A Peach on the Beach! 4 Night Disney Dream 5/18-5/22/15 Updated 3/18/16

[PiperGirlInWondrland]

Now if you can believe this one, we hit the "ice cream social" as Andy likes to call it. Apparently we needed some more food to fuel our walk around the deck.

It's so deserted and beautiful at night on the ship

All in all it was an amazing, PACKED day. After our walk, it was off to bed. We needed to get a little sleep as tomorrow was the awesome Castaway Cay day!

We started off with breakfast in Cabana's. I had half a bagel, some hash, dried pineapple, a taco type roll up, and some potatoes. Andy went for his usual Mickey waffles with scrambled eggs and potatoes.

We followed up with a few pastries

And then we were pulling into port!

We took the stairs to head off the ship

And we were off in no time!

At this point it was just Andy and I. We had set up a meeting area to find our friends later on once they got off the ship.

The post office: note that it only takes cash and you may wish to take care of mailing your items early in the day as it closes on "island time" which is pretty much whenever they decide to close. I bought post cards in the shop but it was closed when we came back by. I plan on using them when we go in February.

There were already photographers out

The "Island Info" sign

 

[PiperGirlInWondrland]

Marge's Barges is right near the ship in case you are going on any boating type excursions (fishing, etc.)

There is also an island map right there

Right up ahead the tram stop. Andy and I decided to walk as I wanted to explore a bit

We had stopped to take a pic for a family and then they offered to take one for us so here it is!

We continued making our way along the path

You can kind of get a sense for how long the path was. It was a hike!

Looking back towards the ship

This is where you get jet skis and other big water toys

 

[PiperGirlInWondrland]

It was so pretty here, I never wanted to leave

We finally made our way to the first grouping of little shops as well as the first aid station. Directly across from the first aid building is Mt. Rustmore. Last cruise we hadn't gotten any character pics here and I knew that characters would be coming out soon in their cute outfits so we decided to wait. We were first in line.

Isn't it adorable???

Look who we found

After the pics we went over to the shops

We passed by the stingray adventure area

Look how cute this building is!

 

[PiperGirlInWondrland]

This next little building is where Andy rented snorkeling equipment

And FINALLY we could see the beach area ahead

Getting snorkeling gear

There are several little shops. My suggestion is to get there early and if you see something you like, buy it then. We saw some tshirts we liked and when we came back later they were gone and they had no more.

Continuing our march

A stand selling drinks/water

A bar on the walkway

Hair braiders

 

[PiperGirlInWondrland]

At this point we were still making our way to the beach area to meet up with our friends.

We finally found the "Sand Bar"

If you are going to snorkel, you need to grab one of these yellow vests - they are required. There is no charge for them

We found our friends and made our way to the Sand Bar

Make sure you don't wear your high heels LOL

They make really tasty drinks here!

After we grabbed a drink we went to sit at the edge of the water for a bit

Andy wanted to head over and go snorkeling for a while. While we were walking we came upon a wedding that was taking place right on the island. SO cool!

Andy got his vest and mask on

Here are some of his pics from his snorkeling

 

[PiperGirlInWondrland]

And then he finally found it! Mickey!!!

Once Andy came back from his snorkeling, we were ready to hit the BBQ for some lunch. I think the food here is pretty good overall. Just be sure to get there early as it gets quite busy and closes by 2.

They hand out wipes when you arrive

There are hot dogs, burgers, chicken, corn on the cob, salads, chips, cookies, etc

It had started raining so there was some water on the gopro however there is a soda station by the bbq

We had wayyyy too much food and topped it off with cookies and cake

 

[pagek83]

Following along! We're going on our first cruise later this year and love your report!

 

[PiperGirlInWondrland]

Following along! We're going on our first cruise later this year and love your report!

Thank you for joining, glad you are enjoying the report so far! It's so exciting to plan a cruise - I'm sure you will absolutely love it! What ship are you sailing on?

 

[pagek83]

Thank you for joining, glad you are enjoying the report so far! It's so exciting to plan a cruise - I'm sure you will absolutely love it! What ship are you sailing on?

We'll be on the Dream! It's a short cruise, but we're going to go to Disney World afterwards for a few days too.

 

[PiperGirlInWondrland]

We'll be on the Dream! It's a short cruise, but we're going to go to Disney World afterwards for a few days too.

The Dream is a beautiful ship and we are trying a 3 night cruise on the dream in August. I'd take a one night right now if i could!

That will be fun doing a cruise and the world afterwards!

 

[PiperGirlInWondrland]

While we were eating the rain was really coming down. We decided we would check out some of the shops to see if the weather cleared up a little bit soon.

The bicycle rental area

Rain obviously isn't everyone's first choice, but we weren't going to let it ruin the day for us.

After just a little shopping it was cleared up and we headed back to the beach.

it was mostly empty. A lot of people had gone back to the ship.

We settled back into our chairs and more people started to come back out to the water as well.

if you bring a Tervis or some type of insulated cup with a lid they are great to dump the drinks you order or get from the beverage station. They will keep the sand out of your drinks and keep them nice and cold.

Pelican plunge. I have gone on this once. I would probably do it more but the wait is pretty lengthy so unless there is no wait I most likely wouldn't bother to go again. But I'm really glad I tried it and it was really fun!

I waited from the little observation area they have for Andy to go. Even though it would have been easier to go at the same time we didn't want to leave our gopro and other items sitting by themselves so we took turns.

After Pelican's plunge it was back to sitting in the chairs.

By this time the sun was back out full force!

We waded around for a bit to keep cooled off

 

[PiperGirlInWondrland]

Over by cookies BBQ they have soft serve ice cream. We headed over for an "ice cream social". We had to grab an empty cup because the ice cream was melting quicker than we could eat it.

We got to the social just before it was closed up. Be sure to eat early!

Look who we found - a cute little Olaf statue

By now we were ready to wander back towards the ship, stopping at some more shops along the way.

We passed by the bar again. I don't think it was open when we went by in the morning yet so here's a shot of the inside

As you go along the paths there are signs pointing out which way you need to go depending on where you are trying to go

Then back on the tram! It was time to go back to the ship

I was hoping to hit up the post office but it was closed. next time!

 

[PiperGirlInWondrland]

After our day at Castaway Cay, we got back to our room to this cute little monkey towel animal hanging in our room - it was pirate night!

They leave you bandanas for everyone in your party to wear

We were still in port at Castaway Cay so you could see it through the magical porthole

Andy thought he should wear his glasses LOL

I was excited for Pirate night. Last cruise with the kids we had dressed in full pirate gear but this time we had decided not to dress up just to make packing lighter. The biggest thing was that on our previous cruise, I did not make it to the pirate party or the pirate buffet and I really wanted to see it all. My daughter wasn't feeling well so I had stayed in the room with her. I was determined to stay up late enough to see the fireworks this time!

Even though we didn't bring costumes, Deb and Tim had brought their pirate hats. Naturally, Deb's hat ended up on Andy's head for the night. Her hat was a little hat that was attached on a headband. He's a nut LOL

The pirates wanted to check out the gift shops.

There is plenty of pirate gear available to purchase if you need anything although I'm guessing you probably can't get the swords and little toy guns anymore.

We started entertaining ourselves by playing a game - "guess the DCL price of this item". We would choose a random item and we'd all try to guess the price. Don't ask me why, but it was pretty funny at the time!

Our next destination was the Bon Voyage bar. We wanted to enjoy a few cocktails before dinner. They had a whole supply of cups with light up pirates and tinkerbells sitting on the bar. I love those glow cube items! I have quite a few different ones from over the years. I showed a tiny bit of restraint and didn't get one

We started off with something tropical and delicious that once again i can't remember the name of. I've learned this lesson and plan on taking detailed notes on our Star Wars cruise in February!

They have Sangria available - yummo! I love Sangria

A shot of the bar

While we were in Jamaica, I grew fond of Red Stripe beer. They had it here at the bar so I decided to have one of those

 

[PiperGirlInWondrland]

I really CAN NOT say enough good things about the bartenders at this bar. They were so friendly, fun, and attentive. They really made sure everyone was happy and well taken care of.

We started talking about RumChata so we ordered a round.

The bartender made a suggestion on a drink for us to try - I think it was Knob Creek Bourbon

Cheers!

By now it was time to head over to get some photos taken with the pirate backgrounds before dinner. Here is a terrible pic but you can see how the backgrounds are set up for photos.

I seriously have no idea what they were doing

Our dining rotation had us in Animator's for pirate night.

We found our assistant server Simone in her pirate gear

The napkins are folded up like little pirate ships

The happy pirate

The pirates menu

We started off with pot stickers

Tim also had a crab cake. We had mentioned to our server that we liked the pot stickers and they brought us several extras.

After the pot stickers we had a salad that had chicken and a fried plantain on it. It was OK but nothing special

Beef with tomato and little sweet potatos

I have no idea how we fit it all in but we finished the meal off with desert

After dinner we wanted to head to see who was out for character meets as they would be wearing their pirate costumes.

 

[PiperGirlInWondrland]

The first character we met was Daisy in her pirate gear. So adorable!

While we were standing around Peter Pan came up behind us. He stopped to sign an autograph for a little girl.

We went upstairs to look for Minnie/Mickey

This is up by the character location

We found pirate Mickey! Love him!

By now it was time to head out for the pirate deck party. There is a stage show

It was pretty packed on deck

Here's a shot that showed the deck

I believe it was Captain Jack who showed up at the top

Then it was time for the fireworks

When the fireworks were wrapping up Andy and I headed in to check out the pirate buffet in Cabana's. I was really interested in checking out the carvings and I had also heard that it gets pretty crowded and I wanted to be able to get a few pics.

 

[PiperGirlInWondrland]

Loved this fruit display!

At this point I was pretty much just wandering around taking pics

After all that I just got a little taco type roll up with some sour cream (was not a fan of this) and a small desert

They did have turkey legs!

Then we found the crepe section we had hears so much about. I did get one but honestly it wasn't all that great

There were lots of toppings to choose from like coconut, chocolate, marshmallows, bananas, etc

 

[PiperGirlInWondrland]

When we were done stuffing our faces for like the 5th time this day, we decided to go browse in the gallery. There are SO many neat things in there that i would love to have!

Love this Donald one!

By now it was getting pretty late so it was pretty deserted around the ship

When we got back to our room our stateroom host had decorated it for our anniversary. He must have noticed the Palo plate. How sweet!

The next morning for breakfast we decided to head to Enchanted Garden for the breakfast buffet instead of our usual Cabana's. My overall impression is that i would NOT do this ever again. I don't know if we just came at a bad time but the buffet area was packed and was limited compared to Cabana's. At least we tried it when we didn't have the kids with us. Obviously the atmosphere of the restaurant itself is nice, but for breakfast I prefer to just get in and out.

I chose some pastries, sausage, cheese, and potatoes

Today was a Sea day so we planned on relaxing in the Adult only areas

They brought around cold washcloths while we were in the pool - how awesome is that! This is what Andy did with his LOL

We ordered a few drinks

I really love sitting around and have the drinks come to me!

It was getting close to lunch time so we decided to wander towards the food area

There is a little shop called Quacks on the main deck

There is also hair braiding available

And a hottub

 

[DisneyUD]

Great trip report! I love the pictures. Thank you for all the details!

 

[PiperGirlInWondrland]

Great trip report! I love the pictures. Thank you for all the details!

I'm really glad you are enjoying the trip report. Thanks for joining in!

 

[PiperGirlInWondrland]

We grabbed some shrimp and crab from the buffet in Cabana's and took it out to sit out by the windows so we could also hit up the fast food selections at Flo's

I chose a sandwich and some salad

looking at the fact that I had THREE plates it's a wonder I didn't gain 20 pounds on this trip!

Andy had some pizza and a sandwich

We really enjoyed our lunch and the view can't be beat. It is SO relaxing watching the water go by while eating.

Clearly we needed to top all of this off with some deserts! I had never tried the treats in Cove Cafe before and it was on my list of things I wanted to check out. Deb and I headed over to see what they had. The specialty coffees have a charge however I don't care for coffee so i wasn't worried about that. But the little deserts in the case are included in the cruise fare.

Each of us chose a couple of items. I had a chocolate chip cookie and brownie

We found a seat near the window and relaxed while we had our snack

Other than Deb and I the Cove Cafe was empty