Thank you all for your kind words about my trip reports, and I apologize for them not being as timely as I'd hoped. My new job is kicking my butt schedule-wise...and it's hard to find the time to upload photos and sit down for long writing sessions!
As I said, The morning of Castaway Cay dawn bright and beautiful! I peered out our porthole and saw two photographers standing by a tram. Wondered if I was being given a bonus, but realized later that a wedding was happening. The family all dressed back up in the coordinating clothing we had worn yesterday (jeans and blue button-shirts for the guys, white shirts and jeans for the girls, denim dress for Delanie) I know, I know...have already gotten comments at work that we were at the BEACH..and the clothing choice may have been odd...but the clothes were picked BEFORE I knew we could do the beach. So there!
We met the photographer, Ovi, just off the ship. He was very nice, and jumped in immediately to help me get the stroller on/off the tram, as DH was focused on Casadie. We chatted with him, and I told him what I was hoping for..just nice family portraits, not necessarily with "Disney" in them...he said we'd go to the boat beach, as it was pretty empty at 9:30am. To answer some earlier questions...the fee only covered the photographer's "sitting fee" as it were, and I believe it was $85.00. There were no characters, and no complimentary shots. I suppose we could have waited in line at one of the many characters we passed, but I was really striving for classy family photos, not Disney-fied photos. I think to "hire" characters, you're looking at well over $500-$800 for a 1/2 hour set. We had Mickey and Minnie at our wedding reception in 2000, and I think it was almost $1000.
He was patient, and kind...and creative. He had some great shot ideas, and overall, the photos turned out pretty nice. We had a problem with sun...and my DS kept making goofy faces as he was squinting into the sun. About half of the shots eventually were ruined because of this. If I had a ton of money, I would have bought them all, and photoshopped a better face onto him.
Grandma showed up during the shoot and asked for a Grandma/Grandkids shot. Of course Ovi obliged, and got a very nice shot of all of them. Casadie wasn't exactly cooperative, but we got some true-life shots of all of us focused on her.
We said goodbye to Ovi, and asked him to print all the photos in 6x8 for us to review. He said he'd keep them behind the counter and not put them out on display.
Grandma rescued Delanie from the hot sun, and took her back to the ship. We had time reserved in Flounders, but Grandma decided to keep her and called to cancel.
The rest of us went to the restrooms to change, and took turns chasing Casadie down while we all got ready. DD-11 accidentally walked into the men's room while looking for Casadie (Sorry to anyone in there when she screamed!
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We slathered ourselves with sunscreen and headed for the already crowded family beach.
Shockingly, we found two beach chairs with umbrella, back near the foliage occupied by only a wet, discarded towel. I heard the echoes of the chair-saving thread in my head, and staked out our territory. No one ever approached us to say that was their chair! Yay!!
We told the big kids to go splash and cool down for a while, but to stay close because we had Castaway Ray's Stingray adventure coming up at noon. DH played in the sand with Casadie, and before long, I collected the big kids and headed to the teen beach.
Eeyoregon and her boys were already there, so we got our snorkel gear and headed in for a learning portion. We learned about different types of rays, size, sex, feeding habits, etc. Before long, it was time to head to the water. They had several feeding stations set up in shallow, knee-deep water. The rays are trained to aim for Mickey-shaped targets, and they glide over them and your hand, and suck the little fish right out of your fingers. VERY COOL! I don't have any of my water camera pictures developed yet, so hopefully I can add more photos to this thread later..but here's a Shutters photo of me and my ray.
After feeding them, we were able to snorkel at leisure. This was fun, and relaxing, but I didn't see anything particularly cool. A few rays..(once feeding was done, they retreated and dug into the sand for the most part) and a school of white/translucent fish.
We headed back to the family beach. DS-14 went to snorkel in the lagoon while DD-11 went into swim. I tried for quite a while to find DH and DD, and finally found them getting ready to eat (or just returning from eating?? I'm confused) DH said that the BBQ was closing soon ..I hadn't paid very good attention to other things in the navigator, focused only on my photo session and Castaway Rays.
We went to grab a tray for me, and DH went to look for DS and DD so they could eat. He found DD, but not DS. We loaded up a tray for him, and I went out again to look for him. I would like to apologize to anyone who was horrified at the sight of a plus size woman jogging down the family beach.
Successfully found him, and sat and ate a ton while we watched them "board up" Cookie's BBQ.
DH and DS then headed out to their Eco-Tour Jet Ski excursion and me and the two DD headed back to swim. Again, I wish I had more photos to share with you, but once I get my water camera developed, I'll come back to post some more.
The boys had a great time on the jet ski. DS was not quite old enough to pilot one by himself, so he rode double with Dad. DH said it tended to lean right and he was constantly readjusting for this annoyance, but overall it was great. Grandma happened to be on deck on the Magic, and caught this great shot of my handsome guys!
We rounded up everyone and headed back. DD-11 worried that if we didn't get back to the boat by 5pm exactly, they would leave without us. I pointed out the hundreds of people walking around us, and said they wouldn't leave us all, but if they DID..we could catch the Wonder back tomorrow!
Waited in a HUGE line to board the ship, and DD-2 caught sight of Donald and Daisy. Super cute!
We got ready as much as our poor tired, sunburned bodies would allow, and visited the Farewell show. Freddy Fusion was awesome..never saw him before, but I think the highlight for all of us was Lynn Trefzger, the ventriloquist. Our entire group was rolling with laughter at the "I like Orange" mom, the "I'm a studmuffin" young man, and the "I do nothing" father bit...So hilarious. It's become a new family "thing" to tap each other on the shoulder and speak for people..mostly "I like orange...IlikeblueIlikeredIlikegreen..I LOVE Orange.." Too funny!
Back to the cabin..realize exactly how LITTLE time we have left, and begin to frantically THROW crap (I mean stuff...) into our suitcases. Give up, get ready for dinner.
Animator's Palate the last night was very nice. Even Ivelina was on her game this night I think..or at least I didn't notice anything off. Did not have all my tip envelopes ready (there was a mistake with our prepaid vouchers, since I had moved cabins...My mother's cabin steward had no vouchers..) I told the serving team that I would be bringing them the next morning.
Eeyoregon got "nothing for dessert.." We wondered if we would ever see this! It was fun! When Sameer brought me my standard plate of plain noodles, Eeyoregon took a picture of us.
After dinner..it was back to frantic packing to have everything in the hall by 11pm. The ship started rocking really really bad...I heard lots of comments about the Captain must have a hot date to get back for...GEEZ! It was the first time the whole trip that I had to take my Bonine.
Went up to shutters to look at our family photos. Before they brought them out, several Shutters Cast Members mentioned how good they turned out. That was nice. No counter space available, so had to sit on the floor to go through them. The wedding couple did the same thing a few feet away from us. My one suggestion here...maybe on the last night, they could put tables out in the hallway for people to spread out and make decisions..I can't tell you how many times I was stepped on. I felt bad being in the way, but we had more than 50 shots to review..it was tough.
We spent way more money than we had planned on photos..and then headed to the gift shop to blow the rest of our cash on souvenirs. Oy. Carried the considerably heavy bags back to our room, and finished up the packing. All the souvenirs and pictures went into the one large bag that we were going to keep with us. All others successfully got put outside. The motion of the ocean had gotten so bad that I felt like I had to go to bed to get past it. Sure enough, it felt better to lay down.
The next morning, we finished up the tip envelopes, got dressed in record time, and headed up to Animator's Palate for our last breakfast. As usual, we were the last ones there. (Thank goodness it was all our family!) We said our goodbyes to Sameer (He is leaving the magic..had only two weeks left and going back to India).
Cried of course, as we left the boat, got crazy overwhelmed downstairs while finding our luggage and getting past customs and started laughing when our limo driver said "There you are..I'd recognize THAT pile of luggage anywhere! You promised you wouldn't go shopping!"
Cried a little more as the Magic disappered from view. Starting plotting (silently of course) how to make it happen again next year!
Got home and unloaded the bags..had to hurry and start loads of laundry because I had to go to work the next day. Took Eeyoregon and her boys to Saratoga Springs and got them checked in.
All in all, even with tantrums, it was a magical time! Can't wait to do it again!
