If we can DREAM it, we can do it! ..... another 30 day vacation Update 02/07

[dizneeat]

I just can't get enough of that clear blue water. Just lovely!

And you know I get a kick out of those Corona bottles.

Great afternoon on CC!

It is absolutely beautiful, Mary Ellen. You are so going to enjoy it.

Tom loves these Corona bottles - I had to take a few home.

Love eating at the cook-out on the adult beach. Yum!

It's awesome, isn't it? And so quiet, no kiddos.

What a wonderful day!

I did my online bookings at 105 days last night for my Dream cruise and Cabana 19 was still available. I thought about grabbing it but just couldn't justify $400 for just me.

Jill in CO

It definitely was a beautiful day.
For us that 120 day booking deadline is just so exciting. It feels nice to be able to book so far out. But shocking to see how far some of the excursions were filled.
Jill, if you ever want to try a Cabana, share it with someone from your cruise meet group. On ours there were a lot of people who would have been happy to share (unfortunately I don't share it's all "mine, mine, mine").

Karin what memories you are bringing back!!! The Beach is so serene and the BBQ was perfect !!!

It is beautiful, isn't it? I am so glad you enjoyed it as much as we do, Rosie!

 

[dizneeat]

Those cookies are one of the best thing of the cruise!!!!

I don't know what they put into these cookies, but they are soooooooo good. Guess it's Pixie dust.

Your photos of the water and sky look like paintings! So beautiful!

Love your food choices. Makes me hungry. (course your food pics always make me hungry )

Konk Kooler... I MUST try one some day. It looks yummy!!!

Ann, when we first saw photos of CC we were convinced they had to be photoshopped.
We have learned that you do NOT need photoshop for CC. It is just such a beautiful island. Disney really knew WHAT to purchase and to create paradise.

The beach day would not be complete without a Konk Kooler. It is one of the best drinks.

Hi Karin! Sorry to be missing in action for so long...
Your Remy dinner made me feel full just looking at all the pics. (With the exception of the Langostino mush, of course) That extra little box of treats waiting in your room just looks so special - very nice touch.
Ahhhhh, I am really enjoying your CC relaxation again! We are heading out in 2 sleeps for our WDW trip with the grandkids. Somehow I'm thinking it won't be especially relaxing! We have actually just added a 5th grandchild to the mix - a foster boy my son is hoping to adopt. He is almost 2 and very sweet - but I'm expecting some craziness to ensue!

Tammie,
safe travels and have a wonderful vacation with your family. I cannot wait for your trip report!
How awesome of your son and his family to take in a foster kid and trying to adopt him.

Beautiful pictures. I loved sitting on a chair in the water drinking a Konk Kooler...so relaxing. Scott loves those chocolate cookies.

We loved doing that too! Take a chair, sit in the water and enjoy a nice adult beverage. I loved it ..... my skin not so much, even though it was drenched in the highest number sun block I could find.
That is one of the reasons I really love the Cabana. Sitting outside and still in the shade.

 

[dizneeat]

Wonderful pictures!

Thank you!
It's easy to get beautiful photos when the object you are taking pics of is so beautiful.

I like the banana bread - but after I visit the vanilla soft serve ice cream machine so I can enjoy it a la mode!

Good idea, I might try that.
I think to really love it you have to grow up with it. I am sure there are some food items here in Austria, that we LOVE and could not live without, but others would not even think about touching it.

Popping in to say that I'm still reading along, just been too busy to post. We are considering trying a cruise again. Our last day on our first cruise was horrible but mostly because my husband was going through some medication changes. Looking at your pictures makes me want to go back! The view is gorgeous!

Tell me about being to busy to post. Happened to me all the time lately. Thank god I have made it to my holiday and NO more school work for 9 weeks.
You really need to give cruising another try. I know, having a bad experience can really ruin it for you, but Disney DOES something right with those cruises. They are so addictive if everything goes right.

 

[scottny]

A perfect day in paradise so far.

The water is really clear.

The drink looked so good.

Great pics.

 

[dizneeat]

A perfect day in paradise so far.

The water is really clear.

The drink looked so good.

Great pics.

CC always feels like paradise!
Yip, the water was really clear and it was sooooooo shallow, you had to walk out quite a bit to be able to swim.

 

[RGirl]

Hi Karin! I am loving reading about your time on CC - absolutely luxurious!!!

 

[dizneeat]

Hi Karin! I am loving reading about your time on CC - absolutely luxurious!!!

Yes, CC time is the very best! I cannot wait to get back on the island.

 

[dizneeat]

Day 18, August 28

Another day in paradise - Part 3

When we walked down to the runway from the restrooms he was already driving up to us in his golf cart. We hopped on and I hit my head as usual and in no time we were back at our Cabana.
We rested for a while in the shade with some water out of the fridge. Then we applied new sunscreen and down to the beach we went.
From our Cabana we had seen that pretty far out there seemed to be a bank and this is where we wanted to go.



Still the water was very shallow and we waded for quite a while until the water was deep enough to float around a bit.



We swam a little towards the bank and finally reached it and it WAS very shallow, around ankle deep water.







We sat down on the bank and it felt absolutely wonderful to sit there in the ocean, looking back at the beach. After a while we got tired of sitting and laid down to enjoy the sun. But after about 10 minutes we felt pretty hot and went back to the higher water to swim a bit and cool down. Tom spotted something dark in the water and would you believe it, there were two stingrays in the lagoon. Tom was lucky to catch some photos of them.





We actually spent some time in the lagoon,



floating around and watching out for the stingrays. Once we had sufficiently cooled down we headed out onto the bank again. You could see that now the tide was slowly coming back in and the water got a little higher. We sat down on the bank again and it was fun to sit there with more waves running in.









We sat there for at least 15 minutes before we headed back to the beach. Again, after showering we wrapped in fresh towels and sat outside to soak up the sun.



A little later we felt like we could use another drink and rang the bell for our host again. We waited for a while and he did not arrive. So we rang the bell again. And this time he knocked and asked if we had rang for him, his paiger did go off, but it did not show the correct number. He checked our bell and indeed something was wrong with it.
So after that we ordered our drinks and he went off to get them. We waited out on the veranda nibbling on the fruit in our fridge. About 20 minutes later our Cabana host was back, this time with a tray with four drinks instead of two.
He put the tray on the sideboard and happily declared that he had waited for five minutes to place our order as by then it was happy hour and he got two drinks for the price of one. Don’t you just love so much determination?
We paid for our drinks and gave him another tip for being so clever to wait before we enjoyed our drinks again. I shared my second



Konk Kooler with Tom, but he had to drink both of his



Heineken beers by himself. It was very helpful to have the fridge as we could put the second ones in there to keep them cold. It was getting late and we knew we would have to get back to the ship in a bit over an hour, but the water had been too wonderful to not go back in. So, after finishing our drinks we headed back into the ocean.



Now we actually had to swim to get to the bank out there, but we made it and sat down in the ocean once again. This time the water was already up to our chests, but it was still fun to sit out there looking back to the beach.



When we saw that cast member started to close the umbrellas that were at the far side of the beach we decided to not stay in the water for too much longer. We floated in the water for a while, then swam closer to the beach and finally walked back out and up to the Cabana.
The shower was put to good use, watershoes were washed and then we used up even more towels to dry ourselves off. We sat outside until it were sure we should head back to the ship to give our host ample time to close up the Cabana once we had left.
So we got changed, emptied the safe and packed up our day bag and then left the Cabana to walk down to the tram. But as soon as we opened the back door, our host, who must have been waiting behind the Cabanas was there with his golf cart to drive us towards the tram.


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

 

[MEK]

Wow - that shell is fabulous! Love it!

And that crystal clear water. Fabulous!

It's so hot and humid here this morning - I am definitely loving the pictures of paradise (and that includes the adult beverages).

 

[Mom&RN]

What a great day Karin! So relaxing and enjoyable.

 

[englishrose47]

Karin that sounded like a Heavenly Day! Floating out on the ocean and seeing the Stingrays and was that a conch !!! Yay for Happy Hour drinks !!! You had a magical day!!

 

[Wicket's Mom]

That was sure a beautiful conch, I never do find them. Sandbars are such fun to relax on in the middle of the water. The water was so clear out there, like tap water.

 

[Teri1]

You had a wonderful relaxing day on CC!

Sent from my iPhone using DISBoards

 

[jenseib]

You are killing me!!!!
I really want to be there right now!!!!

 

[annmarieda]

What an amazing time in the water! I envy you because I would never have dared to go out so far. I am not a good swimmer and I wouldn't want to risk being stuck out in water too deep for me.

Love the adult drinks... and SO cool that you got to have two for the prince of one. Definitely a cleaver host to get wait and get them at special!

 

[HowieHowie]

What a beautiful and relaxing day on Castaway Cay. I wish I was there now and I would love to have a Konk Kooler.

 

[dizneeat]

Wow - that shell is fabulous! Love it!

And that crystal clear water. Fabulous!

It's so hot and humid here this morning - I am definitely loving the pictures of paradise (and that includes the adult beverages).

There were lots of shells like this one. Many broken ones, too! The interesting thing about this one - this one was alive! We put it right back in the water after the photo.

You won't believe the colour of the water when you get there, Mary Ellen. It is pure paradise! :cloud):

What a great day Karin! So relaxing and enjoyable.

It was an awesome day and we had another one just like this to come!

Karin that sounded like a Heavenly Day! Floating out on the ocean and seeing the Stingrays and was that a conch !!! Yay for Happy Hour drinks !!! You had a magical day!!

Yes, it truly was a magical day!
There seem to be so many stingrays around, we have seen so almost every trip (without signing up for the stingray encounter )
This was our first conch that was alive. It was awesome actually seeing one.

That was sure a beautiful conch, I never do find them. Sandbars are such fun to relax on in the middle of the water. The water was so clear out there, like tap water.

There are lots of conch shells around CC. But this was the first one that was alive. So exciting.
We just LOVED the sandbar out there. So much fun to sit out there in the ocean and the water is only a few inches high.
The water is extremely clear. I have that thing, that I will only get into water if I can see my toes - and I surely can see them at CC.

 

[dizneeat]

You had a wonderful relaxing day on CC!

Sent from my iPhone using DISBoards

It was an awesome day! Looking forward to some more just like that one this summer.

You are killing me!!!!
I really want to be there right now!!!!

See, that's how I feel whenever I go to your threads!

What an amazing time in the water! I envy you because I would never have dared to go out so far. I am not a good swimmer and I wouldn't want to risk being stuck out in water too deep for me.

Love the adult drinks... and SO cool that you got to have two for the prince of one. Definitely a cleaver host to get wait and get them at special!

The adult beach is just wonderful, Ann. And even with your fear of being stuck out there, you would love that bank. There is NO need to swim, the water is pretty shallow and even when the tide was high I could mostly reach the ground.

I could not believe that he would actually wait for Happy Hour to start until he got the order in. He was really a sweetheart. And, well, we did tip him well, too! :rotfl2:

What a beautiful and relaxing day on Castaway Cay. I wish I was there now and I would love to have a Konk Kooler.

It was an awesome day! And we had another one just like this to come. Oh, and I always have at least one Konk Kooler in your honour, Elaine!

 

[dizneeat]

Day 18, August 28

Another day in paradise - Part 4

But as soon as we opened the back door, our host, who must have been waiting behind the Cabanas was there with his golf cart to drive us towards the tram.
He asked if we had enjoyed our stay and the Cabanas and we had a short conversation which ended in the question if he would be Cabana host during the next cruise as well. He said that he was pretty sure he was and we assured him that we would be back.
I don’t think he really understood as he wished us a nice trip home. The tram was already waiting and we just got on, changed trams at the end of the runway





and were back at the ship in no time.



We hiked up to the front gangway,



got in line to get back on and were back on board within a few minutes. Back in our stateroom we took nice long hot showers and then sat outside on the veranda to see the DREAM pull out.









Once we were out on the open seas again, we went up to the pooldeck to pick up an afternoon snack.
I picked a



Bacon, Brie, and Tomato Panini, while Tom got another



Hot Dog. We sat close to the adult area and enjoyed our afternoon snack. Once we were done, Tom was toying with the idea of a slice of pizza and since he was already going to get some, he was kind enough to pick one up for me as well, so we both enjoyed a slice of



Peperoni Pizza instead of dessert. And after all that food we were craving some coffee and since the Cove Café was just around the corner, this is where we headed. There were not many people around at that time as it was close to the first show and close to the first dinner seating. Tom tried the



Espresso Martini, Absolut vanilla, Godiva chocolate liqueur, Frangelico and Espresso, while I ordered the



Frozen Cappuccino, 1/3 espresso blended with vanilla ice cream. We sat there and people watched and enjoyed the drinks and time just flew by. We walked around the ship a bit afterwards and then returned to our stateroom to rest a little before dinner.
We were actually a little late for dinner that day, as we had met Oana outside our stateroom who had started taking luggage to the holding area. We were pretty pleased that we would not have to get off the next day and that the stress of packing would only come our way four days later. When we arrived at the restaurant most of the tables around us had already been seated.



Our server team was quickly on hand to ask about drinks and we stuck with the usual, Diet Cokes. Our dining room server wanted to know where we had been the two nights prior and we had to tell him that we had enjoyed dinner at Palo and Remy. He then went on to ask if we trusted him enough to let HIM make the decision on what we would order.
Well, why not. So while he went to get our starters we sampled the bread of the evening,



Six Grain Country Bread, with



Caramelized Onions and Sun-dried Tomato Dip. It was pretty good but we wanted to leave room for whatever our server would get for us. When he returned he brought out three plates for two people. He put the



Artichoke, Spinach and Jalapeno Cheese Dip, with triangles of crispy pita bread in the middle for us to share, then handed Tom the



Chilled Seafood Medley, Lemon shrimp, smoked salmon tartare and marinated bay scallops, before he placed the



Sesame Crusted Tuna Sashimi, Wakame Salad and American Caviar, with pickled ginger wasabi and soy sauce in front of me.
We were stunned and quickly declined when he asked if we wanted to sample the soups and salads. We actually shared all three appetizers, which were all perfectly cooked and very good.
Once we had fought our way through 3 appetizers we were hoping for only two main courses. But when the server returned he was carrying three plates again.
This time he put a plate of the



Yachtsman Steakhouse Center Cut Grilled Beef Tenderloin, served with William potatoes, asparagus spears, baby vegetables and bearnaise sauce in front of each of us and put the



Seafood Linguini Pasta, Lobster, scallops, shrimp, clams and asparagus-white wine sauce in the middle to share.
We were really torn, as the tenderloin was melt in your mouth tender, but the pasta dish was pretty darn good too. So we kept picking from both plates. Then it was finally time for dessert and we both thought about skipping it, but there was no way around it, our server insisted on us having dessert.
We knew we were in for dessert overload and told him to just get one or no more than two. Well, you guessed it, he brought out three again. He put all three,



the Baked Alaska, served with ice cream loaf, sponge cake and meringue, the



Celebration Cake, Layers of cheesecake covered with strawberries embedded in rich vanilla cream and glazed with white chocolate and the



Chocolate Decadence, chocolate brownie topped with rich chocolate mousse, topped with ganache and a tiramisu shooter. It was such a shame as we were only able to eat about half of each dessert, but we were so stuffed.
Once we could not eat any more our server seemed to be happy and told us about breakfast the next morning. We reminded him that we would stay on for another cruise and that he was going to see us again.
Then it was time to say good night, as they were already setting the tables for the next morning. We headed back to our stateroom,



changed into very comfortable clothes and headed on deck.


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

 

[englishrose47]

Wow 3 dishes for you for each course !!! They all looked fabulous !!!