Get Off The Ship - we are running out of towel animals! Update 10/25 Day 31

[scottny]

I love your photos from the water. Makes me wish I was there.

I hope you had a Merry Christmas.

 

[dizneeat]

Mmm - another Royal Court breakfast! I loved that place so much! The omelette looks especially tasty today.

Still a wee bit jealous of your adult cabana-enjoying CC style! That place is just so amazing.

Oooooh, you’re getting close to “our” cruise, aren’t you????

YES, lots of RC breakfasts for us. Planning on having even more in just 7 weeks.

We LOVE those Cabanas. They are really a safe haven for us. My eyes don't like all that sun too much, so being in the shade is such a blessing. Not to mention that the Cabanas are GREAT just in itself.

Yes, "our" cruise is just one more trip report day away.

I'm heading over there now!

Great update Karin
We are doing a double dip to CC at the end of next year. I think I am going to try for a cabana - I know that it's pretty impossible to get one but you never know your luck!

Thank you, Linda.
Oh, a double dip! They are SO much fun! I envy you.
I am keeping my fingers crossed for you for getting a Cabana. They are a lot of fun.

Having been a bit behind, let me just say this... YUM! All of your food pics always make me hungry. Such yummy things....especially the deserts.

Cruise food is wonderful .... only downside? There is TOO much of it and you want to try it all.

Your day in St. Thomas looked like it ended well. What a beautiful setting!

St. Thomas was a beautiful day and the Banana Daiquiri was the icing on the cake!

Thanks for sharing the trivia regarding the wine. I had no idea that she and her husband owned that.

You are welcome, Ann! If you ever get to Napa, Silverado is worth a visit. It is beautiful there and they do wine tastings too.

Your kitchen tour looked like it was very cool!

We loved the kitchen tour! So much we did it again the next cruise.

 

[dizneeat]

I have yet to make it to Serinty Bay. Some day I will get there...though it might not be till Claire is 18. LOL

Oh Jen, I guess you need to sign up Claire for some fun activity on CC next time, so you have time to check out Serenity Bay. It is BEAUTIFUL!!!

Merry Christmas to all!

Thank you! I hope you had a wonderful Christmas as well!

If you are ever in California, and you go to Napa, you can visit the Silverado Vineyards. It's a breathtaking area and you can partake in the hot springs and mud baths in Calistoga. I used to work at a summer camp in the hills between Calistoga and Santa Rosa.

You might have missed the post where I talked about visiting the Silverado Vineyards.
When we went to California in 2006 we made a point of spending a few days in Napa and visit a few wineries. I had found out about Silverado some time before that and it was the number 1 priority on my list.
It was beautiful and I can tell you that we had a really FUN wine tasting.

We bought a few bottles of Silverado to take home in our carry ons and a few days later the "no liquid" rule came out. We had a suitcase full of nicely bubble wrapped bottles to send home then and I am proud to say they all made it.

I love your photos from the water. Makes me wish I was there.

I hope you had a Merry Christmas.

Oh, I can so understand wishing to be there - I cannot wait to get back there too! Only ONE visit for us this year.

 

[dizneeat]

Day 10, August 16

Back to Paradise - Part 2

We took showers, dried ourselves off and when a server walked by we flagged him down, to order some drinks. He soon was back with our two



Konk Koolers, dark rum, light rum, passion fruit juice, pina colada mix, orange juice and crushed ice.
So we sat out on the loungers and enjoyed the view, sipping our cool drinks.



We opened a bag of the chips that were there and nibbled those along with some fruit out of the fridge. Drinks finished we decided to take one more dip in the ocean before we headed to the Barbeque Station for lunch.
So we headed out and drifted about for a while,







when we saw someone entering our Cabana. Now, we have seen strangers walking up to the Cabanas and looking around before, but something about these people seemed different. They stayed out on the deck and were looking towards us  well, that was when we recognized who they were, Jean and Paul. We waved, they waved back and headed towards us. We did the same and met in the middle of the ocean. And after some laughter about how they had tried to find us, we stayed in the water together floating around a bit and chatting about every day events in our lives. And while we were just having fun in the water we saw some stingrays in the water again.







We chatted and laughed for quite some time, then headed back to the Cabana.
We all took showers, dried ourselves off and had a drink out of the fridge. Jean and Paul had already had lunch and time was running out for lunch, so we all walked down to the barbeque station, where Jean and Paul said their goodbyes and we headed to the buffet.
I filled my plate with



yummy salads and some grilled Mahi Mahi, while Tom got



some salads as well and he wanted to try a hot dog. Tom got some drinks, and we just sat there and enjoyed our food.
While we were finishing up, some cast members came by to let us know that there were a few minutes left before they closed the buffet and if we wanted anything else they would just bring it to our table. What a nice gesture, but we were full and let them know that we were about to leave.
We made a restroom stop and then walked along the waters edge back to our Cabana. We sat out in the sun for a while, applied more sun screen and then decided that we wanted to take one more dip in the ocean before it would be time to head back to the ship. So we walked down to the ocean and walked a way out. The tide had come in and the water was higher than before, so we did not have to walk so far out. We floated around for quite a while, enjoying the sun and the beauty of the island







before we knew it was time to head back to the Cabana. Again, we took showers and sat on the loungers for a while until we knew it was time to pack up our stuff and head back to the ship.
Bags in hand we headed out the back door and down the few steps and Walter, our Cabana host, was already waiting with his golf cart. We told him that we had forgotten to bring cash, but we would leave a tip for him at Guest Services.
Walter took us to the tram, which was already starting to pull away, but stopped when they saw us coming.
There were just a few people on and when we got on one guy commented that they must have seen our lanyards and hit the brakes, cant leave behind a good customer. We all had a good laugh and in no time made it back to the stop for the tram to the ship.

To be continued ............

 

[MEK]

Belated Merry Christmas to you and Tom! Hope you had a wonderful day.

I always love reading about your days on CC and the awesome cabana experience. I didn't realize the cabanas had showers. Nice.

Those drinks look awesome and lunch looks like a hit!

 

[jedijill]

Mmmm, Konk Koolers. I wish I had one now!

I love Serenity Bay...Love the cabanas but wish they were more affordable!

Jill in CO

 

[dizneeat]

Belated Merry Christmas to you and Tom! Hope you had a wonderful day.

I always love reading about your days on CC and the awesome cabana experience. I didn't realize the cabanas had showers. Nice.

Those drinks look awesome and lunch looks like a hit!

Thank you, Mary Ellen!
We had some lovely and lazy holidays.

I am glad you enjoy hearing all about CC - I sure talk about it a lot. But the island is really beautiful and we just LOVE the Cabanas. Yes, they have sweet water showers and some pretty comfy chairs, a fridge stocked with icy cold drinks and cold towels and as many towels as you care to use. We just love the convenience and the cabana is such a wonderful thing to have for my sensitive eyes. Getting out of the sun for a while is key when I want to stay on the island as long as we do.

Mmmm, Konk Koolers. I wish I had one now!

I love Serenity Bay...Love the cabanas but wish they were more affordable!

Jill in CO

I promise to have a Konk Kooler just for you in February.

Serenity Bay is just our heaven on earth! And I DO hear you on the price of the Cabanas.

 

[RGirl]

Hi Karin! I hope you and Tom had a great Christmas!

Yes, "our" cruise is just one more trip report day away.

Pretty close on my TR too. Just finishing up the second to last WDW day. One more WDW day to go and it will be August 17 and we’ll be boarding the Fantasy!!!

Ahh - that’s the life. Sitting at your cabana sipping frozen drinks. Wish I was there now!

Your beach lunch choices look very tasty.

What a great CC day!

 

[dizneeat]

Hi Karin! I hope you and Tom had a great Christmas!


Pretty close on my TR too. Just finishing up the second to last WDW day. One more WDW day to go and it will be August 17 and we’ll be boarding the Fantasy!!!

Ahh - that’s the life. Sitting at your cabana sipping frozen drinks. Wish I was there now!

Your beach lunch choices look very tasty.

What a great CC day!

Thank you! We had a pretty laid back and relaxed Christmas.
Guess you and Willow had a fun time too. Any pics?

I need to head over to your TR and read up on your latest adventures. I am trying to put together the planning for the first day of our DLRP trip at the moment and it takes a while.

Isn't CC so beautiful? And we love lunch out there at Serenity Bay - very peaceful and sometimes they have different options than Cookie's!

 

[annmarieda]

konk koolers always look yummy! What a nice relaxing day on the island. And how fun to have Jean and Paul to spend time with.

 

[Wicket's Mom]

Oh to be at CC right now would be so wonderful! I'm so sick of cold weather & snow!

The lunch looked very tasty, I especially like the tomato cucumber salad they serve at Disney restaurants.

The cabanas are so nice, but I saw where they are increasing the price to have one. I guess Disney is running short on funds! LOL

 

[dizneeat]

konk koolers always look yummy! What a nice relaxing day on the island. And how fun to have Jean and Paul to spend time with.

Konk Koolers not only look yummy, Ann! They are sooooooo good! The perfect island drink.
It was so fun to spend some more time with Jean and Paul. We had so many things to catch up on. When we sailed in 2009 their daughter and son in law were on their honeymoon (YES, with mum and dad in tow ) And now they have a little girl of their own. We loved hearing all about it.

Oh to be at CC right now would be so wonderful! I'm so sick of cold weather & snow!

The lunch looked very tasty, I especially like the tomato cucumber salad they serve at Disney restaurants.

The cabanas are so nice, but I saw where they are increasing the price to have one. I guess Disney is running short on funds! LOL

Doris, you have no idea how much I long for some sun and warm weather, too. I just don't like the winter.

They increased the price for the family beach cabanas by 10% which makes them really steep, but some of the excursions hiked more than 30 - 50%. Guess they must be real tight with all the "money savers" they put in place lately.

 

[englishrose47]

Great Update on CC !!! I loved Serenity Bay last May too !!! This May it will be my beloved Disney again with Carol in tow !!!

 

[RGirl]

Thank you! We had a pretty laid back and relaxed Christmas.
Guess you and Willow had a fun time too. Any pics?

I need to head over to your TR and read up on your latest adventures. I am trying to put together the planning for the first day of our DLRP trip at the moment and it takes a while.

Isn't CC so beautiful? And we love lunch out there at Serenity Bay - very peaceful and sometimes they have different options than Cookie's!

We had a little health stress leading up to Christmas, but it all turned out okay. And now we have another week off to just hang out and have fun. Thanks to your little reminder, I just posted some pics from our Christmas.

Oh, the planning! So much work but so much fun!!! Our trip is coming up FAST too - I really need to buy that second AP and then finalize our few dining reservations and plans to meet up with a friend on our first night. So excited to tell Willow that we are going back to DLR for her birthday! And so excited to read about your DLRP trip!!!!

Yes, I was blown away by CC. I am not a huge beach lover, but that was just wonderful. I bet Serenity Bay is fabulous! How about next time, you hang out with Willow, and I will go relax and enjoy all the adult amenities? No? WHAT??

 

[perfectmatch300]

Doris, you have no idea how much I long for some sun and warm weather, too. I just don't like the winter.

They increased the price for the family beach cabanas by 10% which makes them really steep, but some of the excursions hiked more than 30 - 50%. Guess they must be real tight with all the "money savers" they put in place lately.

I would like to join the group who wish they were on Castaway Cay right now! We don't get back there until September! Might even be longer than that if we use the cruise we currently have booked as the placeholder for 2015 that it was originally meant to be. I am not so patiently waiting for the rest of the 2015 schedule to come out so we can make some decisions.

I saw your mention of the excursion price increases on your planning thread. I didn't realize the increases would be that much. 30 to 50%? What are they thinking? All I can say is that I guess we will be planning more private excursions from now on. We already do some privately but we do like the convenience and security of booking with Disney, especially when we have a shore time in port or we are in a port we aren't as familiar with the port we are visiting.

 

[dizneeat]

Great Update on CC !!! I loved Serenity Bay last May too !!! This May it will be my beloved Disney again with Carol in tow !!!

Thank you, Rosie!
Serenity Bay is just so beautiful, we cannot wait to return in February.
I am so looking forward to your trip with Carol. That should be a fun one.

We had a little health stress leading up to Christmas, but it all turned out okay. And now we have another week off to just hang out and have fun. Thanks to your little reminder, I just posted some pics from our Christmas.

Oh, the planning! So much work but so much fun!!! Our trip is coming up FAST too - I really need to buy that second AP and then finalize our few dining reservations and plans to meet up with a friend on our first night. So excited to tell Willow that we are going back to DLR for her birthday! And so excited to read about your DLRP trip!!!!

Yes, I was blown away by CC. I am not a huge beach lover, but that was just wonderful. I bet Serenity Bay is fabulous! How about next time, you hang out with Willow, and I will go relax and enjoy all the adult amenities? No? WHAT??

Roni, I just read up on your Christmas update. What a cute little girl and so sorry to hear that she was so sick.

Isn't planning just so fun! It builds up all the excitement for a trip.
And we both will be going to Disney destinations so soon. Hope you decide to do another trip report. I am really hoping for some pics of all the fun.

We are not beach people at all. And in 2009 we dreaded the CC day and said we would just go and explore the island for a while, then head back onto the ship and read for the rest of the day.
Well, we were with a group of Disney lovers and they convinced us to come to SB with them. The minute we walked out there we were hooked. Heaven!

Oh, and we would love to take care of Willow! We have been know to spoil kids wrotten before handing them back tired, but full of sugar to their parents.

I would like to join the group who wish they were on Castaway Cay right now! We don't get back there until September! Might even be longer than that if we use the cruise we currently have booked as the placeholder for 2015 that it was originally meant to be. I am not so patiently waiting for the rest of the 2015 schedule to come out so we can make some decisions.

I saw your mention of the excursion price increases on your planning thread. I didn't realize the increases would be that much. 30 to 50%? What are they thinking? All I can say is that I guess we will be planning more private excursions from now on. We already do some privately but we do like the convenience and security of booking with Disney, especially when we have a shore time in port or we are in a port we aren't as familiar with the port we are visiting.

Welcome to the club!
I am with you on waiting for the rest of the 2015 itineraries to come out. We are looking at booking another cruise for summer 2015 (August) and hoping there will be some good prices. But I guess we will have to wait and see.

We really liked the convenience of booking with Disney, but with the price increase we will have to take a close look as to what we book. I guess we will get a cabana even with the increase if we can get one, but for the rest of the excursions I am not so sure.

Here is a link to a comparison of now and then prices.

 

[dizneeat]

Day 10, August 16

Back to Paradise - Part 3

We all had a good laugh and in no time made it back to the stop for the tram to the ship.
Again it did not take long for a tram to arrive, everyone got on and we were on our way.

​

Back at the dock they made us walk all the way to the front of the ship to get back on. There was quite a line through security and boy, did they have a huge pile of shells that had been confiscated.
Once back on board we took the elevator up to deck 8 and walked all the way back to our stateroom. And imagine our surprise when we emptied out the Fish Extender and found a “gift” from "the one" who had tried to take over the Fish Extender.
And after having a drink out of the fridge and having a shower we sat outside on the veranda, enjoying the last few views of the island for the day.

​

Out on the veranda we saw what looked like a container ship and it did not move at all. Imagine our surprise that once we had had to say goodbye to the island the ship, we had seen, started to move and went right for Castaway Cay.

​

We spent a little more time in our stateroom before we headed up to Satellite Falls to watch the sunset.

To be continued ............

 

[dizneeat]

Day 10, August 16

Back to Paradise - Part 4

We spent a little more time in our stateroom before we headed up to Satellite Falls to watch the sunset.

​

It was so empty up there and it was so beautiful. A little later we went downstairs

​

to the Walt Disney Theatre to watch this evening’s performance of “An unforgettable journey”, which we both liked a lot. Then we quickly headed back to our stateroom

​

to pick up our tip envelopes before we used the stairs to get downstairs for the last dinner of that cruise. Tonight’s theme was “See ya real soon”.

To be continued ............

 

[englishrose47]

Great Updates !! I loved watching the Ship sail out of the ports too. But watching them sail in was better cuz you them had a Day to check out the port I am having a fairly quiet day at work so have snuck some Dis time in !! Off all day tomorrow

 

[Linda67]

Great updates Karin
The winter months always make me dream of cruising so I am loving seeing your photos of CC and the beautiful sunset from the ship