A Grand Dream of a Honeymoon - June 2011

[cindianne320]

I'm a fellow Junie and was intrigued with your trip! It sounds wonderful so far!!!

 

[SOUTHERNtinkerBELLE]

Oh my gosh, Emma! The ship looks amazing! I kept saying "wow" as I scrolled through all of your pictures! Your room looks really nice and how amazing to have your own veranda! Your sister is too sweet to have all of those goodies delivered to your room! I can't wait to hear more about your amazing cruise!

 

[Jennifer48]

Joining in!

Congratulations on your recent wedding!

What a wonderful first day on the Dream! Can't wait to hear more!

 

[Jessica527]

subscribing can't wait to hear more!

 

[disneybarbie]

Enjoying your TR! DBF and I (we don't have kids) will be on the Dream followed by a few days at WDW in less than two months, and I love reading couple TRs! Belated congratulations on the wedding!

Hi! Thanks for reading - very jealous you will be on the Dream in a few weeks time

I'm a fellow Junie and was intrigued with your trip! It sounds wonderful so far!!!

Thank you for reading!

Oh my gosh, Emma! The ship looks amazing! I kept saying "wow" as I scrolled through all of your pictures! Your room looks really nice and how amazing to have your own veranda! Your sister is too sweet to have all of those goodies delivered to your room! I can't wait to hear more about your amazing cruise!

Thanks Courtney - the Dream was so beautiful, even the corridors and stairs were themed and decorated ... it definitely had that Disney touch! I'm really glad that we had a veranda too - we didn't spend a lot of time out there but the views out to sea and in the ports were fantastic.

Joining in!

Congratulations on your recent wedding!

What a wonderful first day on the Dream! Can't wait to hear more!

Thank you! More to come very soon.

subscribing can't wait to hear more!

Thank you for reading so far.. next update is on its way !


Emma x

 

[disneybarbie]

Wednesday 22nd June 2011

Castaway Cay

I woke up at 6.30am – it was a mix of the jet lag and excitement about being onboard the Dream!

One of the tv channels showed you where the ship was…

From our veranda, we could see a small island coming into view… Castaway Cay! The ship was due to get to the island for 8.30am (when we were able to disembark) – so we decided to go up to Cabanas for some breakfast.
It was before 7.30am so only fruit and pastries were available, but that was all we wanted anyway (the full breakfast buffet began from 7.30am)
It was nice to eat our breakfast as the ship was docking at the island.

We went back to our room and got out things ready for the beach.

Today’s navigator…

We also had a map of Castaway Cay put in our room…

We heard the ship’s horn play “It’s a Small World” to signal we had arrived!

From the veranda..

About 8.15 we went down to deck one and waited for the doors to open.

It wasn’t too busy as I guess there are a lot of routes other guests can take off the ship. A man asked Steve if he was from New Orleans, as he was wearing his Saints tshirt.. and thought it was funny we were from England! He said “but you support a good football team”

To get off the ship, we had our room keys swiped by a crew member, (we had our passports with us too, but only needed this to get back on the ship at Nassau) – and then we were walking out to Castaway Cay, collecting some beach towels from a crew member.

The island is absolutely beautiful – everywhere was tidy, clean and well-looked after; the sea was bright blue, the sun was shining and there was a slight breeze…. Paradise!

We had our photo taken by one of the ship photographers.

We planned to walk around to serenity bay so didn’t stop at the first tram stop.

.....

 

[disneybarbie]

…


Once we got to the family beach and Pelican Point, we realised it was already getting quite hot so we got a tram for the rest of the way.

The tram went along a plane runway, which was apparently built in the 1940s (Steve guessed the island must have been used during World War II).

In a few minutes we were at Serenity Bay, the adults only beach.

I had bought special flipflops for this trip that printed ‘Just Married’ into the sand! As we walked onto the beach, I heard a lady behind us whisper “look.. they just got married” and her partner whispered back… “why are you whispering?!”
These are the prints in the sand – (bit hard to see)..

The beach was almost empty and there were plenty of sunbeds, seats, parasols and hammocks to choose from.

We were first in the sea at Serenity Bay. I don’t normally like swimming in the sea but the water here was so clear, I could see where I was putting my feet – and it didn’t get deep until much further out.

Little fish in the sea..

We spent the morning sunbathing, reading & walking along the beach. It never felt crowded or noisy there – we could see different excursions out in the sea – jet skis, glass bottom boat tour etc.

There was a barman walking along the beach taking orders, we got some diet cokes (they were about $2 each I think) but we later learned that there was a free soda machine at the BBQ area, so we got our drinks from there after that.

We had lunch at the adults BBQ area, I had thought we’d have to head back to the family beach to Cookies, so it was nice that there was food available much nearer!
There were burgers, ribs, chicken and mahi-mahi on the bbq, several salads and bread.

Everything was delicious, especially the mahi-mahi! I had an ice cream for dessert too.
I noticed the paper cups & plates had ‘Disney Parks’ on them, these were almost the only thing on Serenity Bay that were obviously ‘Disney’.

We went back to the beach for a while – many people had pulled the plastic chairs into the sea to sit on, it looked very relaxing! Until a small barracuda swam by and made a lot of people leap out the water!

About 1pm we got the tram back to Pelican Point. I bought a Castaway Cay pin in one of the small shops, then we walked out to the Heads Up bar and took some photos.

The main beach looked much busier, but not over-crowded. As we walked back towards the ship, we ran into Captain Hook and Mr Smee!

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[disneybarbie]

…..

We stopped to look at the post office..

And then got back on the ship, there was a short line – we dropped off our towels and used the hand-sanitiser stations. (This is something about cruising that is very different to WDW – they are very careful about hygiene because of things like novovirus. At every restaurant you are handed hand wipes before entering, it became second nature very soon.. in fact when we were at Disney World the next week, it seemed strange not to have the hand-cleaning stations at restaurants!).
We had our bags scanned through an x-ray machine (like at an airport) and our room keys swiped to get back onboard.

We popped back to our room, Nigel was there cleaning it so we went up to deck 11 to get a lemonade (from the free machines – these are a great idea!). We thought about riding the Aquaduck but there was about a 30 minute wait, so we decided to do it another time.

Walking through Cabanas..

Some lovely Little Mermaid pictures..

We also wandered through the District – this is the Pink bar, during the day time when it’s closed!

Back at the room we had quick showers (get the sand & suncream off!) and then headed to..

Senses Spa!


I had wanted to book this for our day at sea, but there was no availability. However it was probably a good idea to have it on our first day as it meant we got a break from the sun, avoid getting burnt early on in the holiday.

I had told Steve that we had a couples’ massage booked… which was partly true, but as a surprise, I had actually booked a private spa villa treatment called ‘Couples Choice’. It cost a fair bit more but as I had had a bonus at work earlier in the year, it was my treat to my husband.

The spa is located at the front of the ship on Deck 11, near the concierge area and Quiet Cove pool. The note we had had from the spa said not to bring any belongings, so I’m afraid I didn’t have my camera (although our spa villa did having a small restroom and changing area where I think you could leave your bag during the treatment).
We checked in at the reception desk, and sat for a few minutes in the waiting area – soon we were asked to walk through to the relaxation room and fill out a questionnaire. There’d still been no mention by the spa staff of ‘spa villa’ which was great because it was keeping the surprise as long as possible!
We both filled out the questionnaire, there were herbal teas & iced water available in the room – and very soon our two therapists came to meet us.

We walked into the spa villa – it was beautiful!

The therapists said to us “do you know what this experience involves?” .. Steve looked confused (thinking we were just getting a massage) – so I shook my head and said it had been a surprise! So they listed all of the available treatments we could have (for example – Swedish massage, salt scrub, seaweed wrap, chocolate body wrap, frangipani body wrap, hot stones therapy…) – Steve picked a Swedish massage and I went for a seaweed wrap. We were given robes, slippers & towels and asked to get changed. They left the room for a few minutes, then we were led out to the private balcony and hot tub area.

We had gorgeous views across Castaway Cay (where a rain shower was beginning!) – another reason to book a spa treatment on a port day!

The treatments began with a foot soak ritual – we sat next to each other while the therapists bathed our feet in foot spas… only problem with this is that I have very ticklish feet, and almost kicked my therapist in the face when she put the exfoliating scrub on the sole of my foot!! We all laughed about it.

They gave us a jug of ice water with lemon and two glasses, and left us for half an hour on the balcony… we spent some time in the hot tub (it was 104 degrees) and then on the day beds, looking out to the island. It was incredibly
relaxing.

There was a soft knock on the door to the balcony and the therapists asked us if we were ready for our treatments – we went inside and were given paper undies to change into (!!); then the treatments began, there was that lovely spa ‘pan pipes’ music playing and lights in the ceiling changed colour every minute or so.
Steve loved his massage, the therapist made sure she got the pressure right – he also got a mini facial and scalp massage as part of the treatment.
I had not had a seaweed wrap before but it was lovely – once it was over I used the shower in the next room (all part of the villa) to wash off the paste, and then the therapist gave me a half-body massage, mini facial and scalp massage.

Once the treatments were finished, the therapists gently placed my hand in Steve’s, and whispered that they were leaving the room and we were welcome to go back out to the balcony.
We sat on the day beds in our big robes – both very relaxed and happy! The therapists brought us a pot of green tea, fresh fruit and chocolate-dipped strawberries.
Before paying the bill, the therapists talked us through our skin types and gave us recommendations for products to buy.

I didn’t feel like they were being at all pushy – I was ready to say ‘no thank you’ (used to places like spas and hair salons trying to sell products sometimes!) but Steve was new to this spa thing and was sold on buying the ‘Musclease’ Elemis oil that we were both recommended to use once a week. It was $60 which seemed a little much, but as this was our honeymoon it was the one time that I didn’t mind what we spent!
The whole spa villa experience was fantastic and I felt it was definitely worth the price.

By now it was about 4.30pm, we went back to our room and sat out on the balcony – we opened the champagne from my sister and had some of the cake!

We heard the ship’s horn play “Be Our Guest” and soon we were moving slowly away from Castaway Cay – it was great to know that we’d be back here in a few days time.

The show in the Walt Disney Theatre that night was ‘Villains Tonight’ – I wanted to see all the shows but wasn’t sure what Steve would want to do; but he said he would like to see this one. So we got ready for the evening and went to see the 6.15pm show.

The storyline of this show is that Hades (from Hercules) is not evil enough anymore, so he gets some of the Disney villains to help him out! I really enjoyed it – there was a great mix of villains, some very unusual ones (like Yzma and Kronk from ‘The Emperor’s New Groove’) and several up to date jokes.

Steve thought the show was okay, although he didn’t know many of the villains (Pain and Panic, Hades, Yzma, Kronk etc – still several Disney movies he needs to see!).

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[disneybarbie]

….

We went to the 687 lounge next, there was an NFL quiz taking place – we sat up at the bar, I had a lime daiquiri and Steve had a Guiness – I noticed they had their own beer on draft there too. (I believe this bar is called ‘687’ because that was the Dream’s ship number at the dockyard it was built at in Germany). The NFL quiz seemed quite popular, a lot of banter going on between fans of different teams!

At 8pm, we went back to the atrium and to the Royal Palace – as the second seating is at 8.15pm, it’s nice to be there a few minutes before for when they open the doors and the waiters are all lined up to greet you.

This restaurant felt a bit busier, and our meal was at a more relaxed pace than the night before.

I loved the bread bin – it was like Cinderella’s carriage!

For appetisers, Steve had pomegranate-glazed duck breast and I had iced lobster and shrimp.

Mine was delicious, Steve wasn’t as keen on his – but this turned out to be the only thing on the whole cruise either of us didn’t enjoy very much!

Onto entrees, I had wild boar tenderloin (never had this before so thought it was a good time to try something new) and Steve had the rack of lamb.

The dessert menu was brought to us in an envelope, just like a royal invitation to a ball!

Steve had the vanilla crème brulee (his favourite dessert) and I had the grand marnier soufflé.
Our server asked me I’d like her to pour the sauce into the soufflé, which she did.

There were photographers walking around the restaurant taking pictures..

We went back to our room about 10pm, tonight’s towel art looked like a swan…

As well as the navigator for the next day, we had a little card from DVC and a flyer about the Cars 2 premiere!


Tomorrow…. Day at sea and dinner at Palo.

 

[Stefy]

It is uncanny how much we are alike, my Just Married flip flops turned up last week and I love them and can't wait to use them at the beach on CC We so have meet up one day as I feel like we would really get on well.

Loving your CC and the Spa Villa's look amazing. I bet you felt so relaxed and rejuvenated afterwards

RP dinner looks yummy, love the carriage bread baskets. Have you seen the lamps for one of the new restaurants on the Fantasy, they are so cute

 

[anjalee6]

The spa looks wonderful. I lol when I read the part about you almost kicking your spa therapist in the face! I giggled like crazy the first time I ever got a massage. The person must have thought I was nuts.

Love your flip flops. Why didn't I find anything that cute when I got married? Love them.

 

[onelilspark]

We're planning on doing a couples massage on our cruise (we're booked in a spa-level cabin, so I feel like we should take advantage of it!) it'll be the first time I've ever had a massage, Geoff is really looking forward to it, but I'm super nervous!!

 

[dreamerchic33]

what a wonderful update!!!!
the spa villa looked soooo amazing!
i love all the details, especially the carriage bread basket!!!!
xo

 

[ronnmel]

So many things to comment on, let's hope I don't forget anything.

First, Castaway Cay is so lovely and gorgeous. I LOVE swimming in the ocean in the Caribbeans, the water is so clear and the sand to white and soft. It looks almost clearer than Cuba, which was already very pretty.

It's really nice of Disney to make sure to have an adult only beach, as well as an adult only section on the ship.

I already said it before, but I'll say it again, the spa villa looks wonderful. It must have been so relaxing! I can totally relate to the foot thing though, as I'm very ticklish myself. My mom wanted to treat me to a pedicure before my wedding, but I was way too afraid of not being able to sit through it without my foot flying everywhere.

I love the bread bin too.

 

[Sweet Pea UK]

Emma, your TR is getting better and better!!! The cruise is amazing and your spa treat so romantic!! Can't wait to read more!!!

 

[Leshaface]

Omgosh Emma! I was there when that barracuda came swimming up! We HAD to have seen each other on the beach at CC and didn't even know!

I'm sooo jealous of your spa day! I would LOVE to do something like this on our next cruise. I'm sure it was expensive, but quite worth it. You didn't feel tired afterwards? That's the only thing i'm worried about. Whenever I get massages here at home, I usually take the whole day off from work so that I can nap afterwards I just don't want to feel sluggish and lazy after.

 

[Sunstar]

Oh wow, that spa villa looked amazing! I've never had a massage, but I would so love to try something like that there.

 

[lilsqueakrr]

Everything looks and sounds like a dream! That spa treatment sounds to die for! I can only imagine how amazing it was to be on the ship whilst looking out at Castaway Cay. So jealous! Cannot wait to hear more!

 

[TanzUnited99]

Wow reading your TR is making me want to book a Disney cruise! I love the view from your Veranda and the Just Married prints in the sand.

Am glad you guys enjoyed the spa treatments and the food at Royal Palace looks soo yummy! I love the bread bin and the royal invitation

 

[klacey1]

Emma, your spa experience sounds amazing! Sorry Steve's appetizer at dinner wasn't that great, but it's incredible that that was the ONLY thing neither of you liked on the cruise!!