A WDW & DCL First Trip - Food & Wine - Club Villain - MNSSHP - Sep 16

[missangelalexis]

Following along!

Your first three days sounds wonderful! Looks like you really picked the right time to go with low crowds/waits. I love all the Memory Maker photos of you two!

You are such a wonderful photographer! All of your photos are beautiful but I especially love your nighttime photos at Epcot, the Star Wars fireworks, and the Electrical Parade ones!

How wonderful that you were able to change your BOG reservation. Such a lovely story about your niece!

 

[wsssup]

Previously we've travelled to the US on Qantas, which is our national carrier, but this time we got great flight deals on Virgin Blue (thanks Mr Branson!) and I swear we'll only ever fly Virgin Blue long haul forever more!!

Qantas really does suck. We will be looking at Virgin or Delta. We flew Virgin from Orlando to L.A and it was the best plane and service so would be interested in a Virgin Long Haul flight. We had nothing but problems with Qantas, dirty planes and crap service.

we landed in the US and can I just say that LAX is hands down one of the worst airports in the world to come through customs

We must have landed on a good day haha. LAX for us was pretty quick, and much friendlier people than grumpy Melbourne Airport.

09.09.16-92 by Jennie Gardiner, on Flickr

Of course DH built his own light sabre and we each built our own droid

Love it, Build away mate Build. Use the force.

Chewie was fantastic but Kylo Ren was the single worst meet & greet we had the entire trip. He was a little too in character and a little too aggressive for both our liking. We were extremely uncomfortable and left feeling quite violated by the encounter

Ah good old Kylo. I can understand how one can feel violated. He is pretty intense. The first meet we had with him was pretty average, but the next few were ok. But it is still full on, he is in character hardcore.

Memory Maker-2 by Jennie Gardiner, on Flickr

We loved this ride!

Such a good ride, the guy in front seems to be having the time of his life haha.

I was so excited to see my TIGGER!! We had great interactions with all the characters but Tigger was by far the best. I asked him to teach me how to bounce much to the delight of his handler and all the kids at the surrounding tables who quickly jumped up and joined in on a bouncing lesson. Love you TIGGER!!!

Yes Tigger. We missed him at Disney World but at Disneyland when we met him he went nuts with India, bouncing all around the place. Awesome you got to meet him and have a unique experience.

We absolutely loved all the Halloween / Fall decorations throughout the park. Halloween isn't really a big thing in Australia so this was our first taste of an American Halloween.

Something we want to check out one day. It looks so cool, great pics.

 

[Sinders99]

You are such a wonderful photographer! All of your photos are beautiful but I especially love your nighttime photos at Epcot, the Star Wars fireworks, and the Electrical Parade ones!

Aww thanks so much!! You're too kind. I do have a real passion for low light photography. In this case it really was all the camera (Olympus OMD-EM 5 Mk II + 17mm f1.8 lens combo), I just pointed it in the right direction. I'd normally shoot in manual but on this trip it was all about experiencing as much as I could and getting out from behind the camera. It was parked in auto the whole trip. They did come out really well but hey, it's Disney, it's pretty hard to take a bad shot no matter what you do

 

[Sinders99]

Qantas really does suck. We will be looking at Virgin or Delta. We flew Virgin from Orlando to L.A and it was the best plane and service so would be interested in a Virgin Long Haul flight. We had nothing but problems with Qantas, dirty planes and crap service.

Oh my goodness we hated our first trip on Qantas!! I was so careful to book seats away from high traffic areas but when we boarded we discovered that they'd put an extra row of seats in front of us for the staff to sleep/rest throughout the trip from Sydney to LA. We were furious but it was fully booked and we couldn't be moved. The attendants were up and down all night, talking, laughing, turning lights on. They basically didn't give 2 hoots about paying customers. We didn't see a Qantas hostie for over 9 hours of the 14 hour flight!! You couldn't get a snack or drink. It was really terrible.

Virgin on the other hand were AMAZING!! The plane was modern and fresh. The staff couldn't do enough for you. Even after they turned the lights off for everyone to sleep they kept coming down the isles with hot snacks like pizza pockets and pies. They also had snack stations near the kitchen areas that had cans of soft drink (coke/sprite/diet coke), fresh fruit & chips (hence why I fell in love with Fritos chips!!). We also got an amenities pack on boarding which had a sleep mask, pen, toothbrush/toothpaste and ear plugs. Amazing service. Won't fly long haul with anyone else now!!

 

[Sinders99]

Day 4 Part 2: A Special 10th Wedding Anniversary Dinner

So many lovely comments about my photos! Thanks so much guys & gals. I really appreciate it. Am a photography nerd so feel free to geek speak to me and ask all manner of photography questions!!

So this update will be super short. I probably should have included it in Day 4 Part 1 but it was such a special celebration that I thought it deserved a post all of its own. It's going to get mushy so if you're squeamish turn away now!!


So I married this wonderful man on 30th September 2006.

11.09.16-50 by Jennie Gardiner, on Flickr

DH & I met in High School but we didn't date in school. I was actually dating his best mate! DH & I spent a lot of time in the same social circle so it was probably inevitable that we'd end up together. We always got on like a house on fire and more in common than a lot of people knew.

After graduating high school DH worked casually for my dad in our family business. Best friend boyfriend was out of the picture by this stage and enter stage left DH!! We dated for about 2 years but it was never easy or simple and was one of those typical late teens/early 20's relationships (make up/break up/make up/break up). DH joined the Navy and it was all over, or so we thought. I joined the Navy 1 year later and we lived seperate lives with only minimal contact for almost 6 years. I was engaged to another man and 6 weeks before my wedding I called it all off because I realised that DH was the love of my life.

Anyways long story short we dated briefly before getting engaged and 18 months later we were married FINALLY!! We never went our seperate ways because we didn't love each other we separated because we were too young to finance our dreams and we needed to live life.

Told you it was going to be mushy!!!

So the whole purpose of this trip was to celebrate our wild, crazy 10 year ride together. We love a big steak so for us Yachtsman was the perfect place.

Only problem was we completely underestimated how long it would take to get to our 7pm ADR!! We bussed it to EPCOT and then walked through world showcase to entry gate by the UK. I really wish we'd researched that better and just taken an uber!!

Anyways, we arrived about 15 minutes late apologising profusely and checked in requesting a window seat. We explained that it was a special celebration and that we didn't mind waiting for a window seat. The seating host was lovely and showed us through to the adjacent bar as it would take a little bit to get the seat we wanted. We didn't mind at all.

Sitting at the bar we met the wonderful bar tender who gave excellent drink recommendations and even added raspberries special to my raspberry mint mojito. It was SUPER YUM!!!

11.09.16-51 by Jennie Gardiner, on Flickr

We only waited about 20 minutes for our table which was a good thing because those cocktails were going down WAY too easy. Upon being seated our lovely server presented us with special occasion menus - awwwww thanks Disney

11.09.16-53 by Jennie Gardiner, on Flickr

Now that cocktail was perhaps a little stronger than I thought because I forgot to take pictures of our beautiful meals!! To start I ordered lobster bisque which was beautiful and DH ordered the chicken noodle soup (I told you he was a man of simple tastes). Of course we each had steak and ordered sides of sautéed mushrooms & collard greens. The food was absolutely AMAZING!! We also had the most amazing red wine. The whole night was just perfect!

11.09.16-55 by Jennie Gardiner, on Flickr

I would highly recommend anyone that loves a good steak and good wine to make time to visit Yachtsman. I know we'll go back on our next trip. Our server was lovely and had actually been to Australia which was a nice surprise so we were able to share some stories and find someone who knew we don't ride kangaroos to work or wear koalas as backpacks in Australia

Finally we were surprised with a beautiful desert tasting plate. We're not big desert people but it was a lovely touch.

After leaving Yachtsman we decided to wander about the resort for a bit and soak in where all the fancy people stay when they go to disney

11.09.16-58 by Jennie Gardiner, on Flickr
11.09.16-59 by Jennie Gardiner, on Flickr

The resort itself is really lovely but not very 'disney' if that makes sense? I can see why it attracts such a big adult crowd as it's super classy and upmarket but I do admit to being a little uncomfortable walking around at times due to some rather unkind remarks and looks which were shot our way by designer clothing clad couples

We strolled out onto the deck and were met with this stunning sight!!

11.09.16-61 by Jennie Gardiner, on Flickr
11.09.16-62 by Jennie Gardiner, on Flickr

Such a beautiful resort area. We're hoping that we might be able to stay at the Boardwalk Villas on our next trip. Sitting beneath the lighthouse and listening to all the boats horns and laughter in the distance was an absolutely beautiful ending to a wonderful day

11.09.16-63 by Jennie Gardiner, on Flickr

Awwww so much love! Signing off for now. Tomorrow is embarkation day on the DISNEY DREAM!!!!​

 

[buzzrelly]

Another great update, and I am so super impressed by your photos!

we dated briefly before getting engaged and 18 months later we were married FINALLY!!

Congratulations and Happy Anniversary! My DH and I dated for 5 years in our 20s and broke up. I married someone else and that didn't work out. DH and I ended up dating again and got married…going on 5 years now

We love a big steak so for us Yachtsman was the perfect place.

Yachtsman's is the best

Only problem was we completely underestimated how long it would take to get to our 7pm ADR!!

I've done this many times and have never been turned away, though people will tell you that could happen

The food was absolutely AMAZING!! We also had the most amazing red wine. The whole night was just perfect!

Sounds delicious!

we were able to share some stories and find someone who knew we don't ride kangaroos to work or wear koalas as backpacks in Australia

Aw…really??? Now I don't want to visit

I can see why it attracts such a big adult crowd as it's super classy and upmarket but I do admit to being a little uncomfortable walking around at times due to some rather unkind remarks and looks which were shot our way by designer clothing clad couples

Wow, that's terrible. I stayed at the Beach Club once and didn't feel a super fancy vibe at all. And honestly, you guys looked so nice that I cannot imagine you not fitting in. They were probably just awful people

We strolled out onto the deck and were met with this stunning sight!!

More beautiful pictures

Awwww so much love! Signing off for now. Tomorrow is embarkation day on the DISNEY DREAM!!!!

I can't wait for this part! We went on the Dream last April and loved it!

 

[missangelalexis]

What an epic love story you two have! Celebrating at Yachtsman sounds like it was perfect!

The Epcot resort area is very beautiful, but wow I am sorry to hear you encountered some rude people

 

[shannie102]

Following- better late than never! What a wonderful dinner!

 

[Beccybooboo]

Hello Jennie and Adam
Joining in..loving your trip report so far you are doing a great job, can't tell you are a first timer and your photos are stunning we have to get us one of those cameras!!!

 

[Beccybooboo]

Previously we've travelled to the US on Qantas, which is our national carrier, but this time we got great flight deals on Virgin Blue (thanks Mr Branson!) and I swear we'll only ever fly Virgin Blue long haul forever more!!​

We will have to try Virgin next time for the long haul...I am done with Qantas.

Leaving your fur babies behind...totally understand we have our newest family member 11 week old Chewbacca and although we love to travel we wont be doing long trips like our last holiday because of leaving him behind.

I love Tower of Terror but was not expecting the different format at WDW! I won't spoil it for those of you who have ridden it at Disneyland (RIP Tower of Terror Disneyland) ​

Loved WDW ToT, very sad that I wont be able to ride again at DL not as good as WDW version but was still ToT and I love the ride and the theming. I am however excited to see and ride Guardians of the Galaxy as I love the movie.

09.09.16-100 by Jennie Gardiner, on Flickr
09.09.16-101 by Jennie Gardiner, on Flickr
​

How good were these cupcakes. So cute and Yummy.
I loved the R2D2 because it was vanilla.
Awesome star wars overload.

​

Firstly, let me just say that I am a kid in an adults body
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Me too.

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On the cornbread front, not really a fan It was like eating cake which was really weird for us.



I was so excited to see my TIGGER!!
​

I laughed at your comment about cornbread "like eating cake"..I struggled with all the American bread with its sugar so sweet...any wonder they dont like vegemite haha.

So glad you enjoyed your first character meal and got to meet your favourite. Tigger is so much fun.

​

This place took my breath away!! It was just absolutely stunning. It really was like walking into the movie. I've never had a dining experience like it. I was awe.
​

I agree. Best dining experience of my life and meeting Beast at the end was magical.


Your story about your neice Carley was so sweet.


​

A Special 10th Wedding Anniversary Dinner​

Sounds like you had an amazing anniversary dinner. Yacht Club looks very nice.

Looking forward to hearing about your Disney Dream adventures

 

[Sinders99]

Day 5 Part 1: HELLO SAILOR!!!

Wow!! Hello to all the new followers. Loving that you're reading along and thanks for all the kind comments. I hope you're all picking up tips and hints for your future trips.

So welcome to day 5! It's embarkation day!

We've never had a Disney cruise ship visit Australia and DH & I love to cruise so we couldn't pass up the opportunity to experience DCL while it was right on our doorstep. Another first!! Our sailing was going to be a Halloween on the high seas sailing as well, so SCORE!!

It took us a long time to choose a date but we eventually settled on a 4 night Bahamas cruise departing Port Canaveral. We chose in inside stateroom mostly because of budget but we also really wanted to see one of those super cool animated port holes (SUPER COOL!!). Our Australian dollar is doing pretty poorly and has been for a while, so conversion rates added a big hit to the price of our cruise but it was something we really wanted to experience.

So we organised a disney transfer from POP to Port Canaveral. We debated hiring a car but were too scared to drive on the wrong side of the road and the wrong side of the car (I know we're complete chickens). We then explored a private car transfer but for only two of us it was really expensive and the disney transfer was just more economical.

For anyone considering DCL transfers we received a little envelope under our door the previous afternoon which explained the pickup process and gave us a pickup time from reception the following day. Our pickup time was midday which we were grateful for seeing as though we had our special dinner the night before. I have to admit that maybe we had too much of a good time and woke up with a bit of a red wine sore head

So around checkout time we dragged ourselves out of bed, quick showers, checked out and made our way to the food court for a late breakfast.

Around 11:15am our bus turned up and we were on our way!!! I even bought a special pair of sparkly ears to mark the occasion as we left POP!

IMG_2527 by Jennie Gardiner, on Flickr

WELL HELLO THERE SAILOR!!!

IMG_2528 by Jennie Gardiner, on Flickr

The transfer to the port took about an hour. We didn't have any heavy traffic and we watched disney trivia and cartoons on the trip.

Check-in at the port was probably the quickest and best we've ever experienced on a cruise. Within 20 minutes of arriving at the terminal we were checked in and making our way down that big beautiful gangway.

12.09.16-2 by Jennie Gardiner, on Flickr
12.09.16-4 by Jennie Gardiner, on Flickr
12.09.16-5 by Jennie Gardiner, on Flickr
12.09.16-6 by Jennie Gardiner, on Flickr

Stepping onboard we received the transitional announcement and were stunned by how beautiful the ship was!! It was so luxurious and there were so many wonderful details everywhere we looked - AND THIS WAS ONLY THE MAIN ATRIUM!!

12.09.16-10 by Jennie Gardiner, on Flickr
12.09.16-12 by Jennie Gardiner, on Flickr

This chandelier in the atrium was just breathtaking!!

12.09.16-13 by Jennie Gardiner, on Flickr
12.09.16-24 by Jennie Gardiner, on Flickr

After taking in our beautiful surroundings we found this good looking guy

12.09.16-11 by Jennie Gardiner, on Flickr

Well hello there Mr Disney!

We found our cabin #8001 and Lucky our cabin steward from the West Indies magically appeared. Lucky was so wonderful throughout our trip. There was many a joke about the Australian & West Indies cricket teams (Australia won hands down of course) and he was always smiling and happy. I'm only sorry we didn't get a picture with him He explained the features of the room to us, where/how we could reach him and that he was available anytime.

So this was our digs for the next 4 nights....

12.09.16-7 by Jennie Gardiner, on Flickr
12.09.16-9 by Jennie Gardiner, on Flickr

The cabin was surprisingly larger than we were expecting. You hear horror stories in the cruise industry about inside cabins being shoe boxes but we felt like this cabin was more than adequate. Everything just seemed to be in the right spot and we loved that the bed was raised so we could avoid having to unpack everything and just slide our suitcase underneath. The bathroom was fantastic as far as cruise ship bathrooms go. We had a shower over bath - YES A BATH TUB IN AN INSIDE CABIN!!, toilet and generous storage space around the hand basin.

One of our first duties after looking around the room was to get our fish extender up and decorate our cabin door! In all my research (I am a crazy research person) I'd discovered the whole fish extender thing which I believe is completely unique to DCL? For those of you reading this and not initiated into fish extenders it's basically a gifting group normally organised through Facebook groups or the DIS boards. People are placed in various sized groups, anywhere from 10 - 25 cabins and exchange gifts by placing them in hanging organisers with pockets called fish extenders. A lot of people make their own fish extenders but we ordered ours on Etsy and personalised it.

For our fish extender gifts we decided to go with an Australian theme rather than the normal disney gifts. We figured that a lot of families had probably never travelled there and getting something unique from Australia would be a nice touch. We did a single cabin gift (some people chose to do individual personalised gifts) of an Australian Flag print bag, an Australian Flag beach ball, an Australian print frisbee, Australian currency or boomerang keyring for adults, clip on koalas and Australian flag balloons for the kids and then finally we threw in a Townsville Tourism brochure which gave some background on our beautiful slice of the world. Can you tell where we're from?? LOL!! It might have been a little overkill but it gave families something to take their belongings to Castaway Cay in, something to play on the beach with and a little trinket for each adult & child. I hope we did ok?

We in return received so many wonderful gifts from drink bottles to magnets, american candy (a favourite) to photo frames and ornaments. We loved all of our gifts and so many of them are proudly displayed in our home. Now that we're home we use our fish extender to collect all of our weekly receipts so it still gets plenty of love and use.


To decorate our door I scoured the DIS boards and internet and found heaps of disney graphics and even found some designers who would personalise items for you! I borrowed the laminator from work and spent a whole weekend laminating my printed graphics and cutting them out. Finally I attached adhesive magnetic strips to the back to make them stick to the cabin door (DCL cabin doors are magnetic and you're not allowed to use tape or bluetak to decorate because it damages the paint).

So here's our work of art!!

12.09.16-30 by Jennie Gardiner, on Flickr

Can you tell how much we love Star Wars & Tigger?? And the best bit was that we kept our magnets and now they're decorating our fridge at home!! It helps remind us of our trip all the time

So I think I'll finish up this update and let you digest all this juicy info. It was a big day and there's plenty more info to come.

Stay awesome everyone!!

​

 

[missangelalexis]

Loved seeing all your ship pictures! I've never done a Disney Cruise so I always love reading about people's experiences!

Your door looks so wonderful and I love your fish extender! I think that was really smart to go with Australian themed gifts!

 

[Grumpy's Wife]

I just wanted to stop in and say hi . I've just finished reading your trip report all the way through.

Loving all the pictures. I've stayed at POP before, it's such a fun resort. I'm really looking forward to hearing all about the cruise. Love the door magnets. When we went on a Disney Cruise I was so excited making the magnets for the door. It really does help finding your room.

Keep up the good work. I'm really excited to read more.

 

[Sinders99]

Day 5 Part 2: WOW!! JUST WOW!!

So after getting settled in our cabin and decorating our door we headed off to explore this beautiful ship!!

Our first stop on our ship tour was the spa!! In my research I'd read all kind of great stories about the rainforest room. Initially we had booked a day pass for $16 US online, however, once we took our tour we quickly decided to upgrade our 2 day passes to a full cruise pass. I'm not 100% sure of the cost to upgrade but I think it was $99 US.

So let's look around the wonderful rainforest room!!

12.09.16-28 by Jennie Gardiner, on Flickr

Step inside this wonderful area and on left you have these great shower stalls which have different shower heads, water temperature and water pressure. These were a great way to cool down after some time in the sauna or heat up before hitting the warm benches!

15.09.16-49 by Jennie Gardiner, on Flickr
15.09.16-51 by Jennie Gardiner, on Flickr

As you make your way past the showers you come across this beautiful sauna. I spent a lot of time here looking out over the ocean and getting my zen on. One day I even took a magazine in to read. The only problem was that some people don't seem to understand spa etiquette and there were 2 ladies in particular who come into this area on our sea day and decided to have a very loud, very personal conversation. It didn't take long before a fellow passenger who was trying to zen out as well mentioned that they may want to take their loud, personal conversation elsewhere!! I mean really?? How would it not occur to you that you're in a spa where people are trying to relax?? Strangers do not want to hear about your sisters very torrid relationship breakup and sexual draught!!! Seriously people, keep your personal life personal and let everyone relax!! Anyway, apart from those rude passengers this was a wonderful place to just have a break.

15.09.16-52 by Jennie Gardiner, on Flickr

Then we had the hot hummum room. This room was hot and steamy. You could purchase extra body scrubs to exfoliate and there were shower heads on flexible hoses so that you could wash off the scrubs. Because of the scrubs this room always smelt wonderful! Again this was a really nice space to sweat out some toxins.

15.09.16-53 by Jennie Gardiner, on Flickr

There was also a wonderful steam room in this area, however, because it was black tiled, dark and steamy I wasn't able to get a good picture.

There was also these wonderful heated day beds in the rainforest room. I laid out on one of these babies and just melted. I think I may have even had a sneaky little snooze on one for a while

12.09.16-27 by Jennie Gardiner, on Flickr

And then finally in a small open area deck in front of the heated beds there were 2 small jacuzzi's (we call them spa's in Australia).

12.09.16-26 by Jennie Gardiner, on Flickr

This area was possibly my favourite on the whole ship!! I spent quite a bit of time here and it was absolutely worth every cent just to have a relaxing quite escape space onboard. If you've never been a spa person maybe just splurge for the $16 day pass.

So after leaving the spa we decided to check out some of the bars onboard. We found the wonderful Pink bar which is a very nice, cozy, upmarket champaign bar. The glasswork above the bar area here was stunning!!

12.09.16-17 by Jennie Gardiner, on Flickr
12.09.16-19 by Jennie Gardiner, on Flickr

Right next door was the District Lounge. This lounge often had live music and was a great spot to stop. Unfortunately we didn't spent much time here. Neither DH or I are big drinkers so we didn't spend much time in any of the bar areas.

12.09.16-22 by Jennie Gardiner, on Flickr
12.09.16-23 by Jennie Gardiner, on Flickr

Pretty soon it was time for the safety muster. This is quite possibly the cutest darn life jacket instruction sign I've ever seen!!

12.09.16-29 by Jennie Gardiner, on Flickr

After having done a few cruises back here in Australia I was honestly quite horrified by the way we were treated at the safety muster. The staff conducting the muster behaved like military drill sergeants barking orders loudly and rudely at guests. Both DH & I felt it was extremely unnecessary and was the most unpleasant part of our cruise. We were sandwiched together like sardines and I'm not kidding!! We were standing so close to complete strangers that I could smell the gentleman breath standing behind me. Very very very uncomfortable. But yet right beside us were meters and meters of open deck that we could have spread out into and been far more comfortable.

So after being accosted by our fellow safety muster guests we decided to head to BINGO!!! DH & I love bingo and we always play whenever we cruise. We never win but that's not the point. It's fun, social and is a nice break in the day.

12.09.16-33 by Jennie Gardiner, on Flickr

So we're off to dinner!! DCL do a great job with managing their dining rotation and for our first night we were at Animators Palate.

12.09.16-34 by Jennie Gardiner, on Flickr

This restaurant was beautiful! These are the wall murals in the entry area of the restaurant

13.09.16-30 by Jennie Gardiner, on Flickr
13.09.16-31 by Jennie Gardiner, on Flickr
13.09.16-32 by Jennie Gardiner, on Flickr
13.09.16-33 by Jennie Gardiner, on Flickr

The dining room was a riot of colour and animation

12.09.16-35 by Jennie Gardiner, on Flickr

As a childless couple it was a nice touch to be seated with 2 other couples to make up a table of 6. We weren't sure at first about the group dining arrangement but we quickly got to know our table mates and were so glad we didn't request a table on our own. One couple was newly married and on their honeymoon (awwwww cute!) and the other couple were just have a nice weekend away. Being from Australia we had many a conversation about cultural differences and differences in our ways of life. It was really enlightening to learn about some of the employment conditions in the US. It really made us appreciate our 4 weeks of paid leave per year.

Throughout dinner crush the turtle would swim up to screens placed throughout the dining room and interact with guests. Unfortunately our table wasn't anywhere near a TV screen but it was fun watching the kids interact with crush.

The food was fantastic and was my second favourite of the 3 dining rooms onboard.

I can't remember exactly what this appetiser was (we call it an entree in Australia which caused us no end of confusion) but it was super tasty and those plates were sooooo cute!!

12.09.16-36 by Jennie Gardiner, on Flickr

For our main DH had the breaded pork chop

12.09.16-37 by Jennie Gardiner, on Flickr

And I had the beef fillet steak

12.09.16-38 by Jennie Gardiner, on Flickr

Both were beautiful of course!

Now for the all important dessert! I had the chocolate brownie

12.09.16-39 by Jennie Gardiner, on Flickr

And DH had the chocolate cheesecake

12.09.16-40 by Jennie Gardiner, on Flickr

After our main desert our server surprised us with this lovely little anniversary chocolate mouse desert which was super nice and unexpected.

12.09.16-41 by Jennie Gardiner, on Flickr


Our first day was so amazing. We were super impressed by what we had seen so far (with the exception of the horrible safety muster). We met a wonderful staff member just after embarking from Brisbane, Australia who was working onboard. It was nice to hear an Australian accent after 2 weeks in the US and swap some stories about home.

Tomorrow was our day in Nassau so stay tuned for that update
​

 

[JessH87]

A little late but following along! My husband and I are heading to Disney in September this year and I'm worried about the heat but my husband LOVES the heat so it sounds like he will be very happy while we are there!

 

[Sinders99]

Day 6: A Day That Was Supposed To Be In Nassau

So it's been a crazy couple of days back here in Australia! We've had a lot of public holidays of late and tomorrow (25th April) is a national holiday for ANZAC Day. ANZAC stands for Australian & New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC). It's a day of remembrance for all Australians & New Zealand citizens to remember, honour and appreciate the sacrifices of those who made the ultimate sacrifice for their country. DH & I are both ex veterans ourselves (Royal Australian Navy) so for us this day holds very special meaning after losing friends and world colleagues in various peace keeping, humanitarian and training activities.

So I just wanted to spend these first few minutes of todays post to take a second and remember those who made the ultimate sacrifice so that we could have the freedoms we enjoy.

"They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old;
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them."

LEST WE FORGET

So after paying the proper respects lets get back to the trip report.

After a very restful night (OMG the beds on DCL are soooooo darn comfy) we woke late. DH & I had spent a lot of time debating whether or not to spend time in port in Nassau and eventually decided that after spending so much money on the cruise and having so little time onboard Nassau just did't have enough appeal for us to venture off the ship, so we treated it like a sea day instead!!

This morning we had our princess & frozen meet and greet booked. This was the only meet and greet we did the whole cruise because we'd already had so many meet & greets at WDW. We didn't really feel the need to join but queues to meet characters at sea. Disney actually managed this group meet & greet really well. For those that haven't done a DCL cruise you can book a 15 minute window online prior to boarding, turn up at your allocated time and join the reasonable queue to meet your princesses. Simple.

So this morning we hung out with Rapunzel, Snow White, Cinderella & Belle. Belle is my favourite disney princess (although I admit to having an equally big soft spot for Tiana & Ariel) so I was thrilled to meet her as we really hadn't met her at WDW.

13.09.16-2 by Jennie Gardiner, on Flickr
13.09.16-4 by Jennie Gardiner, on Flickr
13.09.16-10 by Jennie Gardiner, on Flickr
13.09.16-14 by Jennie Gardiner, on Flickr

I must admit that Snow White was particularly good. She was so in character and really wonderful.

After our meet & greet we were well & truely ready for breakfast so we headed upstairs to the breakfast buffet. OH MY GOODNESS!!! The choices on offer were amazing. How good does this breakfast plate look!!

13.09.16-15 by Jennie Gardiner, on Flickr

And in the top left corner you can just see the edge of my other plate (yes I know, total piglet!!) which had my first and only mickey waffles and berry compote of the entire trip. Everything was so yummy!! We definitely weren't starving on this trip.

We ate our beautiful breakfast and realised it was time to go meet Anna & Elsa at Animators Palace! On the way out of the buffet we had to make a quick stop Venelopi's just to say we looked

13.09.16-16 by Jennie Gardiner, on Flickr
13.09.16-17 by Jennie Gardiner, on Flickr
13.09.16-18 by Jennie Gardiner, on Flickr
13.09.16-23 by Jennie Gardiner, on Flickr

Oh my goodness!! Talk about sugar overload. I'm sure there's been more than one sugar tantrum caused by this place!!

Well hello there ladies!!

13.09.16-29 by Jennie Gardiner, on Flickr

We were lucky enough to be the first Anna & Elsa meet and greet of the day so we were in and out super quickly!

It was getting close to lunchtime by this stage but because we'd only just eaten breakfast we decided to go and make use of that lovely spa pass for a few hours!

After 2 hours soaking up all that relaxation I spent my time doing this......

13.09.16-35 by Jennie Gardiner, on Flickr

My first cocktail of the cruise! I spent some time just relaxing with a magazine while DH went and did some stuff. I decided I'd take a bit of a walk around the upper decks and snap some pics of Nassau from a distance and the ship in general.

13.09.16-36 by Jennie Gardiner, on Flickr

Hi & Bye Nassau

13.09.16-41 by Jennie Gardiner, on Flickr
13.09.16-45 by Jennie Gardiner, on Flickr
13.09.16-45 by Jennie Gardiner, on Flickr

And of course here's a random pic of our hallway...

13.09.16-43 by Jennie Gardiner, on Flickr

Even the carpet on these ships is gorgeous!!

So tonight onboard was HALLOWEEN party night!! And the show was the Villains show. I totally forgot to take a pic of the show the night before (which was the Golden Mickeys). DH & I really aren't theatre & show people but everyone assured us we had to see the shows onboard Disney because they were the best in the business AND THEY WEREN'T WRONG!! We absolutely loved all of the shows onboard. We had late sitting dinner so we went to our show first and then to dinner.

13.09.16-51 by Jennie Gardiner, on Flickr

If there's one piece of advice I'd give it's DON'T MISS THE SHOWS!!

So as I mentioned tonight was our Halloween night. We met up with friends from Texas and played bingo before heading to dinner tonight at .......

13.09.16-56 by Jennie Gardiner, on Flickr
13.09.16-59 by Jennie Gardiner, on Flickr

This was my least favourite of the 3 main dining rooms It may have just been a bad night but everyone at our table agreed that the menu just wasn't that great and in the middle of our meal everyone was complaining about how warm it had become. At one point it had become so uncomfortably hot in the dining area that I actually felt ill and didn't finish my meal or desert Not the best experience. Beautiful setting though.

You'll notice my lack of 'us' photos tonight and that's because I don't want to spoil our costume unveil for MNSSHP!! We packed smart and only bought 1 costume which we wore on the ship for the Halloween party and then again at WDW MNSSHP. So I'm going to keep our costume choice up our sleeve for now.

After retreating back into the cool air-conditioning, DH headed to our stateroom and found this cool cat waiting for us, oh and some chocolate - YUM!!!

13.09.16-61 by Jennie Gardiner, on Flickr

Tomorrow was the day we'd been looking forward to most - CASTAWAY CAY!!! So we were off to bed early so we'd be well rested for our 5km & Castaway Day!!!





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[missangelalexis]

The spa looks lovely!! Definitely something I'd be interested in!

Lovely pictures with the princesses!

Sounds like your first 2 nights were wonderful!

 

[GlassAct]

This looks like a fun trip, excited to see more!

You are a very talented photographer, even just a picture of carpet in the hall is beautiful!

 

[Sinders99]

Day 7: CASTAWAY CRAZINESS!!

So when you go on holiday you're supposed to relax and over eat and forget all about exercise right??? WRONG!!

For some insane reason in researching DCL I really had my heart set on running the Castaway Cay 5km Challenge. So we were up early today getting our running gear on and assembling along with the other crazy runners on our cruise to hot foot it around the island.

Well good morning Castaway Cay!! Aren't you looking beautiful today

14.09.16-28 by Jennie Gardiner, on Flickr

Now I have to mention some right off the bat that we didn't have a very good start to our Castaway Cay day. All the research we'd done before our cruise said that those that ran the 5km Challenge got off the ship first and that the crew got you running early to avoid the heat - THIS DID NOT HAPPEN!!!

I'm not sure what went wrong on our particular sailing but our running experience was a complete FAILURE!! We spent over an hour at the assembly point waiting to disembark and when we were escorted off the gangway we found that the rest of the passengers were already disembarking as well (this was around 8am) so then of course the running group got separated, people forgot things and went back to their cabins to get stuff and it was a complete and absolute shambles!!! We were so angry, as were a lot of other runners that it was not 8:45am and we weren't still waiting on the dock for all those passengers that had gotten separated in the crush that was disembarking with the general passengers.

When we finally found everyone it was 9am and HOT SO HOT!!! DH and I were already considering backing out of the run and just enjoying our day at Castaway Cay but I really wanted that medal. So we hung in there. Stupidly we were then frog marched from the dock to the start point which was approx 1.5km's or about a mile in 90 degree heat and humidity. We noticed the group was significantly smaller by the time we reached the start line for the run. People were genuinely angry by this point - as were we - about how the morning were unfolded. Past DCL cruisers assured us that this whole thing was highly highly unusual. By the time the run got underway it was 9:30am YES YOU READ THAT RIGHT 9:30am!!!! It was about 93 Fahrenheit and 90% humidity but we stuck it out. I managed to carry a small point and shoot with me and was able to get these shots of us dying from heat exhaustion - ENJOY!!

14.09.16-29 by Jennie Gardiner, on Flickr
14.09.16-31 by Jennie Gardiner, on Flickr
14.09.16-32 by Jennie Gardiner, on Flickr

While I stuck to a nice steady pace, DH totally took off and marooned me!! Bloody husbands I ended up running most of the race by myself. As I turned around at the adults beach (the turn around point) and ran back to the water tower here's DH standing by the water station casually sipping water and waiting for me - BLOODY HUSBANDS!!So we ended up running the last mile together.

Upon crossing the finish line we were presented our medals and I instantly wished we'd not done the race. The heat had taken a heavy toll on me and I admit to suffering a bit of heat exhaustion even though I had drunk lots of water So we made our way to the main beach, found a deck chair and a bottle of water and soaked up this view

14.09.16-33 by Jennie Gardiner, on Flickr
14.09.16-35 by Jennie Gardiner, on Flickr

It really was a glorious day!! It's just a shame that our running experience was so poorly organised and started so late. We were super lucky to gatecrash someone's wedding as well!! We didn't know it at the time but right beside the area we were sitting was also the area that weddings were held and we were front and centre to take in a beautiful event in one lucky couples life. It was a beautiful ceremony and the bride was stunning of course.

Once we'd relaxed a little we decided a shower was in order and jumped on a people mover back to the ship, had quick showers, got into our bathers, packed a bag and got right back into enjoying our Castaway Cay day!!

14.09.16-2 by Jennie Gardiner, on Flickr

So this is the island map. You can see the course we ran from the landing strip adjacent the main beach around the circular water tower loop, down to the adults beach on the left of the map and then back around the water tower and to the start point.

Now this is where the really beautiful photography starts!!

14.09.16-3 by Jennie Gardiner, on Flickr

While we were in port there were crew members all over the exterior of the ship painting and maintaining this beauty. DCL really do take the very best care of their ships.

By this time it was around 11:30am and almost time to find somewhere for lunch. Of course food and drink on the island are all included so we headed off to the adults beach buffet for an awesome feed of ribs, chicken, fish, salads and deserts. The options were fantastic!! We had an amazing lunch. I just wished I'd taken some pics of the spread!!

So after lunch we made our way down the beach and found a hammock and a couple of deck chairs just in front of the bar. This meant that we were close to drinks, could hear the music and take in this stunning view!!

IMG_2543 by Jennie Gardiner, on Flickr
14.09.16-4 by Jennie Gardiner, on Flickr

DH made the most of his hammock

14.09.16-5 by Jennie Gardiner, on Flickr

We eventually waded into the shallow water and just enjoyed sitting in the water and taking it all in. It truely is the most stunning place. It's pretty hard to take a bad picture here.

14.09.16-11 by Jennie Gardiner, on Flickr
14.09.16-12 by Jennie Gardiner, on Flickr
14.09.16-14 by Jennie Gardiner, on Flickr
14.09.16-16 by Jennie Gardiner, on Flickr

And this hands down was one of my very favourite shots of the whole trip.......just a stunning piece of the world

14.09.16-17 by Jennie Gardiner, on Flickr

So around 4pm we decided to head back to the ship, find a nice cool spot and enjoy the sail away. I don't think I'd ever get sick of seeing these beautiful waters

14.09.16-19 by Jennie Gardiner, on Flickr

I also remembered to stop in at the post office and post a few postcards home so that I could get the Castaway Cay postmark. They had this great map on the hut which showed where we were in relation to the other islands

14.09.16-22 by Jennie Gardiner, on Flickr

14.09.16-24 by Jennie Gardiner, on Flickr
14.09.16-27 by Jennie Gardiner, on Flickr

Just the most beautiful place and an amazing day. I would return here in a heartbeat and I can completely see now why so many people rave about Castaway Cay.

So I mentioned that I had suffered a bit of heat stress earlier in the day thanks to our ridiculously late run. Well, with a cracker headache by the early evening our pirate night didn't end up happening. We decided instead on having room service in our room and an early night. We had really hoped to stay up and see the fireworks at sea but they'd scheduled it for 9:30pm which seemed completely insane to us considering what a big day it had been.

It didn't take long for us to doze off and start dreaming of the wonderful day we'd had and our sea day tomorrow .........

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[missangelalexis]

I'm so sorry the race didn't turn out as planned! But it sounds like you enjoyed the rest of your day at Castaway Cay. Such beautiful photos!