Okay, so here is a little mini one-post trip report just for you guys
Day 1: Left home early, flew Salt Lake City to Orlando via Atlanta. We arrived around 3:30pm and took ME to the Poly. We checked in to our room then walked around the resort a bit and rode the monorail. We had a great dinner at Ohana even though the ukulele guy made us get up and dance while he serenaded us for our anniversary. I cant remember what song he played! After dinner we went and hung out on the beach and watched the little boat parade and watched Wishes. While on the beach the boat from the resort pulled up to the dock and I heard the captain on the loudspeaker announce tell you what, you guys were all SOOOOO good, Im gonna give you all STICKERS! and the entire boat full of people of all ages cheered loudly. Thats when I really knew I was at Disney. Other than a few mosquito bites while sitting on the beach, it was a nice day.
Day 2: Boarded the
DCL bus at the Poly at 11:30. We pulled up to the port at 12:40 and were in line for embarkation photos by 1:00. We boarded and headed to Guest Services because they forgot to give us our
Castaway Club lanyards at check-in. Then we went to the shore excursions desk where the CM there told us we would be switching At Sea and Nassau days. We booked the 9am Walking and Kayak tour for the next morning at
Castaway Cay and the Blue Lagoon Beach Day for Nassau. Then we headed to Cabanas for lunch. After lunch we went to our room and then the Dismeet where we had a great time meeting some of you! We could have chatted forever! But that darn muster drill got in the way. We had fun running into people on the ship throughout the cruise though! We seemed to run into Deb and family a lot and Rob as well. Now we know why he misses FL. We ran into Urs, Andrea and Alena all the time! We love you guys! I also met a lurker named Clo but I don't know how to spell her name! So shout out Clo! We saw the 6:15 show and had dinner at Animators Palette. Our server and assistant server were SO GREAT! We had Darwin from Honduras and Isac from Brazil. They kept us entertained with magic tricks and crayon puzzles. Darwin jumped up and down pointing to DH Mike until Crush talked to him
he got to be the butt (so to speak) of the making bubbles joke. We had a great anniversary!
Day 3: The walking and kayak tour at Castaway Cay was really great. The main guide Ricky was really knowledgeable and even had us tasting edible plants on the island. We got to go off trail just past the far end of Serenity Bay and then at the end of the biking trail we went off to the kayak beach and kayaked up the little inlet. It was beautiful and so peaceful. We saw Upside-Down jellyfish and a huge stingray. The water was very clear. It was a lot of walking for someone who had foot surgery a few months ago but not actually strenuous in any way. We then spent some time at Serenity Bay and stopped off so DH could do Pelican Plunge on the way back to the ship. Dinner was at Enchanted Garden. We found out the people at the table next to us got moved up to early seating. Then it seemed as though a random family came and plopped down at their table about 30 minutes into dinner. It was odd. Our servers seemed a bit flustered and asking them their names etc. but took it in stride. It was a man, his wife, and two girls aged 11 and 12. I heard them tell some people they were sisters and others that they were friends. No idea. As soon as they sat down the man yanked on the hair of one of the girls and started yelling at her. Let me just say it made for some interesting meals the rest of the trip!!! I have never in my life seen people with such horrid manners and behavior. They would sit and watch you eat and comment on everything saying things like is that good? It looks disgusting. What does it taste like? What did you get mam? What is it made of? and on and on. The man would at some point during EACH AND EVERY meal get upset and storm off. One night both the man and woman stormed off and left the two girls to eat alone. They always ordered something off the menu. The girls would take one look at their kids meal, say, no I dont want that then order another one and never touch either one. One night they asked the server, assistant server, and head server for green beans. When all 3 brought them they were annoyed. One night the woman ordered the pasta so they brought it and she got all grossed out and said no, I meant the kids pasta One night they ordered tacos and I dont know where the poor servers had to go to track those down! Lets just say there was a lot of muttering under their breath as the servers would walk away from that table. We sympathized. It was hard sitting near them, let alone serving them! They got mad at our server because they wanted him to take their untouched meals away as he was placing our entrees on our table and he kept nicely saying just a second, just a second I could go on and on about their appalling behavior but Ill spare you. They ended up with the head server taking constant care of them. Another table near us complained about them. I found them a little scary. There is a whole other Bermuda Triangle story with them as well.
Day 4: We really enjoyed the Blue Lagoon Beach Day. Deb did you enjoy your dolphin encounter? That beach was gorgeous! I couldve floated in that water all day. Well I nearly did. The weather was perfect, the water was perfect. It was just beautiful!!! Sigh. On the way back to the ship we did a little shopping. That night was Royal Palace for the Pirate dinner. Royal Palace was my favorite restaurant, probably due in part to our table placement (not too close to the crazies!) We saw the early party and then fireworks after dinner from deck 12. We passed through the pirate buffet on our way back to the room, even though it wasnt on the way.
I like to call this one "Our Ship is prettier than Your Ship":
Day 5: Today was our lucky day. Im sad because I have hardly any pictures! I did some shopping and reading. DH went to play bingo. I met him there at the last 5 minutes. I got there just in time to see him get bingo. Another guy got a bingo too so they split it and he came away with $144. I told him that was almost enough to get me the Dooney & Bourke I wanted and he said, yeah, but not quite. Later we went to the DVC presentation and I won the $300 OBC! I told Mike, Well, now its enough! So I did some more shopping. Dinner that night was Royal Palace again. After dinner we finally rode the Aquaduck around 10:30. We still had probably a 15 minute wait. I am claustrophobic and I thought Id be okay since most of it is clear, but in that dark part I thought I just might die. Fortunately I did not. I decided I am too claustrophobic for the Aquaduck!
Day 6: Had fun on the beach at Castaway Cay. We didnt stay too long. DH did some basketball free throw contest thing or something. He decided to go back to the ship early to eat lunch on board. After he left the wind really started to pick up so I headed for the tram stop where I was pelted with sand. It really did hurt and get in my eyes, but it was an adventure. I felt bad for a couple trying to get two kids in strollers to the tram. We kind of relaxed the rest of the day. I read my book for awhile on my Kindle, sat it down and picked it up later and the screen was covered in lines and I couldnt read it anymore. I was NOT happy! Our final night dinner was at Animators. It was my favorite meal. I had the steak.
Day 7: Breakfast and disembarkation went very smoothly. We had a long day though. We left the ship around 9am and got home around 13 hours later. 13 hours without my book on my kindle!!! So I made DH download the kindle app on his droid so I could read my book on that. Id have gone crazy without it! We found out our departure flight from Orlando was delayed by an hour which would make for a very close connection in Atlanta so we got on standby for an earlier flight and made it on. One of our bags was a little lost at the airport because they had sent one ahead and kept the other one on our last flight. We eventually found it though and were happy to get home to the kids!
DH went back to the ship a little before I did and I experienced the needles of sand adventure getting back. That wind was crazy for a bit! I had only gotten in the ocean up to my knees but when I got back on the ship I was literally dripping water from head to toe. Someone had stolen my towel earlier when I got up from my beach chair so I had nothing to dry off with. (I asked the people sitting nearby and they admitted to accidently using my dirty towel 
