming with dolphins today. Wow, that did it, they were up, dressed and at the door in no time. We got everyone gathered up and we got ourselves to Diversions to meet up for the excursion. We wait in line to check in and I overhear one of the staff say I need everyones tickets. Duh. Of course they need the tickets. I send DH scurrying to get our Tix. Soon we were all checked in and ready to go. It was odd trudging down to get off the boat, through security and around the pier .almost like our own little parade.
The boat ride to Blue Lagoon was quite wonderful. Sunny, warm and beautiful. I especially enjoyed seeking all of the beautiful homes being constructed (do you think Brad Pitt owns one?). One thing I was surprised by was how looonnnngg a walk it is from where the ferry docks to where the dolphin encounter is. If you are expecting a bit of a walk it isnt bad .I just had no idea. Everyone was going at a pretty good clip and our dds little 5 year old legs had a hard time keeping up. To me I felt like it was very hurried and a little disorienting since we really didnt know what was going on. Once at the Dolphin Encounter we were divided into groups and sent to a small area with benches to get a brief presentation. After the presentation we were pointed toward the restroom and staging area (at least that is what I called it) for our group. Now, I must admit, that a trip to the bathroom for our family is a bit of an ordeal and takes about 5 10 minutes from start to finish. When we came out of the restroom (very small for the number of people around) our group was already in wet suits and moving on. A staff person from Dolphin Encounters was kind of rude to us..he said where have you been??? You are very late!!! rush rush rush rush. Eventually, they sent us to a different group and got us settled in. From that moment on it was fabulous. The trainer was very informative and helpful and I enjoyed watching everyone interact. There are six in our party and they had said a full photo album could only accommodate 5 but when pressed they said they could do all 6 of us. I am very glad we got the package. In order to get all the shots they needed we got to interact more with the dolphin. Once we were done we had to get changed and wait for our pictures. It was rather relaxing until we discovered that the ferry was going to leave in 15 minutes! There is a later ferry, but it was windy and chilly, so staying on the island two more hours was not attractive. We scurried back to the dock with few minutes to spare. We didnt get lunch (which kind of irked me) but I knew we could have yummy chicken strips back on the Wonder. Overall, I would say that every person in our family LOVED this excursion .even with the irritants we loved it. Some have said it costs too much, but if you are at all interested in dolphins, I would recommend this experience.
Once we got back on the Wonder we went up on deck nine and had burgers, fries and chicken strips. It was pretty tasty. My mom and Alex had stayed to shop a bit in the market, but found it to be less than satisfying. We enjoyed being able to leisurely get ready for the show and dinner. The show was Michael Harrison, a ventriloquist. I kind of hesitated to go, but I am glad we did. The kids loved him and even the 17 year old laughed. I recognized the young man sitting next to me as one of the performers from Hercules and we had a nice chat. After the performance we went and played bingo. With a family our size this was a big investment. The kids enjoyed it, but I dont think we will do this again as a family.
Dinner was again at Parrot Cay but it was PIRATE NIGHT! ARGGH! We arrived to receive bandanas and cool parchment style menus. Everyone was in a festive mood and we enjoyed it very much, especially the show/conga line at the end of dinner. We were just a bit late for the deck party which was going pretty strong when we got up there. Lots of singing and dancing until the bad guys showed up. Alex was thrilled with this .especially the cool guy repelling down the stack. I know there was a dessert buffet, but we never even made it to that. This is a pretty late night for the kids, but they had a great time.
We returned to our room to find a cute towel dog wearing one of our dds sunglasses. It was a great ending to a great day but it was time to sleep because tomorrow is Castaway Cay the day I had most looked forward to.
Lessons learned:
Bring excursion tickets with you
I really liked having a lanyard to keep everyones keys and ids when leaving the ship, etc.
When an excursion description says that a good deal of walking is involved the MEAN it
Eat drink and be merry!
(Cast Recap: me, DH, DGM, DD-17, DD-7, DD-5...all first time cruisers)
A phone is ringing. It wakes me from a dream in which as the ship pulls into Nassau the captain reports that we are sailing slowly past Brad Pitts summer home I run to deck 10 to have a look and I look down and there he is!!!! He is so sad and lonely from his split with Jennifer that he waves for me to come see him!!!! Then . The phone rings.
Oh my gosh. I am waking up on the Wonder! The girls are still asleep so I throw on some clothes and run up to see where we are. I could see Atlantis in the near distance (if that makes any sense!) I ran back down to get everyone moving so they could experience this as well. The only way I could pry the girls up was to whisper in their little ears we are swimming with dolphins today. Wow, that did it, they were up, dressed and at the door in no time. We got everyone gathered up and we got ourselves to Diversions to meet up for the excursion. We wait in line to check in and I overhear one of the staff say I need everyones tickets. Duh. Of course they need the tickets. I send DH scurrying to get our Tix. Soon we were all checked in and ready to go. It was odd trudging down to get off the boat, through security and around the pier .almost like our own little parade.
The boat ride to Blue Lagoon was quite wonderful. Sunny, warm and beautiful. I especially enjoyed seeking all of the beautiful homes being constructed (do you think Brad Pitt owns one?). One thing I was surprised by was how looonnnngg a walk it is from where the ferry docks to where the dolphin encounter is. If you are expecting a bit of a walk it isnt bad .I just had no idea. Everyone was going at a pretty good clip and our dds little 5 year old legs had a hard time keeping up. To me I felt like it was very hurried and a little disorienting since we really didnt know what was going on. Once at the Dolphin Encounter we were divided into groups and sent to a small area with benches to get a brief presentation. After the presentation we were pointed toward the restroom and staging area (at least that is what I called it) for our group. Now, I must admit, that a trip to the bathroom for our family is a bit of an ordeal and takes about 5 10 minutes from start to finish. When we came out of the restroom (very small for the number of people around) our group was already in wet suits and moving on. A staff person from Dolphin Encounters was kind of rude to us..he said where have you been??? You are very late!!! rush rush rush rush. Eventually, they sent us to a different group and got us settled in. From that moment on it was fabulous. The trainer was very informative and helpful and I enjoyed watching everyone interact. There are six in our party and they had said a full photo album could only accommodate 5 but when pressed they said they could do all 6 of us. I am very glad we got the package. In order to get all the shots they needed we got to interact more with the dolphin. Once we were done we had to get changed and wait for our pictures. It was rather relaxing until we discovered that the ferry was going to leave in 15 minutes! There is a later ferry, but it was windy and chilly, so staying on the island two more hours was not attractive. We scurried back to the dock with few minutes to spare. We didnt get lunch (which kind of irked me) but I knew we could have yummy chicken strips back on the Wonder. Overall, I would say that every person in our family LOVED this excursion .even with the irritants we loved it. Some have said it costs too much, but if you are at all interested in dolphins, I would recommend this experience.
Once we got back on the Wonder we went up on deck nine and had burgers, fries and chicken strips. It was pretty tasty. My mom and Alex had stayed to shop a bit in the market, but found it to be less than satisfying. We enjoyed being able to leisurely get ready for the show and dinner. The show was Michael Harrison, a ventriloquist. I kind of hesitated to go, but I am glad we did. The kids loved him and even the 17 year old laughed. I recognized the young man sitting next to me as one of the performers from Hercules and we had a nice chat. After the performance we went and played bingo. With a family our size this was a big investment. The kids enjoyed it, but I dont think we will do this again as a family.
Dinner was again at Parrot Cay but it was PIRATE NIGHT! ARGGH! We arrived to receive bandanas and cool parchment style menus. Everyone was in a festive mood and we enjoyed it very much, especially the show/conga line at the end of dinner. We were just a bit late for the deck party which was going pretty strong when we got up there. Lots of singing and dancing until the bad guys showed up. Alex was thrilled with this .especially the cool guy repelling down the stack. I know there was a dessert buffet, but we never even made it to that. This is a pretty late night for the kids, but they had a great time.
We returned to our room to find a cute towel dog wearing one of our dds sunglasses. It was a great ending to a great day but it was time to sleep because tomorrow is Castaway Cay the day I had most looked forward to.
Lessons learned:
Bring excursion tickets with you
I really liked having a lanyard to keep everyones keys and ids when leaving the ship, etc.
When an excursion description says that a good deal of walking is involved the MEAN it
Eat drink and be merry!
