Cruising for Practically Free…Yep..I said Free!

[jenseib]

We found some seats and let P’s family know where we were via the chat feature on the app and they soon arrived and sat with us. I really do love Aladdin, but I didn’t care for this cast. Of the 3 times I have seen it on this ship, this was the worst performance. Claire said she thought there were a few changed things and I agreed, though it just might be the way a particular set of cast members portray the scene but some things did seem a little different. We did NOT like Jasmine and that made it hard to enjoy.



I did take a few pictures at the end like I always do.


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Carpet was the same guy from last summer and he is really good!


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After the show we headed out to the atrium as P wanted to see a violist that was listed to be performing. Claire was going to go do a drawing class with Sydney and Sadie.


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This couple was MAGNIFICENT!!! She knew we were watching and made eye contact with us and probably thought we were stalkers after a bit. Hahaha.


You have to listen to this video….AMAZING!!!!

We moved on up the steps and I was going to head one way and P was going to catch up with the girls when they started another song and we stopped and stalked again. She sings too! The guy would look up and smile.


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Video

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We watched a while more and then separated.


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I just love this deck at night.


Claire wanted ice-cream so I headed up to Sweet on You and got her some Mango.


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I walked out by the pool deck and found J and her kids all getting food at the fast food locations out there and stopped and talked a bit with them but I couldn’t stay too long because Claire’s ice-cream was melting.


I headed down to D-Lounge and gave Claire her ice-cream while she continued to draw.


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They were drawing Stitch.


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And then Stitch came in!


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This was the first drawing class I have ever gone to where the character came for a visit.



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He made the rounds.


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And we tried to get him with our girls…but weren’t very successful.


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Back to drawing.


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Now some did better than others….but I give them all credit for trying and having fun! Hahahah!

 

[FSU Girl]

That's too bad that the performance wasn't that great. I hope the people performing on my January cruise are different then lol.

 

[lklgoodman]

That's too bad that the performance wasn't that great. I hope the people performing on my January cruise are different then lol.

We'll be on the Fantasy on Jan. 12, I'm hoping for the same, lol!! I don't really care for any of the shows on the Fantasy, love the shows on the Wonder. We'll be cruising on the Fantasy again Jan. 2020, I'd love to see a new show on her then, but doubt it will happen. I'd love to see Aladdin replaced with a Moana show!!

 

[lorimay]

I do love the performers in the Atrium, I wish there was a way for more seating in the evenings to watch them, but thats a busy place.

 

[FSU Girl]

We'll be on the Fantasy on Jan. 12, I'm hoping for the same, lol!! I don't really care for any of the shows on the Fantasy, love the shows on the Wonder. We'll be cruising on the Fantasy again Jan. 2020, I'd love to see a new show on her then, but doubt it will happen. I'd love to see Aladdin replaced with a Moana show!!

You'll be getting on while we are getting off lol. I've only been on the Dream and Magic so I'm hoping I enjoy the shows. I doubt a new show will come around for quite a while.

 

[lklgoodman]

I just showed my 10 yr old dd the videos. She just started violin lessons a few months ago. After watching the videos she said she still wants to be a cm in the kids club when she grows up. And that she'll also get a job playing her violin in the atrium whenever she gets tired of dealing with the kids in the club, lol.

 

[jenseib]

That's too bad that the performance wasn't that great. I hope the people performing on my January cruise are different then lol.

I do love that show, but when you see it 3 times in less than 2 years (plus we also saw it on Broadway in that time span) I guess you can get a little tired of it. It was still a good show, but the first time we had such great actors and Aladdin was HOT!

We'll be on the Fantasy on Jan. 12, I'm hoping for the same, lol!! I don't really care for any of the shows on the Fantasy, love the shows on the Wonder. We'll be cruising on the Fantasy again Jan. 2020, I'd love to see a new show on her then, but doubt it will happen. I'd love to see Aladdin replaced with a Moana show!!

I do like Aladdin, but sailing this ship my last 3 cruises I need something new. I really hope to cruise this winter on one of the other 3 if possible. I just have to make it work. The Wonder is the only ship I haven't been on, so ideally I would love to cruise on her!

I do love the performers in the Atrium, I wish there was a way for more seating in the evenings to watch them, but thats a busy place.

When I sailed on Princess, their atrium is just awesome! They had seating all over and it was enjoyable and at times we just would go there and sit.
They tended to have activities there throughout the day too.

I just showed my 10 yr old dd the videos. She just started violin lessons a few months ago. After watching the videos she said she still wants to be a cm in the kids club when she grows up. And that she'll also get a job playing her violin in the atrium whenever she gets tired of dealing with the kids in the club, lol.

That's funny. I don't often watch the entertainment in the atrium too often as it can get busy or I am on my way somewhere, but this couple was just fabulous!

 

[jenseib]

After the drawing class there was a game show! I believe it was Family Fusion. Now P is SUPER competitive and loves this kind of thing. Claire….not so much. P said we were doing it…and we made noise and of course were picked. Claire would not join us. It was way too embarrassing!


We all went up on stage and I was now part of the P family. The thing with Family Fusion is that you need to know a bit about your family to answer questions, so it wasn’t a great plan. Hahaha…..that being said, there were true families up there that didn’t do so well either.


We sent Sadie out on front for the first question.


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She had to match the answer we thought she would give and I am pretty sure we didn’t match.


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Claire took a few pics of us as we went.


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You can see P totally getting into it and being serious.


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I think we ended up being 3rd…out of 4…so yeah…we sucked…but we had a lot of fun and laughed a LOT!


Claire headed back to the room and so did P and her girls.


I went off on my own for a bit. Love the ship at night!


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Claire messaged me that Grandma was sleeping and P said she could go in her room…was that OK…sure thing! And they were ordering room service…could she get some….Yes Claire…it’s not like she had to come up with money. Hahaha.


I roamed around a bit and got to talking to some people and then went back to the room and then through the connecting into P’s room. We ended up talking for a long time and then room service came and they had ordered a ton of stuff and I ended up snacking on it too. We talked sooooo long that it got to the point I could barely sit up anymore I was so tired, so we finally went back into our bed…only to realize I left my phone in their room and had to knock to get it back. Sorry!


We got ready for bed and Claire was in luxury this cruise as she was getting to sleep with me in the big bed! And out we went!

 

[jenseib]

July 12, 2018, Thursday, Nassau


I woke early and decided to head out to see where we were. Close but not quite to Nassau yet.


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I did a walk around to take a few pictures. We had no plans to do anything today, so I was just taking my time.


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I went in to the Cove Café and got a little treat. Can you believe I NEVER went in once on the 10 night cruise last year? I remedied that today.


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I got totally wild with a rice crispie on a stick!


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And back out to walk.


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More people were starting to stir and come out.


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And I went to take some pics of the drink stations…..which no longer have straws!!!


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The no straws and lids started not too long before our cruise. I don’t like it. I know why they do it, but I am a straw girl. The dining room still had straws if you asked…and we did. I am told at the drink station you can find a server and ask for a paper one…and they are pretty thick and sturdy from what I saw.

When we found out there would be no straws we packed our own mugs with straws to use.


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The sad thing about a short cruise…not enough time to have several visits here!!!


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[jenseib]

I made my way through Cabana’s, taking a few pictures of the offerings. It was busy with those who planned to go to port today. We just planned to get off later and walk around a bit and come back, so we were in no hurry at all.


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And back out I went.


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At some point I took this video.

I ran down to the room to see how the family was doing.


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Mom was up….Claire….not so much!


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We got her up. I had no issues with her sleeping in too a point, but I didn’t want her to sleep the vacation away.


Kelsey and Chloe came to bring us some bottles of water from Concierge. I found out they had been leaving bottles at our doors but several times we never found them….which means there is a thief onboard taking them as they passed by. GRRR!


Kelsey said she ordered for her room to be decorated for her Mom’s b-day. How exciting. J was out scuba diving today, so it should be done when she comes back.

She also ordered a cake to be delivered to the dining room tomorrow night. J knows how to get these fantastic cakes for her kids b-days and Kelsey wanted to return the favor for her mom. She said that no one wanted to take responsibility and she had one heck of a time getting one ordered.


We then headed off and got a bite to eat.


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[mickeystoontown]

My boss is out of town this morning so I was able to play catch up. Looks like the cruise is off to a great start. I'd have passed out if I had gotten an upgrade like that.

 

[jenseib]

My boss is out of town this morning so I was able to play catch up. Looks like the cruise is off to a great start. I'd have passed out if I had gotten an upgrade like that.

Me too. It was pretty exciting being friends with someone who did!

 

[jenseib]

After we were done eating, Mom and Claire headed back to the room to get ready and I went up to take pictures in Meridian and out the back.


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I headed back to my room and collected my family. We packed a bag and headed down the steps to get off the ship.


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And started off on our scorching walk.


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I wanted Claire to stop here for a pic but she refused. I did see P got her girls to do so though.


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We were not the only ship in port today.


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And keep in mind, the Fantasy is NOT normally ever in Nassau!


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We got behind the SLOWEST people and had a hard time getting around them and finally we opted to take a longer sidewalk around just to be able to get away from them.


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We just wanted to browse, so we went in and out of shops and into the straw market as Claire had never been in there.


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It’s too crowded in there with narrow aisles, but we did some quick looking and left and then in and out of shops and Claire got a few shirts and I got a magnet or 2 and I think Mom bought an item or 2. Claire declared it was just too darn hot and we headed back to the ship.


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Claire rested in the room to cool off, and I got in my suit and got in the pool with P for a bit. She then left to do something and I stayed in a bit longer and then I headed to the room too and took a short nap.


Mom and Claire wanted to play Bingo so they headed off and I decided to do a load of laundry.


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To my surprise, the washers and dryers have changed in the way you pay and they now TEXT the app when they are done! So I took pictures of everything (which I won’t bore you with). I loved this new system.


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I sat on my balcony while I waited for the washing and messaged with my friend Cass for a bit and then flipped everything over to the dryer and went up top.


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It was a totally lazy day and afternoon. I didn’t take much in the way of pictures and soon it was time to leave port.


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[tammy]

Awesome updates!

 

[rndmr2]

Great update! Sometimes a lazy day is all you need, very relaxing, which is the reason for vacation. Not much to do in Nassau, anyway from what I remember. I used to love that straw market to look around but could never stain there too long because of how much they hassle you, do they still do that?

 

[mickeystoontown]

Hum, lookie there....there's an iron. (I think you may remember my iron 'situation") I know that a lot of people don't care of Nassau but we had a good time on the See and Sea Tour and I wish that it hadn't rained so that we could have explored a bit more. It sounds like your lazy day was a great one.

 

[jenseib]

Awesome updates!

Thanks

Great update! Sometimes a lazy day is all you need, very relaxing, which is the reason for vacation. Not much to do in Nassau, anyway from what I remember. I used to love that straw market to look around but could never stain there too long because of how much they hassle you, do they still do that?

They really didn't at all this time around. I was happy as I hate that too.

Hum, lookie there....there's an iron. (I think you may remember my iron 'situation") I know that a lot of people don't care of Nassau but we had a good time on the See and Sea Tour and I wish that it hadn't rained so that we could have explored a bit more. It sounds like your lazy day was a great one.

I believe you tried to smuggle one on right? My Mom and Uncle have tried in the past too...because they didn't believe me. hahaha.

Nassau isn't bad to me, but I have been there about 4 or 5 times now and on short cruises it is sometimes just nice to be lazy on the ship.

 

[jenseib]

It was now time for early dinner in Enchanted Garden! It was pirate night, but we chose not to dress this time around.


Crush/Crash came right over and apologized for the night before and let us know he never found out about any of the issues till much later that evening. He wanted to make things right was sending a bottle of prosecco over for the adults and the kids all would be getting smoothies. Sounds good to us!


As my glass was being poured, Chloe was in the background being a clown!


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Claire’s smoothie.


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Claire got wild tonight and out of her comfort zone of her usual steak and fries and ordered a soup too.


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I think this was P’s.


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And this has to be mine as I love the Lobster Ravioli there.


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So we are laughing and joking and J asked me if I think the plants are real above my Mom’s head and she dares me to ask my Mom to touch them…so I do….and she does!


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And we are childish and just start laughing hysterically. And just an FYI…they are fake! Mom was a good sport!


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I ordered a couple of entrée’s tonight.


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All were good, but there was no way I could eat all of each. I wish they did combo plates with smaller portions. I would love to order one of those.


I had called DCL before we cruised to be sure to note my friend’s b-days. Tonight we were celebrating P’s.


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I brought her a little gift as well to celebrate!


I will go off subject here too. We had done a private fish extender exchange between our 3 rooms and it is so fun to buy for friends and their kids. I really enjoyed buying when I knew the recipients (or at least knew them better than total strangers) and we got such great gifts as well. My mom was so impressed with everything and that they thought of her too.


Back to desert!


This looked good, but really wasn’t that good…well the ice-cream was fine.


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And that was just as well as I had had plenty to eat already.


When we were done we had the girls stop in front of the fountain to get some pictures. We had some funny faces and laughter so it was hard to get a good shot.


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We walked out to the atrium to watch the violinist…only it was a different one tonight…just a single guy. He was good…but not our favorite couple.


I think P may have taken her girls to the show. We walked around a bit on deck 4 and just enjoyed the night.


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This time of evening is just so wonderful and I could spend a month just staring out like this.


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Claire headed back to the room to change. I think she was going to watch a movie. I was going to eventually meet up with P and J in Ooh La La for a drink. So I took some pictures for now.


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I spotted the violinist from tonight down the hall and when I passed him I told him “good job”. Lol


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I stopped in at Tiffany’s.


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More people were in here this cruise than last, but I still don’t see it doing a big business on the ship.


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[rndmr2]

They really didn't at all this time around. I was happy as I hate that too.

--That's great to hear

Those Scallops look so yummy! I love scallops. It's funny though, it's really only in the last maybe 10 years or so that I have been liking seafood at all other than tuna and a Filet'o'fish sandwich, LOL. I will eat normal fish depending on how it is made but I love scallops, shrimp and Lobster (and on my Alaska cruise I tried real crab for the first time (before I had only had the imitation crab that is not crab). My dad had to force me to eat a scallop when I was about 10 years old and now I love them. We went to WDW in 2014 with him and he was shocked when I ordered scallops and shrimp at a few places.

More people were in here this cruise than last, but I still don’t see it doing a big business on the ship.

Well, stuff there is usually really Pricey so they probably only have to sell a couple things on each cruise to make it worth it, LOL

LOVE this Chandelier!

 

[FSU Girl]

Your day in Nassau looked fun! The last time we were there on the Dream we didn't get off the ship. Your dinner in the Enchanted Garden looked really nice. I was sick the last time I ate there and none of the food was tasting good to me, but I think it was more my taste was off. But we won't be experiencing it on our upcoming cruise we are going to Palo the night we will be scheduled there. You take such great pictures of the ship!