Experiment-627: A Caribbean Double with a Wilderness Chaser

[GoofyIsAsGoofyDoes]

Just read your entire tr and loved it as much as a good book, thanks for writing it. DCL should really pay you to write because I want to do a Disney cruise like never before!

You talking to me?

<starts looking around to see if anyone else is in the room>

Good book?
Wow… that’s a compliment that I pretty certain I’ve never heard before.
I am very glad to have you along thought so let me first toss out a proper…



And then say thank you and that I’m mighty glad to have you along for the ride. I’d surely love to have the folks at DCL pay me to do just about anything, but I suspect that the monitory relationship will continue to flow in the other direction for the time being. But I do appreciate hearing form the people that are following along. If you’ve enjoyed reading this nonsense, then you might also find my first attempt at writing a TR to be somewhat entertaining as well. Just click on that green link down there in my signatures.

I’d also highly recommend following along in the TRs being written by some of the follows that regularly comment back on mine (they’re all actually a good bit better at it then I am). To help you along here are a few links to some very fine TR’s currently in progress.

Just give ‘em a click and follow along…

Rust Belt Road Trip

I will never go to WDW pushing a stroller!

2 Kids, 2 Dogs, 1200 Miles: 2 More Weeks in FL: Patriotic Edition

Houston, We Have A Secret: A TX Vacation With A WDW Surprise

The Wagon Queen Family Truckster Goes Northwest




In the mean time… I think I’ll go ahead and put up another update for this one.

 

[GoofyIsAsGoofyDoes]

Chapter 5: more of: “The Tale” - Day 2 (Mon)

Part 5: You must be hungry…
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We are all hungry for something. I mean beyond the obvious definition of the word. Some are hungry for knowledge, some for recognition, some for a challenge, some for adventure… Then there actually “is” the obvious meaning of the word. Many (although admittedly not all) of these hungers may be slaked during your tenure as a Castaway (often without realizing that you were ever on the quest to begin with). Here… let me take you around the island as we saw it the rest of that afternoon and I’ll see if I can’t satisfy a few of those various “hungers” along the way.

First off (and because it is the most obvious) we’ll deal with the literal meaning of the word. The noon-ish hour had arrived, and we’d become powerfully famished (well… a morning of plunging and floating in the midst of a Caribbean paradise will really take it out of ya’). Not a problem. You just head to Cookies.

Well actually… that one is “Cookies Too”. The original is over in Scuttle’s Cove, but as we were lingering about at Pelican Point, this newer version was to be our purveyor of victuals for the day (and mere steps away from our camp on the beach). It is laid out in a cafeteria style but there are four different entrances (two in front and one on either side) so that you don’t have to wait all that long to get through the line. The idea is that it’s a great big ol’ cookout, but there’s more here then just burgers and franks…

…although you could have as many of either of those that you cared to stuff on a plate. There was also barbequed ribs, blackened grouper (and both of these were very good), grilled chicken, grilled & steamed vegetables, dirty rice, a couple of pasta salads, and actual salad-salad for those that just need to have a little bit of greenery. Here’s a sampling of what caught my eye…

Once you’ve gabbed your grub and gotten you a bit of grog form ye’ old drink station out front, you just head over to one of the covered pavilions on either side of the grill area and find you a good spot to sit and feast.

Now that you’ve found a place to spread out and enjoy a bit o’ lunch, we’ve reached a point where you we can satisfy another one of those hungers: the one for knowledge and learning. The first educational lesson I received on CC came at someone else’s expense (unfortunately), but it was that sea gulls are fairly smart (for birds) and learn quickly. Allow me to demonstrate… across from where we were sitting, a family of six found themselves a nice picnic table in the sunshine and all set their trays down to hold the spot. They then made the mistake of all simultaneously leaving the table to retrieve their drinks, utensils and what not with the knowing assurance that none of the other passengers would bother their fairly clamed territory. Sea Gulls however are neither paying passengers nor human and are not bound by the constraints that modern society places upon individuals. It took less then ten seconds for a group of about thirty of these opportunistic scavengers to descend upon and ravage these folk’s table. Lesson learned: do not leave food unattended at CC. So long as there is even a single person sitting at the table, the gulls will avoid it like the pelage, but if there is no one in site, it’s an instant bird feeder.

Now for a somewhat more fun bit of learning… do y’all remember way on back in this here TR when I brought up the subject of vexillology? No? Well… the fine folks at Disney have given you the opportunity to work on your vexillological skills while you’re nibbling away on that fine lunch. All around the Cookie’s area there are numerous flags and banner hung from the rafters that represent the various island territories and nations that populate the Caribbean. So just for you entertainment here’s a little matching game (a good one to inflect on you kids if you’d like). Can you figure out which flag goes with which island?

Here are the banners in question:

…and here are you choices:

1 - Martinique, 2 - Netherlands Antilles, 3 - Cayman Islands, 4 - Jamaica,
5 - Trinidad and Tobago, 6 - Dominica , 7 – Montserrat

(by the way… one of these is just a red herring… yah, I’m a bad boy)

I’ll even through in an excellent reference site that is designed specifically to help you figure out just who owns a particular flag by answering a few questions about its general characteristics

http://www.flagid.org/

On you mark… get set… GO!



Speaking of the concept of “Ready, Steady, Go…”, we can now tackle another one of those hungers: the hunger for competition. Humans are experts at being competitive (sometimes to our detriment), but on CC there are plenty of opportunities for instigating a healthy and enjoyable competition. There is the “In Da Shade” Games Pavilion where you can get into a little bit of billiards, ping pong, foosball, shuffleboard, and even basketball.

Actually, there’s a daily Free-throw Challenge the kicks off around noon. The DCL folks also organize a Beach Volleyball competition around 11:00-ish each day. Another example of a “healthy” competition is the 5K island run that takes place each morning with the gun sounding at about 9:00.

We did run across one other “competition” that you can get into at CC, and this one gives even the smallest young’ens a fair crack at winning: Crab Races. A couple of the folks from the Cruise Directors staff will show up near Cookie’s a bit before noon, and again over at Cookie’s Too about an hour later. They’ll bring with them a big bucket full of hermit crabs and a call to arms for the guests.

All you got to do to join in is walk up, pick one of the crabs and give it a name. Once they’ve got about ten sponsors, the games begin.

They will run four or five prelims and then let the winners duke it out in the finals. It’s a lot of fun to watch offers a good opportunity jump around and yell and scream while you finishing off your ice cream or a piece of fresh cut fruit. I even shot a couple of videos of the preceding just for giggles. Here’s a link to the finals from that day…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ox_SYfKKgWY

The two CMs working this event were actually pretty entertaining and did a good job of keeping the kids involved and reacting to the whole proceeding.



Now that we’d satisfied most of our hungers there was one more that needed to be dealt with: the hunger for adventure. The entire island is actually a grand adventure, but there are plenty of specific activities that truly qualify. There are nature trails on CC that you can walk or bike. There is a lookout tower in the middle of the island that is a popular destination for said hikers & bikers as well (and I need to do this some time).

<a couple of pictures I found floating around on the web>

There are also plenty of sail boats, kayaks, and even jet skies that you can rent and spend the day aboard. If fishing is your thing, that can be arranged. Parasailing is also an option on CC (and we’ll be getting into that adventure when we come back in a few days). For us, however, the adventure of the day was going to be a little bit of snorkeling.

DCL will rent you snorkel gear, but you can save your cash and bring your own if you’re so inclined. However, if you do that, you’ll still need to go by the gear shack and pickup a life vest. They’ll let you have the vest for free, but they require that you where one while on property. I would also recommend wearing a shirt of some kind to keep from getting your back scalded since you’ll be spending a good bit of time floating around face down in the water. We had already picked up our gear that morning so we were good to go. You can snorkel anywhere you want on Castaway Cay, but there is an entire area roped off specifically for the activity that works best. The only problem for us is that it’s over by the boat bay on the nearside of Scuttle’s Cove. We were in the wrong place. So we packed up our gear, hopped on the tram and made our way over to the other beach area.

Being mid afternoon, some folks had begun heading back to the ship so we were able to find a new spot to camp without too much trouble. Tamara set up one of the beach chairs in the surf and settled in to relax for a bit while Max and I headed for the snorkeling lagoon. We were planning on doing this again during our second stop at CC, so I didn’t bring a camera with me this first time around. But… I do have a few pictures from our 2009 trip aboard the Magic, so I’ll toss a few of those in here just for a bit of perspective.

The snorkeling lagoon is fairly large, but the area near the beach can be a bit crowed at times with kids and novices. These folks also reduce the visibility a might in the shallows by stirring a lot of sand into the water, so if you’re staying in toward shore, you might want to get to it early in the morning. If you are more confident in your swimming/snorkeling abilities, then there’s a good bit more to see and time of day isn’t an issue. You will, however, need to go out a good ways to get into the deeper water and start searching for the sites. The DCL folks have put in a number of structures to start generating an artificial reef and they are coming along nicely, but obviously, it takes a long time for a reef to develop, so these are still fairly rudimentary.

But... Disney, being Disney, they went ahead and put a few other things out in the lagoon for you to find and explore. As you look out over the water you’ll see a number of small floats scattered across the lagoon. These are marking the rough location of various sunken artifacts. Here are a few images of the kind of things you’ll run across…

One of the more impressive artifacts you’ll run across out here (from a Disney geek perspective) is the wreck of one of the subs from the old “20,000 Leagues under the Sea” attraction at MK.

…very cool! But of course, there is one encounter in particular that everyone hopes to run across…

Once we’d taken in enough of the lost treasures of Atlantis, it was time for a break (all that kicking will work your legs a bit). We headed back in, dumped the gear and found the spot in the surf where Tamara was chillin’. It was getting pretty late in the day by now so after a bit we started making plans for the evening. The Dream would be pulling out in about an hour and a half (with or without us). There had also been some afternoon showers popping up all around the island and we’d likely get caught in one of them before the day was over.

As such, we decided to start a s-l-o-w retreat back toward the ship. I took my time returning all our rented gear. The floats, you just turn in right where you got them from. The diving gear works the same, but you do need to drop it all into a big rinsing tank and then separate the individual pieces into collection bins (one for the mask, one for he fins… you get the idea). With that mission accomplished, we gathered up the rest of our flotsam and jetsam and trekked toward the shuttle. First we hit the obligatory Disney Gift shop…

…and rummaged around a bit. It’s not that we needed any more “stuff” or that we’d never seen a Disney gift shop before… it’s just that there are items on board the ships and at CC that can only be acquired at those locations (or at exorbitant prices on Ebay). This time around, the only thing I remember buying was a combination key-chain/bottle opener inscribe with Castaway Cay on it (partly as a little reminder of the trip and partly because you should always carry a bottle opener with you, it’s a corollary to rule #9). Shopping expedition completed, I caught one more shot of the beach and the ship…

…and it was time to catch the shuttle again. We hopped on just as a rain squall finally caught up with everyone.

When we got back to the ship, it was still raining a little bit, but we were already wet in the first place, so that wasn’t a worry. We stopped by the shower area on the dock to rinse all the sand off of everyone and everything. This is actually quite convenient and easier to work with then the showers back over on the beaches.

(that picture is from a previous trip, remember… it was raining)

Then we hit the gangway. Tam and Max flopped into our cabin to start getting cleaned up for the next adventure, while I grabbed the drink mugs and headed for deck-11. By the time I got up there, the rain had moved off shore…

I made the quick stop at the drink station and then headed back down to the stateroom. We were done with Castaway Cay for now, but we’d be returning.



Soon…

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[afwdwfan]

Part 5: You must be hungry…

It's like you can read my mind.

…although you could have as many of either of those that you cared to stuff on a plate. There was also barbequed ribs, blackened grouper (and both of these were very good), grilled chicken, grilled & steamed vegetables, dirty rice, a couple of pasta salads, and actual salad-salad for those that just need to have a little bit of greenery.

Looks delicious. All except for the salad part anyway.

The first educational lesson I received on CC came at someone else’s expense (unfortunately), but it was that sea gulls are fairly smart (for birds) and learn quickly.

They then made the mistake of all simultaneously leaving the table to retrieve their drinks, utensils and what not with the knowing assurance that none of the other passengers would bother their fairly clamed territory. Sea Gulls however are neither paying passengers nor human and are not bound by the constraints that modern society places upon individuals. It took less then ten seconds for a group of about thirty of these opportunistic scavengers to descend upon and ravage these folk’s table. Lesson learned: do not leave food unattended at CC.

Sorry, but I can't have too much sympathy for them. If you're eating outdoors and there are birds in the area and you leave a table full of food unattended it's your own fault.

Now for a somewhat more fun bit of learning… do y’all remember way on back in this here TR when I brought up the subject of vexillology?

So just for you entertainment here’s a little matching game (a good one to inflect on you kids if you’d like). Can you figure out which flag goes with which island?

I'm sorry, my brain isn't in thinking mode right now. I might try to figure it out later, but until then, on to the next part!

(by the way… one of these is just a red herring… yah, I’m a bad boy)

Actually, there’s a daily Free-throw Challenge the kicks off around noon.

Free throw competition at noon... check!

The DCL folks also organize a Beach Volleyball competition around 11:00-ish each day.

I'm not very good at volleyball, but I enjoy playing... and DW is a volleball coach so that one has potential.

Another example of a “healthy” competition is the 5K island run that takes place each morning with the gun sounding at about 9:00.

Unless they turn a bear loose on the island, I ain't runnin' nowhere.

Once they’ve got about ten sponsors, the games begin.

Sponsors? As in Dinoco and Rust-eze?

For us, however, the adventure of the day was going to be a little bit of snorkeling.

I think I could handle some of that...

This time around, the only thing I remember buying was a combination key-chain/bottle opener inscribe with Castaway Cay on it (partly as a little reminder of the trip and partly because you should always carry a bottle opener with you, it’s a corollary to rule #9).

Good rule.

We were done with Castaway Cay for now, but we’d be returning.

 

[GoofyIsAsGoofyDoes]

Unless they turn a bear loose on the island, I ain't runnin' nowhere.

Sponsors? As in Dinoco and Rust-eze?

I didn’t think of that angle. Nice reference to another good film.

 

[GoofyIsAsGoofyDoes]

Bonus Feature 11:

The Wreck of the Flying Dutchman
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There have been a lot of changes and updates made at Castaway Cay in the past year or so. Most of them were directly related to the arrival of the first of Disney’s two new ships. A few others were related to a decision to repurpose parts of the island based on things DCL (and there very capable marketing group) had learned over time.

But... a few of those changes were a direct result of time itself. Time, weather, sea water, these things are patient, indiscriminant and relentless. They will take their toll on any structure and are pitiless and unforgiving in that inexorable task. The most noticeable victim of this onslaught was the Flying Dutchman, which no longer graces the boat bay area of the island. This reconstruction of a ghostly ship is now a ghost herself.

All that “nothing” you see there that wasn’t blocking my view of the Dream’s fantail during our last trip… that is left of the Flying Dutchman.

Just plain old “nothing” ​

Originally built for the second POTC movie “Dead Man’s Chest” the Disney folks worked diligently to put an almost incomprehensible amount of detail into the structure (imagine that)

But of course, it was still just intended to be a prop in a movie, so they also needed to make sure that all the action on deck and below decks could be filmed, so major chunks of the ship (on the port side in particular) were left open and only covered with a canvas screen when not being used. This is pretty much how the ship appeared during the bulk of the filming:

Much of the detail that you see in those films is already here, but with the magic of Computer Generated Graphics, Jack’s ghostly adversary takes on the complete image of approaching dread.

= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =




The Dutchman arrived at Castaway Cay in mid 2006 after filming wrapped up on POTC3. It was a purely serendipitous event. The prop was no longer needed and was otherwise just sitting derelict. Then it occurred to someone in the DCL hierarchy that if it were just going to be left to sit, why not let it sit at CC and bill the thing as an attraction. Brilliant! So that is how it came to pass that for several years, passengers aboard Disney’s ships were greeted by this site upon arriving at Castaway Cay.

And by this one once ashore.

Interesting note on that last picture… notice that one of the Magic’s lifeboats has been launched. This is not uncommon. Since the crew needs to practice and maintain their certifications, so DCL will often use their stops at CC to spend a little time running drills and practice handling all of the lifesaving gear (and that’s a good thing)​

The last time I got to see the Dutchman at CC was in July of 2009 (most of the last several pictures are from that expedition). I took a couple of relatively close images so I can show you some of the more interesting details built into the ship.

But it has been slowly detraining over time and in November of 2010, the inevitable process of removing the hulk commenced. Here is how she appeared in late October just before the removal process began

Between the elements and the inevitable intrusion of both sea water and sea life, much damage had been wrought on the entire structure. Unable to economically restore her, the DCL folks had few options available. The hulk was hauled over to the dock area opposite of where the cruise ships are birthed and then somewhat brutally dismantled. As the work needed to take place during daylight hours, the folks who arrived at CC during that time frame were unfortunate witnesses to the carnage. A few images of the process made their way into various folks photo sharing accounts; some escaped out onto the web. Here are a few of those images that I’ve been collecting up for a while now.

First the masts came down…

Then the demolition process began in earnest…

Once all of the Hollywood makeup had been cleared form the hull, that more robust part of the ship was refloated and towed off (I assume to complete the scrapping process at a professional ship breaking yard).

Another interesting point (to me at least) is in that last image you can get a glimpse of the lines of the original ship (likely a small freighter) from which the movie set was built.​

This is sad, but it was not unforeseen. The Dutchman was built as a prop… nothing more. No thought of long-term seaworthiness was ever considered, and there was certainly none toward her preservation beyond filming. The elements have simply exacted their unavoidable toll. What was once an interesting “Road-Side Attraction” has now joined countless others of her type and faded into sepia toned memory. The stuff of family reminiscing over coffee, dusty photo albums and quixotic history books.

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[FreezinRafiki]

We were late getting off the ship (because somebody turned left when he should’a turned right),

The first ever failure of the of "Always go Left at Disney" rule.


(I just got caught up, but you covered so much stuff in my absence that multiquoting just seemed to daunting.)

 

[GoofyIsAsGoofyDoes]

The first ever failure of the of "Always go Left at Disney" rule.

Well, no rule can be 100% effective (thus we have the need for Rule #51)

(I just got caught up, but you covered so much stuff in my absence that multiquoting just seemed to daunting.)

That’s alright… You’ll get plenty of chances to beat up on me through the course of the TR. You can even pick random bits from back there ate through them at me later on if it suites you. Hopefully at least there were a few useful items buried amongst all the rest of my pointless nonsense.

Now that I’ve gotten it through a couple of days aboard the ship and the first stop at CC, I’m pretty sure that those of you who are heading out on the Dream in the next few weeks will have a pretty good idea of what to expect. There’s tons more, and a great deal that we just didn’t get into, but I’ve covered most of the basics. I’m also looking forward to hearing how y’all go about taking in what DCL has to offer.

 

[Captain_Oblivious]

Still here and reading...just haven't had time to comment. You can decide if that's a good thing or not!

 

[GoofyIsAsGoofyDoes]

(I just got caught up, but you covered so much stuff in my absence that multiquoting just seemed to daunting.)

Still here and reading...just haven't had time to comment. You can decide if that's a good thing or not!

Well I’m going to be r-e-a-l-l-y busy for the next several days and I haven’t even started on the next part. It will likely be late next week or the week after before I post anything else substantial, so all y’all have some time to look this mess over. That should give you some time to pick out the better bits to whack me over the head with. Take you’re time, I ain’t going nowhere

 

[Grooovertoo]

Hey, quick question...I noticed on several navigators that the ship doesn't leave Nassau until very late in the evening, but is there a certain onboard time? Especially since CC is just a quick jaunt northeast during the night.

THANKS

 

[GoofyIsAsGoofyDoes]

Hey, quick question...I noticed on several navigators that the ship doesn't leave Nassau until very late in the evening, but is there a certain onboard time? Especially since CC is just a quick jaunt northeast during the night.

THANKS

Sorry it took so long to get back to you… we were really busy this past weekend. Now then, as to your question…

For us the All-Aboard time in Nassau was 7:00pm. It will be listed on the top right of the front page of your Navigator each day. You are correct that DCL could stay later in Nassau especially since there next port of call is not that far away, but… that’s also the day (or should I say evening) that they have their “Pirates in the Caribbean” festivities. For this reason they need time to clear the port and get well out to sea before the fireworks show that evening (and DCL is still the only cruise line that offers fireworks at sea).


I see from your ticker that y’all will be heading out is just a few days. I may not get another update up before you leave, but I think I’ve gotten a good bit of the insider knowledge in here already. After work I’ll rummage through my notes a bit and see if there’s anything else that might be helpful. If anything rears it head I’ll try to put it up Tuesday or Wednesday. I want to wish you and your family a great trip and I hope y’all have even more fun then we did. If you get a chance, I’d love to hear your thoughts and insights once you get back. Feel free to toss out any comments or additions to this TR that might be helpful to anyone down the road.

 

[FreezinRafiki]

Well, I had myself a rare few minutes today where I wasn't totally swamped either at work or at home, so I thought I'd share the magnet designs for my upcoming Disney Cruise.
First off, though, I need to that Rob for his inspiration (and his template!) Without seeing the cool things he did for his door, my own cabin door would be very plain indeed.


First off, each of us has our own magnet:

For those that don't have younger kids, Madison's magnet features Izzy and Skully the Parrot, while Evan's is Jake. Those are characters from Disney Channel's Jake and the Neverland Pirates.


I also did magnets for Bambi's parents, who will be joining us on the cruise - but in a different cabin.

Grandma's favorite character is Belle, and try as I could, I couldn't make her look good as a pirate.


And finally, the Pièce de résistance of my collection, which has been printed out as an 11x17 to stick to the center of my door:

(All the credit for that last one goes to Rob. He came up with the ship images and the text. I just added the fog effect.)

 

[Grooovertoo]

(or should I say evening) that they have their “Pirates in the Caribbean” festivities. For this reason they need time to clear the port and get well out to sea before the fireworks show that evening (and DCL is still the only cruise line that offers fireworks at sea).

I thought the 3rd night was pirate night? Anyway, 7 PM is perfect, that should give me enough time to get out of the stockade.

(
I see from your ticker that y’all will be heading out in just a few days. I may not get another update up before you leave, but I think I’ve gotten a good bit of the insider knowledge in here already. After work I’ll rummage through my notes a bit and see if there’s anything else that might be helpful. If anything rears it head I’ll try to put it up Tuesday or Wednesday. I want to wish you and your family a great trip and I hope y’all have even more fun then we did. If you get a chance, I’d love to hear your thoughts and insights once you get back. Feel free to toss out any comments or additions to this TR that might be helpful to anyone down the road.

Rob, thanks for the well wishes. You’ve been a great asset so far and your knowledge is deeply versed and insightful. This will be our first cruise and truly a dream for us. I will use your astute leaning to have a most enjoyable time (and did you say the baked goods are free on deck 4). Thank goodness it is fairly quiet at work so I can get some final planning in. We set sail on Sunday (Prattpak will be on the same cruise too, should be fun). We, just finished our FE and I should get finished with my door magnets tonight, I plan to finish up the FE gifts within the next few days (I’ll post them to my PTR). I’ve been packed for a week now so that part is done. Just ready to set sail. I feel like a kid before Christmas. Thanks again for getting around to my questions, you are a true help.

Well, I had myself a rare few minutes today where I wasn't totally swamped either at work or at home, so I thought I'd share the magnet designs for my upcoming Disney Cruise.
First off, though, I need to that Rob for his inspiration (and his template!) Without seeing the cool things he did for his door, my own cabin door would be very plain indeed.

NICE WORK BARRY!

- but in a different cabin.

Glad you made that point

And finally, the Pièce de résistance of my collection, which has been printed out as an 11x17 to stick to the center of my door:

(All the credit for that last one goes to Rob. He came up with the ship images and the text. I just added the fog effect.)

I like the fog effect...NICE WORK!

 

[Grooovertoo]

Two questions for you:

1) Do you have to declare the FE gifts you receive?

2) What are the custom procedures like on debarkation?

Sorry if this is jumping ahead in your TR, but I have been scouring the boards looking for these answers.

 

[FreezinRafiki]

NICE WORK BARRY!

I like the fog effect...NICE WORK!

Thank you!

 

[GoofyIsAsGoofyDoes]

Two questions for you…

…Sorry if this is jumping ahead in your TR, but I have been scouring the boards looking for these answers.

Not a problem. I’ve been saying all along that anyone with a question should just jump on into the water. So let me see…

1) Do you have to declare the FE gifts you receive?

Nope. Unless someone in your F/E group completely looses it and starts giving away million dollar checks, there’s no way the total value of those trinkets could possibly even approach the legal limits. I wouldn’t even worry about it.

2) What are the custom procedures like on debarkation?

One of the bits of paperwork that will be left in your cabin the night before you return to Canaveral will be a US Customs declaration form (and you can get more at the pursers desk if you mess up the first one). It’s pretty simple and you don’t even have to itemize your purchases unless we’re talking about a thousand bucks or more (if memory serves me correctly). I’ve been on four cruises and Tamara has been on five. We’ve never bought enough to ever have to do more then estimate the total value of all goods purchased. The cruise Director will also talk about some of that stuff before the show in the main theater that night as well (and there is usually a looping rerun of that speech on one of the channels on the TV in you stateroom).

There is a limit to how much alcohol you can purchase (but again, I’ve never bought enough to matter). Ask the CM in the duty free shop about it and they will know exactly what you can and can’t do.

The only things I know that you absolutely can not bring into the country at all are live animals (apart form your kids that is ), fresh fruit or vegetables (and you’d be amaze at the number of folks that try to save food from breakfast and have to through it out in customs) and of course the biggest no, no would be Cuban cigars (you can buy ‘em if you really want to, but you gott’a smoke ‘em before you get back to the US).

When we got back home this past July, one of the CM’s helped us collect up our bags, through ‘em all on a cart and lead us up to the customs desk (do tip these guys a couple of bucks per bag). I already had all of our passports out and opened up to the main page with the declaration form on top. I just handed the stack to the agent, he looked it over very quickly and thanked me for having it all organized and we were out of there. It was no more then ten-ish minutes from the edge of the gangway to the bus waiting area.

Well, I had myself a rare few minutes today where I wasn't totally swamped either at work or at home, so I thought I'd share the magnet designs for my upcoming Disney Cruise.
First off, though, I need to that Rob for his inspiration (and his template!) Without seeing the cool things he did for his door, my own cabin door would be very plain indeed.

Nice work! Thanks for posting them back over here. I was looking forward to seeing how they all turned out and I gott’a say: “You done good”.

 

[Grooovertoo]

Rob - another question for you...I might have a few others pop in my head before we leave so if you don't mind I'll just ask.

Do you find alot of people dress up for pirate night and do/can you dress up in pirate garb for dinner?

Thanks, Dave

 

[GoofyIsAsGoofyDoes]

Rob - another question for you...I might have a few others pop in my head before we leave so if you don't mind I'll just ask.

Do you find alot of people dress up for pirate night and do/can you dress up in pirate garb for dinner?

Thanks, Dave

Ahhhh… the dinner dress code… that subject causes a lot of conversation on the boards.


First let’s talk about Pirate Night.

About half of the folks on board will do something for pirate night. For most it’s as simple as an eye patch, or a bandana, maybe a vest, a few beads or an ear ring or two. A good number of the younger kids will be sporting hats, toy swards, hand hooks and the like. There will be a few adults (maybe about 1 in 10) that go over the top with full on epic Hollywood quality pirate regalia (and there will be a number of Jack Sparrow lookalikes roaming the decks). You are absolutely allowed to wear you costumes to dinner (DCL wants you to for that matter). Your room steward will even leave a pirate themed bandana for each person in you cabin on “Pirate Night” so that you can play along even if you didn’t bring any costumes of your own. Heck… eye patches are a common F/E gift, but no one would say a word or think the less of you if you just came as you are. Bottom line... you can do as much or as little as suites you.


Now then… for the rest of the evenings aboard the dress code is a lot like the Pirate’s Code (they’re more like guide lines). I have never herd of any passenger being refused service or a seat at the table based on their attire. I’ve seen many a bloke show up to dinner in shorts and a tee-shirt, but most people like to get cleaned up a might more then that. Except for Pirate Night, most evenings are “Cruise Casual” which basically means long pant (other then jeans) and a decent shirt. Sandals are acceptable (I wore them every night). When “Formal Night” rolls around, it will be a lot like “Pirate Night”. About 10% will dress to the nines in Tuxedos and ball gowns (it’s also a good night to get a family portrait taken by the ship’s photographers). Some will go with their Sunday best, most of the rest will fit into the category of “business casual”. But even then, I’ve seen folks show up to dinner in shorts and a tee-shirt. They look out of place, but ehhhh… to each his own.

If you got any other questions, just serve ‘em up and I’ll take a swing at ‘em.

 

[Captain_Oblivious]

Sorry to see the Flying Dutchman go. It was pretty cool to see it floating just offshore.

Sounds like you guys had a nice, relaxing day at CC. I'm impressed with your snorkeling pictures! I found the sub, but the swim out there was so exhausting I eventually got tired of looking for everything and just decided to go in. My fat rear end needs to work out more.

I was going to try your flag game, but I have no clue without cheating. And I feel guilty cheating. At least a little bit.

Did you do the bike trail before? My kids really loved exploring the island that way. Ok, fine...I did, too.

And you have to get the CC swag, right? Disney gets you there. I mean, you can't get a CC t-shirt anywhere else. Or a baseball hat. Or a towel. Or a sweatshirt. Or...

 

[GoofyIsAsGoofyDoes]

Sorry to see the Flying Dutchman go. It was pretty cool to see it floating just offshore.

I’ll miss seeing it there, but it was only temporary from the start.

Sounds like you guys had a nice, relaxing day at CC. I'm impressed with your snorkeling pictures! I found the sub, but the swim out there was so exhausting I eventually got tired of looking for everything and just decided to go in.

It is a good ways out there… that is certain. We did it twice this time around so I wasn’t trying to find everything on each expedition and that helped. We also did this when we sailed on the Magic a couple of years back (and that’s where those particular pictures are form). A lot of the “artifacts” were the same, but there were a few things that were changed around.

I was going to try your flag game, but I have no clue without cheating. And I feel guilty cheating. At least a little bit.

Naaaaaa… that’s why I tossed out a good website for researching ‘em. I’ll tell you flat out, that even though I know a l-o-t of flags on site, the ones that represent British colonies are very hard to tell apart and there was one banner up there that day which I just slap didn’t know (which is what prompted me to talk about the bunch of them in first place). So… it ain’t really cheating… it’s learning.

Did you do the bike trail before? My kids really loved exploring the island that way. Ok, fine...I did, too.

Not yet. Probably next time (if I don’t do the scavenger hunt instead)

And you have to get the CC swag, right? Disney gets you there. I mean, you can't get a CC t-shirt anywhere else. Or a baseball hat. Or a towel. Or a sweatshirt. Or...

We all may bemoan the fact that every attraction ends up in a gift shop… but then again, nearly everyone one of us will stop and look (and most all of just have to get a little something, something).

Guilty as charged.