Another "Wonder"ful cruise, day 3

[momof2disprincesses]

This was Saturday of our 3 night cruise. We slept in a little from being so exhausted from all of day 2's activities. Who knew cruising could be so tiring? (okay, I really did know it would be!)

When we woke up, we were docked at Castaway Cay. We heard later from a cm that we almost didn't dock there because of high winds during the night. Boy was I glad we were able to make it.



It was another glorious day! The sun was shining and it was warm and beautiful on this gorgeous island.

We had a quick breakfast at the Beach Blanket Buffet and headed off the ship. We grabbed a spot under an umbrella on the family beach and rented snorkel equipment and floaty mats to enjoy the water.

It was slightly cold in the ocean at first, but it didn't take long to get used to it and even enjoy it!

We rented 2 sets of snorkel equipment for our family of 4 and dh took each of us one at a time. We all love to snorkel, but I think he was slightly exhausted after snorkeling almost all day

Us girls took turns snorkeling with him and then relaxing on the floaties and on the beach. We never did make it to Cookies for lunch as we were still full from breakfast, but we did grab sodas and those delicious chocolate chip cookies several times.

We did order room service once again when we got back on the ship. I really got hooked on the All Hands on Deck cheese platter and chocolate chip cookies!

By the way, this is slightly off topic but I love how the ships do soda now. When we cruised 4 years ago, you had to buy the soda package and take the cups with you everywhere you went. I love that it is complimentary now.

We stayed on the beach until about 4pm, way past other families because we were just enjoying it all so much! The last time we visited here, it was August and almost unbearably hot. This was much more enjoyable!

We then went back on the ship and showered and prepared for our favorite show of all ~ Disney Dreams. It was, as expected, totally outstanding! I cried tears of joy after this show.
It is just so sweet!

After the show, we all went to Studio Sea again for "Who Wants to be a Mouseketeer." We were not as lucky this time and never got picked to go on stage, but it was such a fun show to watch.

We then ate at my favorite place in all of Disney ~ Animator's Palate. The "show" during dinner was as good as I remembered and it was wonderful to dine with Lito and Herman serving us again. They chatted with us quite a bit and we really enjoyed our last dinner.

After dinner, we walked around the ship some more and then watched "Flight Plan" in the Buena Vista Theater. We had seen it before, but wanted to see it on the ship

We then went to bed as it was early to rise the next morning. Our last breakfast was at 7:30am back at Animator's Palate (you eat your last breakfast in the restaurant you dined at the night before). We were glad to have late dinner seating because that meant last breakfast seating too. Some people had to be at breakfast by like 6:15am!!!

We had a delicious breakfast and said our final good-byes to O'Dell, Lito & Herman. We even got a chance to see Harlan from the Phillipines on the ship. He had been our server 4 years ago when we sailed. We caught up with him on our families and got lots of hugs. He claimed to remember us, but who knows. I know they meet so many families. We remembered him fondly though because he was so special to us and so good at making us feel welcomed & special!

We left the ship around 9am and were on our way to enjoy the rest of our trip. If you have any questions I can help answer, let me know.

Thank you all once again for all of your great tips and advice. Doing research on these boards sure does help you have a smoother vacation as you are prepared and know how to enhance your trip even more.



I have to add one more thing ~ the best piece of advice I received here was about the over-the-door shoe hanger. I had always heard people raving about them, but never became a "believer" until this trip. It was single-handedly the best thing we brought with us. Nothing was ever lost. We kept all the "loose" stuff in there and we always knew right where everything was. If you too are like me and not a "believer" in this handy-dandy piece of equipment yet ~ try it, you'll LOVE it.

 

[disallday!]

Great to hear all info! We will try the over the door shoe hanger when we go! What time was your dining rotation?

 

[michelle9343]

Thanks for your report. It really helped bring back Happy memories from our WONDERful cruise. I am glad your family had such a nice cruise filled with

 

[momof2disprincesses]

Great to hear all info! We will try the over the door shoe hanger when we go! What time was your dining rotation?

We had the very last dinner seating of 8:30pm (we ate each night at 8:30 at the 1 of the 3 restaurants). We were usually pretty hungry by then!

 

[beccawes7471]

So glad to hear how much fun you had! I want to second the over the door hanger tip, that was the absolute best advice we got from these boards...so much so that I am using it at home on the inside of my closet door. It is now holding hair barretts, rubber bands, make up, all the stuff it held on the boat. I can't believe I didn't think of this sooner! Thanks disboards!

 

[disallday!]

I think this time we might try for early rotation. Right now they have us listed for late dining. It's hard deciding early (you have to board ship alot earlier at ports) or late (you miss interesting events during that time)!

Just might have to flip a coin!

 

[Superslew]

Thanks for taking the time to write about your cruise. We are doing the 4-day in a couple of weeks and its great to read about other peoples experiences. We have booked a room at Comfort Suites to give us access to Atlantis. Would you suggest that we get there by taxi or by water taxi?

Thanks again!

 

[momof2disprincesses]

Thanks for taking the time to write about your cruise. We are doing the 4-day in a couple of weeks and its great to read about other peoples experiences. We have booked a room at Comfort Suites to give us access to Atlantis. Would you suggest that we get there by taxi or by water taxi?

Thanks again!

Here's my thoughts on the taxi/water taxi issue. I disliked the water taxi. It felt unsafe and the guy begging for tips really turned me off. My dh loved the water taxi though. It was quicker, the views of the large houses from the water were nice and it was only $3/person. The water taxi location is a short walk from the pier and from the Atlantis (we were at Harborside, so it was only like a 1 block walk).

It cost $4 per person for a regular taxi and it took a long time to get a driver to get us going (he wouldn't leave until he had a full taxi, which was 10 people ~ we were a party of 6, so he insisted we wait for 4 more). It was like an hour from the time we walked off the ship to the time we were at the hotel. However, it was more comfortable and air conditioned and the driver took us right to the lobby of our hotel.

The walk from the ship to the regular taxis or water taxis is about the same. Both are located at the end of the pier.

 

[jns]

Thank you so much for your wonderfully detailed trip report
we are going on the 3 day wonder cruice next Oct DS 8 , 15
you answered a lot of my questions

still not too sure about renting a room
we will be doing the water parks in WDW after the cruise
are the 2 simliar
and what is the Dug Like

Thanks again

 

[momof2disprincesses]

Thank you so much for your wonderfully detailed trip report
we are going on the 3 day wonder cruice next Oct DS 8 , 15
you answered a lot of my questions

still not too sure about renting a room
we will be doing the water parks in WDW after the cruise
are the 2 simliar
and what is the Dug Like

Thanks again

The Dig is basically an aquarium. It was cool, but unless we missed part of it, it was a lot smaller than I expected. The water park part was also very nice, but I love WDW water parks and I think they far exceed the water slides/rides Atlantis has.

Basically, if you want to "taste" the Atlantis without flying there and doing a separate vacation, renting a room for the day from your cruise is a good idea. That is exactly what we wanted and what we got. I enjoyed our Atlantis day very much. I looked at it like our shore excursion because the cost for our family of 4 was similar to most of the cruise's shore excursions.

 

[videogal1]

We have booked a room at Comfort Suites to give us access to Atlantis. Would you suggest that we get there by taxi or by water taxi?

Thanks again!

I know two things about the water taxis:
1. DCL used to use them for their Atlantis excursion but does no longer.
2. The water taxi refused to return me to the ship after my tour of Atlantis.

I wouldn't trust my life to them again even if it does mean that I could end up as a permanent resident of Pleasure Island...